The Only Miracle Jesus Performed

The bible it littered with instances of jesus breaking the laws of physics, chemistry and biology for his own gains. The bible called them miracles. These ranged from organising dinner parties - Wine and fish sandwich anyone? - To curing people with terrible diseases.

As an atheist i am sceptical of whether jesus actually performed these miracles (also of whether he existed at all) because they seem to have been engineered to give the story "credibility". Think about it. What would the bible be without the miracles? it would be just a book of rules and advice that appear to be from someone of little importance, Which would make it the equivalent of a Dr Phil self help book for bronze age man. Do some tricks though and we have their son of god on our hands.

While we are on the subject of miracles, one miracle does interest me and id like someone to explain how it could be possible. How could a man born in the west bank of Palestine turn out to be a white guy with blue eyes? To me that really is miraculous. We all know from the news that people from that area have fairly dark skin and almost exclusively have dark brown eyes. But jesus turned out looking like the all American poster boy. very strange.

It's almost as if the image of jesus has been engineered, Along with his "miracles", To get certain people, i.e westerners, Able to accept (be tricked in to believing) he is the lord.

More Americans Believe In Hell Than Evolution

More Americans believe in a literal hell and the devil than Darwin's theory of evolution, according to a new Harris poll released on Thursday.

It is the latest survey to highlight America's deep level of religiosity, a cultural trait that sets it apart from much of the developed world.

It also helps explain many of its political battles which Europeans find bewildering, such as efforts to have "Intelligent Design" theory -- which holds life is too complex to have evolved by chance -- taught in schools alongside evolution.

The poll of 2,455 U.S. adults from Nov 7 to 13 found that 82 percent of those surveyed believed in God, a figure unchanged since the question was asked in 2005.

It further found that 79 percent believed in miracles, 75 percent in heaven, while 72 percent believed that Jesus is God or the Son of God. Belief in hell and the devil was expressed by 62 percent.

reuters

Love Thy Enemy, But Hate Women

As a female vicar in a small, rural parish, Reverend Yvonne Hobson might have expected to find a few doubters in her flock. But there has been little of the good natured grumbling displayed by parishioners in the BBC's The Vicar of Dibley when a woman priest turned up.

Instead, Mrs Hobson has been the subject of a hate campaign because of her sex - which culminated in an apparent arson attack. The vicar, 54, took up her post at a 15th century church in the seaside village of Paul, Cornwall, in July 2006.

For almost a year, she had few problems with her 100-strong congregation. Then she began receiving anonymous letters expressing hatred for women priests. They were sent to her home, to the church and left in the vestry there.

Police were called in to investigate. And last month, after a particularly frightening letter, Bill Ind, the Bishop of Truro, launched an appeal for information from the pulpit. Weeks later, a fire was started in the log basket on the porch of Mrs Hobson's £350,000 vicarage, near Newlyn. Someone had left a candle burning in the logs, in what police believe was a symbolic act.

The fire service had to be called to extinguish it.

Mrs Hobson said: "The whole thing started about five months ago. It has been very difficult and the police are now involved."

|Daily Mail|

You Know Atheists Are Winning When....

You know Atheists are winning when writers like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens have parasitic fleas cashing in on their success.

After the success of Atheist books the religious have been quick to bring out their own books. But unlike Atheists books the religious are left, Like usual, Presenting no evidence for their own position (other than regurgitated fallacies that have been repeatedly kicked to death) and only seek to refute the opposing position, Much like they do with evolution.

This can mean one of two things.
Either Atheist books are seen as a significant threat and worthy of rebuttal or the anti-atheist authors are simply trying to make some money on the back of someone elses work.

The Origin Of Life Made Easy

This is a great video going through, Step by step, Explaining how simple elements can over time combine to create more complex chemicals, Which in turn combined to produce self replicating molecules and eventually primitive cells.



We simply don't need god anymore.

God, And Why We Don't Need It Anymore

Since human ancestors first looked up at a majestic eagle soaring gracefully over a snow covered mountain top and thought "i wonder what that tastes like", we have been asking questions and seeking answers.

For primitive man this presented some difficulties. While he was able to ask the questions how did i get here, what is that bright circle in the sky and why do i stick to the ground he had absolutely no way of answering them. So he done what any primitive mind unable to answer questions would do, He invented gods. He invented thousands of them. Some primitives invented one all encapsulating god to answer every question and other primitives invented a god for each question.

After the invention of gods it didn't take long for leaders and bullies to realize that gods can also be used to control people if the people thought that god doesn't just make the sun rise, but he also has a set of arbitrary rules that wants us to follow which have been "revealed" to a select few. Rules like cutting your childs penis, Not eating sometimes and hating gays. At which point we found our species infected with the cancer we now call religion.

In todays society we don't need god in an explanatory sense. The only people who find answers in god are the people are lack the intelligence to understand the answers science has given them (given with no threat of eternal punishment or eternal subservience). We know what the bright circle in the sky is, We know how we got here, We know why we stick to the ground and we know what an eagle tastes like.

Since we don't need god in an explanatory sense anymore how can faith based businesses (churches) get people to continue to believe in god and hand over their money? it's simple. All they have to do is turn god from something that provides answers in to something that is just itching for you to mess up so he can send you to hell forever.

Just like children the religious not only find comfort in fictitious entities but they can also be controlled through fear of punishment.

