Addressing The Rant By Doug Giles

The Atheists days are numbered, According to Doug Giles (Yeah, I've never heard of him either). But why, You ask. Is it because organised religion has found some testable evidence to support the idea of god? Is it because they have found the keystone holding up Darwinian evolution and pulled it out? or is it because they have found a prediction in the bible that could only have been made by a supreme being? it's much worse than that! A couple of christians have written two books regurgitating every argument ever used by religion. yes, The same arguments we have kicked to death over and over.

According to Doug, these two books are going to provide answers that christians can use to "shut Atheists up", Though skimming through Dougs post it seems the books are more of a collection of facile points that have already been proven incorrect.

And if that wasn't enough to get you shaking in your little Atheist boots, One of the books is written by Dinesh D’Souza - A quick look through some of his blog posts at AOL will show you what kind of opponent he is going to be against the likes of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. D’Souza's arguments seem to exclusively hide behind the fact that Atheists can't disprove god.

Although Doug Giles' tone and approach to reasonable discussion leads me to suspect he is a bit of a plastic christian, You know the type, Only wear their religion as a badge when they are looking for justification to rant mindlessly, It's only fair that i address some of the fallacious arguments regurgitated by him.

When the pissy God haters tell you the Bible condones slavery, you can remind them that slavery was abolished only when devout Christians, inspired by the Bible, launched a campaign in the early 1800s to abolish the slave trade.

In true christian style Doug is fast out of the blocks with a plain faced lie. If he had done even the slightest amount of research on the subject (i.e. Paid attention in school) he would know that slavery was abolished in the US largely due to it's opposition by the