So next time you are in church hearing about all the rules your god wants you to follow, How he wants you to have sex with your wife, What days you can eat on and how to mutilate your childs genitals ask yourself this very simple question;
Does this sound like something the creator of the universe would be concerned with, or does it sound like something invented by the depraved mind of a man intent on controlling a subservient population?

The answer will be clear, Even if you lack the courage or honesty to admit it.

Pat Condell Puts Polite Atheists In Their Place

In his latest video legendary Atheist Pat Condell puts polite Atheists in their place by pointing out how pointless and damaging the "hobby" of polite Atheism is. Pat points out that rationality, logic and reasoning are wasted on the religious because they have no interest in a discussion and only use dialogue to tell you how they are right because it's written in an old book.

The Threat Children Face From Islam

The "religion of peace" is in the spotlight again for acts of horrific brutality and violence against the defenceless.

THE conviction this month of a Manchester Imam who beat an 11-year-old boy with a mop handle for talking during a lesson at a mosque, serves as a reminder of the dangers children face in Islamic institutions both in the UK and abroad.

Guhlam Mustapha Hazarvi, 42, dragged the frightened boy into the corner of a classroom and beat him. The boy, according to a report in the Manchester Evening News, suffered “horrific” bruising following the assault at the Newton Street mosque, off Penny Meadow, Ashton-under-Lyne.

During a lesson in May, the boy’s friend leant over and asked him to help with a word he couldn’t understand. The innocent chatter sent Hazarvi into a rage.

Jon Savage, prosecuting at Hazarvi’s trial, said: “He took exception and grabbed the boy by the collar, dragging him into the corner. He hit him with the stick several times.

Hazarvi admitted assault causing actual bodily harm at Bolton Crown Court.

Don't worry, He still has his job after the "community have stood by him".

|More Info|

Golden Compass Author Hits Back

The author of the book on which the new film The Golden Compass is based has hit back at critics who accuse him of peddling "candy-coated atheism".

Philip Pullman dismissed as "absolute rubbish" accusations by the US-based Catholic League that the film promotes atheism and denigrates Christianity.

"I am a story teller," he said. "If I wanted to send a message I would have written a sermon."

The Golden Compass - which stars Nicole Kidman - premiers in London on Tuesday.

Oh noes! An Atheist wrote something! What Is the catholic league so frightened of?

Atheists didn't call for a boycott of Gibson's Smashin' of the christ. We called it self-serving, homo-erotic, bloodthirsty tripe. But we didn't call for a boycott. besides, The Golden Compass isn't even about Atheism. It's a fictional story for Vishnu's sake.

I had to laugh when i found out that parents were calling for the removal of Northern Lights (The book which The Golden Compass is based on) from school libraries in America when they found out that Philip Pullman was an Atheist. None of them read the book and it had been sitting in the library since 1995, A full twelve years , But they only recently felt outraged.

|full story|

UK Blasphemy Laws - Jesus Likes Poo?

A christian activist is attempting to have a BBC executive charged with "blasphemy" after the BBC screened the popular play, Jerry Springer - The Opera.

The show is said to portray Jesus as a "bit gay" and as someone who finds sexual gratification in human feces. While this play doesn't at all sound like my cup of tea isn't it about time peoples imaginary friends stopped being protected by law? Should there really be a law still on the statutes that forbids "blasphemy" and carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison?

No doubt christians were offended by this play, But guess what, Nobody cares. Christians, Just like everyone else, Don't have a right to not be offended. If you don't like it, Don't watch it.

For Thor's Sake, Whatever You Do, Don't Call A Teddy Muhammad

A British schoolteacher has been arrested in Sudan accused of insulting Islam's Prophet, after she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, said she made an "innocent mistake" by letting the six and seven-year-olds choose the name.

Ms Gibbons was arrested after several parents made complaints.

The BBC has learned the charge could lead to six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine.

Officials from the British embassy in Khartoum are expected to visit Ms Gibbons in custody later.

"We are in contact with the authorities here and they have visited the teacher and she is in a good condition," an embassy spokesman said.

The spokesman said the naming of the teddy happened months ago and was chosen by the children because it is a common name in the country.

Are these people out of thier tiny, primitive minds?

Everybody name something muhammad out of protest. There has been a spider living on my ceiling for the last two day, His name is now Muhammad.

Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed Movie

Ben Stein promotes the up coming movie Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed due for release in February which tries to paint Darwinism as a fascist belief which persecutes anyone who dares criticise it. Stein would be right, If calling someone stupid then proving them wrong equated fascism.

The movie looks like it is going to be nothing but half truths, propaganda, Instances of Godwin's law, Strawman arguments and carefully edited sound bytes from respected scientists like Richard Dawkins who, In the above video, says "As a scientist, I'm pretty hostile to a rival doctrine…", which was likely followed by clarification of which parts of the rival doctrine he is opposed to. But we aren't going to hear that bit as it is heavily edited to make him sound unreasonable and ignorant, Which is a very cheap tactic to use and yet so typical of creationists.

Stein constantly misrepresents evolution by claiming evolutionists think "we are mud animated by lightning" and constantly references "scientists" who believe in biblical creation Intelligent Design, while at the same time offering no actual evidence for this belief other than the fact that at present science can't explain everything. We are bombarded with statements equivalent to "well if you don't know how it was done god must have done it"

The films intention is obvious and it's target audience are conveniently some of the dumbest creatures evolution has produced, So convincing them of this drivel isn't going to be too hard.

Believe "god done it" if you must, But stop claiming it is a science.

Fundies Say The Darndest Things

I have just discovered the site FSTDT, it's a site that collects some of the more moronic blabberings from fundamental christians and creationists from around the net and i thought i would share a few of my favorites with you.

These are excellent examples of the pig shit that sits between these people ears. cretinous imbeciles the lot of them.

several million years for a monkey to turn into a man. oh wait thats right. monkeys dont live several million years.

If the very mention of God was wrong then why is God the Author of the Constitution?

There are a lot of things I have concluded to be wrong, without studying them in-depth. Evolution is one of them. The fact that I don't know that much about it does not bother me in the least.

I fail to see how "glyphosate" resistant weeds is an arguement FOR evolution. I do not even know what glyphosate is so how can that be evidence for anything. Maybe for you it is evidence, for me it is just a word that I do not know the meaning of.

stop there....but you are assuming that the lightwave has to travel to us....why can it not be that my eyes travel to it?

I want proof that we evolved from a rock. I want proof that my great great great great great great etc. grampa was soup

the world was created Oct. 23, 4004 B.C. – making it exactly 6,009 last Monday.

It doesn't follow that you need a brain to believe.

You are banned. You are not a Christian for Christians don't accuse brothers and sisters in Christ of being non-Christian.

If we did evolve from monkeys then how come babies arent born monkeys... how come we cant speak monkey

I don't believe in atoms. There isn't sufficient proof for them.

No, everyone is born Christian. Only later in life do people choose to stray from Jesus and worship satan instead. Atheists have the greatest "cover" of all, they insist they believe in no god yet most polls done and the latest research indicates that they are actually a different sect of Muslims.

And how can I be ignorant about anthropology when that is a word you just made up?

As someone who is studying science in grad school, I know that science is bogus.

Yeah, I heard atheists dont even have morals. But I wouldnt want to talk to them in person because the ones Ive met have all been really nerdy and smart and in person I wouldnt have a chance to look up the answers on the internet!

You know how many school shootings there have been since the theory of evolution started being taught in school? It's gone crazy!

Don't ever compare heterosexual incest to homosexuality! Homosexuality is much worse because it involves two people with the same genitalia! At least incest can be traditional, and involve a man and a woman

Dr. Phil advices women in abusive relationships to "leave and ... find the right man." What horrible advice! Is this what God wants us to do?

Slavery can come back. fine with me, so long as the people are treated in a god pleasing manner.

Religions Obsession With Homosexuality And The Male Reproductive Organ

Religion seems to have this unhealthy obsession with genitalia and if it isn't mutilating the genitals of small children it is insisting that it is entitled to express an opinion on where other men are allowed to put their penis'. This obsession is most prevalent in the christian right where "family friendly" is code for "anti-gay".

This christian obsession with male reproductive organ can be best proven by looking at the statistics page of the "trustworthy encyclopedia" conservapedia, The right wing encyclopedia for conservative christians with penile fixations.

The list of "most viewed pages" is a fascinating read for anyone interested in finding out what conservative christians look up on the internet when nobody is watching.

1. Main Page‎ [1,940,385]
2. Homosexuality‎ [1,630,967]
3. Homosexuality and Hepatitis‎ [518,244]
4. Homosexuality and Parasites‎ [444,138]
5. Homosexuality and Promiscuity‎ [422,358]
6. Gay Bowel Syndrome‎ [403,054]
7. Homosexual Couples and Domestic Violence‎ [374,274]
8. Homosexuality and Gonorrhea‎ [332,176]
9. Homosexuality and Anal Cancer‎ [294,621]
10. Homosexuality and Mental Health‎ [294,018]

It's good that conservapedia is "trustworthy", otherwise we might end up with religious bigots using it as justification for the promotion of hatred and homophobia.... Oh, wait, Too late.

Pastor Arrested For Making Terrorist Threat

Birmingham Police Sgt. Cory Hardiman said Wanda Radford was arrested November 9th for making a terroristic threat against a person in public administration. Another police officer told FOX6 News the public official was a circuit court judge.

Pastor Radford is the founder of "Mothers Who Want to Stop the Violence," an organization created to promote non-violence in Birmingham.

My my, The hypocrite radar is working overtime this week.

Tell me, Is it compulsory to be a hypocrite if you hold a position within a religious organisation?

|source|

Happy Birthday Evolution! 148 Today!

Today is a special day for Atheists, Rationalists and fans of science - Agnostics can celebrate too, if they don't think it would offend the religious - It's the 148th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's book explaining the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

On this day 148 years ago a great man made a brave move and published a science book that he knew would cause outrage in the religious community, Which at the time was pretty much everyone except French aristocrats.

When Darwin first made the observation that positive attributes were passed on by means of natural selection the scientific community had no idea that DNA and retroviruses existed, let alone that they would support Darwin's ground breaking theory in the future.

But now, As science can map the genome of chimps and study endogenous retrovirus DNA, We find that each new scientific breakthrough that can falsify evolution ends up supporting it fully.

Thank you Charles Darwin, And happy Birthday Evolution!

Well, What Do YOU Believe?

I was having a beer with a Greek Orthodox friend of mine during the week and the topic of religion came up. Now as much as i enjoy a discussion about religion i don't particularly enjoy discussing religion with this friend for two reasons. Firstly he doesn't understand his own position well enough to discuss it, let alone mine, and secondly his idea of "discussion" is you shut up while i talk, Then you agree.

On this occasion though he got me thinking about something which inspired this blog post, So i thank him for that.

After i had explained to him that my disbelief in god does not equate a hatred for god any more than his disbelief in unicorns equates a hatred for them and that if he understood why he didn't believe in Thor he would be on the way to understanding why i don't believe in Yahweh he said "well, If you don't believe in god, what do you believe in?".

This question is usually well answered by saying something along the lines of "I believe in science, reason and evidence". But before i had a chance i trot out that well rehearsed answer to a facile question i realized what he meant.

He wasn't asking me what i believe in, He was asking me what i had replaced god with.

I realized that the question "what do you believe in" - A question often asked - Actually meant "what have you used to fill the void left by your disbelief in god" as if i am somehow missing something, As if i have a gap to fill that god once filled and as if the belief in a supernatural-sky-daddy was the default state of humans.

While the answer of "science, reason and evidence" is a good one, it isn't anything to do with a disbelief in god. It's not something exclusively believed by atheists because, While we know it's true, I doubt you could find a religious person willing to admit that they don't believe in science, reason and evidence, Even though they by-pass it when the conclusion they want to draw isn't supported by science, reason and evidence.

I advise that if you are asked this question again by a theist you ask them what they mean by it. There is no point giving an answer they understand to a question they don't realize they have asked.

Pledge of Allegiance Protest

American Atheists California, in conjunction with Bay Area Atheist and Humanist groups, will rally in front of the San Francisco Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals building on Tuesday, December 4, to support the idea of removing religious references and slogans in the Pledge of Allegiance and on national currency.

In 2004, when Michael Newdow argued before the Supreme Court for removal of “under god” in the Pledge of Allegiance, California Atheists showed their support by rallying at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

It's about time the religious and their governmental defenders of the faith realize that for an atheist to pledge to "god" is more offensive than a christian being forced to pledge to allah. Oh, And there is that tiny thing about it being against the constitution.

Anyone in the area or able to attend is encouraged to do so.

| full story |

Intelligent Design On Trial Video

A 2 hour documentary about the Dover, Pennsylvania row between Intelligent design and evolution which escalated to a federal lawsuit. The intelligent design advocates of Dover insisted ID was a science and that it had no connection to the bible or religious creation. ID advocates were exposed as liars, Idiots who didn't even understand the theory of evolution, Deceptive frauds who ignore evidence that contradicts ID and two were even found to be in contempt of court for lying in their deposition.

part one
part two
part three
part four
part five
part six
part seven
part eight
part nine
part ten
part eleven
part twelve

Chuck Norris Shits On The American Constitution

Fundies say the darndest thing

Everyones favorite has-been standing joke Chuck Norris has become the latest in a long line of liars from god by shitting on the American constitution and completely misrepresenting Americas forefathers.

In the below video Chuck and his wife (wholesome christian family) tell you that bible studies should be taught in schools because "God knows, We need it" and that the forefathers had no intention of removing the bible from the classroom. Even though they categorically said that the state should support no particular religion.

By the way, Check out Chuck Norris' face in this video. He looks like he's had a bang on the head.

Hitchens: Romney's Mormonism Is Fair Game

Christopher Hitchens goes on Fox noise to defend the medias right to ask questions about presidential candidate Mitt Romney's belief in Mormonism.

Here are some interesting facts about Mormons.
1. Up until 1978 Mormons didn't allow blacks in the priesthood.
2. Mormons believe the garden of Eden was in Missouri.
3. Mormons believe when they die they become a god and receive their own planet to rule over.

pretty nuts eh?

Why An Intervening God And Free Will Can't Coexist

1. God answers prayers
2. God granted us free will

The above two statements would be called true by any self respecting christian.

But if they were to stop and think for a second (i know it's hard) instead of spewing forth parroted rhetoric they would soon see that both of these statements can't possibly be true at the same time.

How can we possibly have "free will" if we live in a world where god intervenes?

I will give you a situation that demonstrates what i mean;
Let's say a christian is walking home from a prayer meeting one night and he is approached by a man with a gun who demands that the christian hand over his wallet. Being a christian and unable to sort his own problems out the christian immediately starts praying to god asking for his intervention in the situation, By which point the robber has had enough of asking politely and decides to shoot the christian in the face and take the wallet.

Even though the robber points the gun directly at the chistians face and pulls the trigger the bullet misses and embeds it's self in a lamp post 90 degrees from the gun. The christian concludes that god must have answered his prayer.

Ok, let's assume (for the sake of argument) that god did in fact intervene and prevent the bullet plowing through the christians skull. Wouldn't that have infringed on the free will of the robber? The robbers will was to shoot the christian in the face, but god stepped in and prevented the robbers will being done.

It's impossible for free will and celestial intervention to coexist.

If christians are going to use "free will" as a reason why god does nothing about starving children, Aids, Child rape, Genocide and murder they can't then defend gods willingness to infringe on "free will" in cases where it suites them (ie where christian prayer takes president over free will).

Either god answers prayers, or we have free will. The laws of logic state both can't be true.

Calling All Atheist Bloggers!

If you run an atheist based blog or website you may be interested to know about a digg type site i have set up specifically for atheist blogs/sites and science sites.

This is a great way for you to promote your blog, get extra traffic and increase backlinks. I have written some special javascript to make it even easier for your visitors to submit your articles and posts and to vote for you.

Simply drop this piece of code anywhere on your blog template or site to have the special submit/vote link generated automatically for every one of your pages.
<script src="http://tell-your-friends.com/athe/submit.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

Don't worry if you don't run a blog or website, You can still submit any interesting atheism/science articles you find by going to the submit page and filling out the form.

even if you dont want to submit anything i'm sure you will find a lot of interesting articles on there to read and vote for!

The Rapist Christian Minister

Anthony Ireland, A 23 year old registered sex offended and christian minister, Was arrested this week and charged with 4 felony counts of forcible rape.

Fresno police say Anthony Ireland was repeatedly targeting random women along Highway 99 near Olive Avenue, a well known place to pick up prostitutes.

Lt. Don Gross, Fresno Police Department, says "He identified women who were walking along the sidewalk, picked them up, and took them to a secluded location where he sexually assaulted them."

Monday Ireland was charged with 4 felony counts of forcible rape with special circumstances. He could face additional punishment since there are multiple victims and he used a dangerous weapon.

It's a good thing us Atheists have christian morality. This piece of filth is another name we can add to the list of fake christians who say one thing and do another.

| Full Story |

The Creationists Scientific Method

Pretty funny pic highlighting exactly why creationists fail. Where science draws conclusions from evidence the creationists search for evidence for support their conclusion.

Liars And The Fools That Follow Them

The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her.

Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.

In truth, this is not the first — or even the second — sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair.

How these people have the nerve to tell us about immorality is beyond me.

|Full sory|

The Love Of The Lord, In The Form Of Hate Mail

Ever sinse putting my email address on the right hand side of the blog i have received a vast amount of hate mail. So i have decided to post the particularly moronic or hateful ones on the blog. This may become a regular thing.

Today we are honoured by the incisive and well put rantings on a jesus-freak called Beverly.

From Beverly

Hello shit head

You may not believe in god but other people do so why dont you just shut the fuck up and keep your blasphemy to yourself and your other godless, homosexual monkey fucking freinds

God only loves christians and he HATES people like you. god is going to send you to HELL and you are going to BURN forver. I pray everyday asking god to get rid of you people and one day he will, he hates you! go to fucking hell!

My reply

Hello Beverly.

Thank you for your email. While the thought of you sitting in your home talking to yourself asking your invisible friend to do your dirty work for you makes me laugh hysterically, I feel obliged to let you know that you probably aren't doing it right. I actually feel better than ever.

Can i suggest an animal sacrifice? Good luck

Kindest regards, Matt. [GBG] blog

Not all mail is hate-mail so thanks to the people informing me of interesting sites and stories.

Mike Huckabee Responds

You may remember a while ago we run a story about an Atheist called lunch4lyfe (not his real name) who, Via 10questions, Asked the presidential candidates "is America unofficially a theocracy?".

The votes were tabulated and lunch4lyfe got one of his videos in to the top ten (his other was removed) and his question was posed to the presidential candidates. So far the only person to have responded is Mike Huckabee. Huckabee gave the response you would expect from a politician, But he also made some comments that i would like to discuss further.

let's watch the video and then I'll address his comments.


Mike Huckabee starts off well by saying a president should not be able to force his beliefs on citizens, But then, What else was he going to say?

He then goes on and hints at the "America is a christian country" argument by saying "our founding fathers believed in a creator" when in actual fact most opposed religion entirely and even included the establishment clause in the constitution. Thomas Jefferson even wanted a wall built between church and state, Not just separation.

Huckerbee then goes on to say that he has more respect for an Atheist who lives like an Atheist than for a christian who doesn't live like a christian. While this is a big step from when George Bush Sr said Atheists shouldn't be considered citizens i am puzzled. How exactly is an Atheist supposed to live?

How well do you think Mike Huckabee answered the question? Do you have any issues with anything he said?

All of these responces are going to be tagged Presidential candidates Respond so bookmark that link. Alternatively you can subscribe to a feed that will only show the candidates responces as they make them - RSS Feed URL

The Belief In Belief

If you have ever seen a lecture, read an article or watched an interview with the eminent Atheist philosopher Daniel Dennett you would probably have heard him say that while most religious people, Or people generally, profess to believe in god what they actually have is a belief in the belief of god.

What Daniel means by this is that while they probably don't really believe in god they have been conditioned to believe that faith is a virtue and that anybody who believes is instantly a better person than those who lack a belief.

On this point - and many others - I agree entirely with what Daniel Dennett is saying. We only have to look at what people do and it becomes apparent that it completely contradicts what they are saying.

To make this point i am going to use cases that were reported in the media to show the hypocrisy of religious people and show that they say one thing and do another.

kent Hovind
Kent Hovind is a young earth creationist, or "nut" as i like to call them, Who believed the word of the bible so much that he built dinosaur adventure theme park that was based on the biblical account of creation, The false theory of young earth and showed humans a dinosaurs existing together. This man must surely believe in god, Right? Well if he did why is he in prison for tax fraud? Doesn't sound like someone who really believes in god to me.

Ted Haggard
Ted Haggard, A man who has the cheek to use the title "reverend", Runs a mega church where he preaches and collects vast amounts of money. So what does he do with this money? Does he give it to the poor? Some may go to the poor, but some goes towards buying meth and sex from rent boys. Doesn't sound like someone who really believes in god to me.

David Smith
"Rev." David Smith was jailed for just over 5 years back in May 07 for abusing 6 children over a period of 30 years. This disgusting piece of filth used his position of trust to lure young boys to "sleep-overs" where he would sexually abuse them. Doesn't sound like someone who really believes in god to me.

Of course it's not only the famous who are guilty of being hypocrites who say one thing and do another. you only have to look at the people around you who claim to believe in god and compare what they say to what they do, it soon becomes apparent that, Like Dan Dennett said, Most people don't believe in god, they only believe in the belief of god.

I would like to ask the people reading this who claim to believe in god to sit down and think about it for a while. if you can't be honest with us at least be honest with yourself. Do you really believe what you say? Or do you only say It because of conditioning and because you think it's the right thing to claim to believe?

Morality, Islam Style

An appeal court in Saudi Arabia has increased the number of lashes to 200 and added a jail sentence as punishment for a woman who was gang-raped.

According to an Arab News newspaper, The 19-year-old woman, who is from Saudi Arabia's Shia minority, was gang-raped 14 times in an attack in the eastern province 18 months ago. Seven men from the majority Sunni community were found guilty of the rape and sentenced to prison terms ranging from just under a year to 5 years.

But the victim was also punished for violating Saudi Arabia's laws on segregation that forbid unrelated men and women from associating with each other. She was initially sentenced to 90 lashes for being in the car of a strange man.

On appeal, the Arab News reported that the punishment was not reduced but increased to 200 lashes and a six-month prison sentence.

This is the kind of law the Muslim council of Great Britain want for the UK. Apparently the UK can "learn a lot" from Islam.

Bend Over Backwards For Islam

Out of all religions Islam strikes me as the one which seeks special treatment most (Don't take that as a compliment christians). Islam makes ludicrous demands while at the same time taking offence to our unwillingness to bow down to those demands.

Muslims take every opportunity to take offence, And when they are granted special treatment - Like being allowed to opt-out of serving customers alcohol in Sainsbury's - They naturally Que up round the block waiting for their opportunity to "opt-out" of doing their job, You know, The thing they are paid to do.

Muslim teachers demand a right to wear a full body covering while trying to teach children and take offence when that right isn't granted, Completely ignoring the fact that 1) it isn't a requirement of their faith and 2) Will make them less able to teach.

40% of British Muslims want Sharia law in the UK. If you don't know, That is the law that says women can be stoned to death for pretty much anything.

The Mayor of London Ken (the fascist) Livingston commissioned a poll to find out how Islam is treated in the media and shockingly the poll found that 91% of the news regarding Muslims and Islam was negative. Of course if a report was done on news generally it would more than likely find that 91% of all news was about negative topics.

Every grievance of Islam is seen as a problem the west needs to find a solution to. maybe if Muslims are upset with the way we do things they should piss off and take Islam back to the primitive desert where it belongs, Sit in a cave and contemplate how bad it was over here for them while tribesmen stone their sister to death for the crime of being raped or hang their bother for being gay.

Muhammed Abdul Bari, head of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, Even went so far as to compare the treatment of Muslims in Britain to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.

if you want to speak out about people giving Islam a bad name perhaps you could start on terrorists, People who stone women, People who hang gays, and people who do decapitations. Then people may take you seriously when you cry about having to serve alcohol in a shop, a shop which you sought employment in.

Christians Go Nuts, Atheism Blamed

At least 30 members of a Russian doomsday cult have barricaded themselves in a remote cave to await the imminent end of the world. They have threatened to use a gas tank to blow themselves up if police try to intervene.

The cult members, who include at least 29 adults and four children, are thought to have taken food and fuel supplies into the cave.

The newspaper Izvestia said the cult members were among the followers of 43-year-old Pyotr Kuznetsov, a schizophrenic who sleeps in a coffin. Police took him to the cave but the group refused his pleas to come out.

After decades of state enforced atheism under Communist rule, many Russians and other ex-Soviet nationals have come under the influence of homegrown and foreign sects.

"They are simple Christians," a local priest, Father Georgy, told NTV television station. "They say: 'The church is doing a bad job, the end of the world is coming soon and we are all saving ourselves'."

Media reports said the cult members believed the world would end sometime in May next year. Police expected them to emerge when their supplies ran out.

Jesus Stays At The Y.M.C.A.

[GBG] Atheist Group, Join Up!

A group has been started on tangler for readers of the blog to start topics and discuss atheism and religion. So if you want to start topics and discuss stuff Join the Atheist group, religious welcome.

Comment Policy

It has come to the point where the blog is in need of a comment policy, Thanks zealots, I guess expecting anything other than childish foot stomping from you was unreasonable.

The policy is going to be put in place to stop one thing happening. It is to stop the zealots reducing every blog post to a discussion regarding the existence of god. If you can't comment regarding the subject of the post don't comment at all.

From now on i am going to be deleting all comments which do the following:
1. Argue over the existence of god unless the blog post is regarding the existence of god.
2. Quote scripture.
3. Use "god done it" (or equivalent) as an answer without offering any reason or evidence.

Religions And Cults - What's The Difference?

So what is the difference between a religion and a cult? or is there no difference?

As far as i can see the only real difference between a religion and a cult is the level of social acceptance that each receive. while the statement "I have joined a cult" will usually be met with horror the statement "I am religious" is often met with respect and admiration, When the reality of it is they are both the same thing.

wikipedia defines a cult as: "a cohesive social group devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture considers outside the mainstream". Isn't that an accurate description of a religion? The surrounding culture considers not mixing milk and meat, pretending to drink blood, Mutilating genitals, Starving yourself and covering up women outside of what would be considered "mainstream", Unless that society was predominantly of the same religion. So is it the amount of people around you who believe the same thing what determines if what you follow is a cult or religion?

The psychology of cults and religions share a common ground too. Cults like to tell their recruits that they are flawed and that perfection can only achieved by staying with the cult and following it's rules. or is that religion? I am getting confused now.

So what is the difference between them? try to answer without discussing particular religions and without quoting from religious books (nobody cares what your "god" thinks).

The Default State Of Atheism

Atheism is often called a "belief" or "religion" by those wishing to drag us down to their level, But nothing could be further from the truth. Atheism is the default state of all human beings. It takes no action on the part of the person to be Atheist. Atheist is what we would all be if there were no vile old men moulding childrens minds to suite their agenda, or moronic parents inflicting their own stupidity on their children.

A child who has not been subjected to the abuse that is religious indoctrination would be an Atheist. They wouldn't all of a sudden decide that there is a god and that 2000 years ago he sent his son to live as a human, have him murdered for sins we haven't yet committed, Bring him back to life and take him back to heaven unless they are told it by someone.

But a lot of people do end up believing exactly that. Do they believe this because of reason or evidence? No, They believe it because that is what they have been told. If as an adult they stumbled across the bible in a book shop would they come to the conclusion after reading it that it makes sense and must be true if they hadn't already been told from birth that they are a christian, or told that they live in a christian nation? Highly unlikely, Unless they are mentally ill, In which case they may also believe they are Admiral Nelson.

Hopefully now you will see how theism requires not only a belief in a god, But it also requires a society or parents to convince you of a specific god and it needs to convince you that they know what he wants.

Nobody needs to be convinced to be an Atheist. A disbelief in a god is a natural as a disbelief in any mythical monster. Theism however requires you to be convinced of something you have been told.

Richard Dawkins May Start Video Production Company

The Richard Dawkins Foundation is looking in to the idea of starting a video production company to videotape lectures, speeches, presentations, interviews and maybe documentary's on the subject of Atheism.

This project is still in the initial stages and to keep costs to a minimum they are looking for volunteers from around the world who have the necessary equipment and skills to video events in high quality.

So if you have (Or know someone with) the necessary equipment and skills, If you know of useful contacts, if you have stock footage they could use in edits or if you are able to create logos or designs head over to the Richard Dawkins forum and announce your willingness to lend a hand. they are looking for people from all over the world.

Hairdresser Sued For Not Hiring Muslim In Headscarf

The owner of a hair salon is being sued for religious discrimination for refusing to hire a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf. Sarah Desrosiers, 32, says she turned down Bushra Noah as a junior stylist to maintain the image of her salon, which specialises in "urban, funky" cuts.

She told Miss Noah, 19, she needed her staff to display their hairstyles to the public. But the devout Muslim insisted that wearing her headscarf was essential to her beliefs.

Miss Noah, who has been rejected for 25 different hairdressing jobs after interviews, is suing Miss Desrosiers for more than £15,000 for injury to her feelings plus an unspecified sum for lost earnings.

I am getting sick of people crying "discrimination" because they don't get their own way all the time. religious discrimination is supposed to be about discrimination based on your religion, Not about the practicality of your religious practices in the work place. If your headscarf is essential to your beliefs then don't apply for a job in a hairdressers, it's as simple as that.

Are Agnostics Fence Sitting Cowards?

There are a lot of terms used to describe someone who has no belief in a god. These terms include Atheist, Bright, freethinker, Humanist and Agnostic. Today i would like to discuss the term "agnostic", What an agnostic is, what they believe and why i feel they are fence sitters and religious apologists.

The above terms all have one thing in common, None see any evidence of a god and none have any belief in a god. But while all concede that, while entirely unlikely, there is a possibility that a god does exist only the agnostic feels compelled to define themselves based on the possibility of something completely unlikely being true.

If one were to ask an Atheist, A Bright, A freethinker or a humanist if there were a god they would all likely answer "No, I don't believe there is", But should one ask the same question to an agnostic their reply would be "I don't know, possibly".

While it may appear that what they are saying is logical, After all we have no evidence that god doesn't exist, It isn't practical to concede the possibility any more than it is practical to concede the possibility of fairies, Elves, a teapot orbiting the sun or the flying spaghetti monster.

If someone were to say they were agnostic towards fairies, The FSM or elves would they garner the same respect as someone who is agnostic towards a supernatural god? it's unlikely.

I believe this attitude is religiously apologetic and stems from a similar kind of indoctrination that causes the religious to claim there is a god. The agnostic has been partially tricked, While not to the extent of a believer, That the idea of god is somehow protected, That it has some special place and that, While unlikely, Is still possible.

It also seems to be the case that the agnostic is only agnostic towards the judeo/christian god. If they were to concede the possibility of Allah for example they would have to concede that the Jihad, Ritual killings and the decapitation of 12 year olds may also possibly be moral. So it's very dangerous ground on which the agnostic treads. In everything, we have to be careful what we concede the possibility of and we certainly never define ourselves based on what may be possible.

If Religion Is So Popular Why Is It Never On Digg?

The point is often made that religion is more popular now than it ever has been and that Atheists are still a tiny minority with no say, no power and no influence.

If that is the case why has a pro-religion article never made the front page of digg and never made the popular list on reddit? surely if religion really was as popular as claimed stories promoting it would be submitted to digg and followers would certainly 'digg it'.

Over the last month or so our blog (GBG) has made the front page of digg on numerous occasions, Twice offering evidence for evolution [2], Once promoting videos which will be played to presidential candidates asking questions about the role of religion in politics and once promoting Richard Dawkins and the prospect of him writing a book for children.

It seems strange that the "popular" idea of religion in it's entirety should be beaten by one single blog that is only a few months old.

No doubt the argument will be made that digg isn't a suitable outlet for religion as it is a site that mainly caters for technology, but if that is the case why has a blog about Atheism been so popular on digg?

I think the answer is right in front of our faces. The answer is that religion isn't that popular anymore. Atheism is more popular than ever and the youth of today are intellectually aware and interested in articles that promote logic, reasoning and arguments based on observable, testable evidence.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who voted on the videos. Hopefully the votes you cast should keep at least one of the videos in the top ten for the next week and we will have a question (maybe 2) put to the presidential candidates. No doubt i will make another post about the videos after the answers are given. Thanks again.

And to the christians who tried to rally the troops and down vote the videos, better luck next time, i guess your numbers just aren't comparable to the numbers amassed by the Atheist movement.

Fred Phelps Hissy Fit Over $11 Million Fine - Video

Hate mongering soldier of god Fred Phelps throws a hissy fit during a phone interview with CNN's Rick Sanchez.

Fred Phelps was recently ordered to pay Albert Snyder nearly $11 million compensation for protesting at the funeral of Mr Snyders son, A marine who lost his life in Iraq last year.

Apparently Fred Phelps thinks the fine is a bigger injustice than his disrespectful rantings directed and grieving mothers, Fathers and family members who have lost loved ones. Hopefully this fine will set a president and hopefully it will encourage other families to take Westboro Baptist Church to court, Don't stop until these people have lost everything.

Cry me a river Fred, You filthy excuse for a human.

Richard Dawkins May Write Book For Children

Professor Richard Dawkins, In response to a question at AAI 07, Said that he is contemplating the idea of writing a book for children.

Richard Dawkins was at AAI 07 this year and after his very interesting talk he gave some time to answering some questions from the audience.

During the question and answer session someone from the audience asked; ".. For your next books are you going to go back to science and evolution or are you going to stay with the topic of religion and god?"

Richard Dawkins answered; "I have just finished editing a book of good science writing for oxford university press, I didn't write that i edited it, So that is a partial answer to your question. I was thinking i could try my hand at a children's book, I don't know whether that would work, I haven't started it yet, But i thought i might try to do a children's book about how to think for yourself and how to ask questions about interesting topics and how you might go about answering them, Which might be subversive to religion but i don't think would be explicit about that".

This would be a great step by Richard and something I'm sure he would do very well. He has always impressed me with his ability to explain fairly complicated things in a way that is easy to understand.

It's also good that it won't be a book denouncing religion and god, Because like Richard said at AAI, Teaching a child to be Atheist is as bad as teaching them to be religions. But teaching them to be inquisitive, logical and encouraging them to ask questions is something that even the most fundamental christian would have a hard time arguing against, Though no doubt they would try.

Is America Unofficially A Theocracy? Make Your Next President Answer It

If there is one thing politicians like to do it's dodge questions. well here is your chance to make them answer two very important questions regarding the role of religion in American politics.



The maker of the videos has received emails from religious groups telling him that they have been rallying the troops to collectively vote down his videos. Don't let him down people, he is doing this for you so spare him 2 minutes of your time and vote for his videos so that these important questions can be put to the presidential candidates.

PLEASE VOTE

Religion Is No Excuse For Inequality

AS HER husband works to bring about peace between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims, Cherie Blair yesterday put both religions in the dock over their unequal treatment of women.

With characteristic aplomb, she attacked the continuing inequality of women's role in world religion and said differences of culture or religion could not be used as a justification for denying equal rights.

She denounced the treatment of women on religious grounds as a "distortion" of the true message of faiths such as Islam.

While i agree with Cherie Blair's intention i have to disagree that inequality is a "distortion" of the true message of faiths, I see inequality as being it's primary intention.

I am yet to encounter a single religion that views women as equals and i have yet to find a single religion which allow women the same rights as men. Christopher Hitchens recently said (i think at AAI) that women will be the key to abolishing religion from society, That they, More than anyone, Should be fighting for the abolition of religion. He likened it to a slave defending the plantation.

Take Britain for example. Muslim women seek the right to wear Hijabs and Burkahs, And British law grants that right. In reality though the more important right they posses is the right to not wear the Hijab or Burkah. They have the right to not abide by rules written by men thousands of miles away hundreds of years ago. Instead of celebrating their right to be free from inequality they seek instead the right to remain oppressed. Only religion could make someone fight that fight.

It doesn't take much in the way of research to find out about women's roles in religion and it takes even less time to see that religion views women as little more than animals.

In Islam

In Islam the scholars (Ulema's) decide what the women should wear in the company of men, What parts of the body should be covered and whether women are allowed to own property or not. it's also worth pointing out that Ulema's are always men.

In some Islamic states women are stoned for being raped, Beaten for leaving home without a man and have their fingernails pulled out for wearing nail varnish. On the other hand men are allowed to marry and divorce every 24 hours, This is to bypass sex without marriage laws. The woman has no right to request a divorce and would probably be killed for such insubordination.

In Catholicism

In Catholicism abortions and contraception aren't allowed and women are seen as nothing more than baby factories who's purpose is to increase the numbers. All Popes have been men and up until recently women weren't allowed to be ordained as priests.

In Judaism

Up until recently women in Judaism were not permitted to engage in any education beyond the Torah.

In Hinduism

Hinduism states that a women has no property, and wealth earned is for the husband alone.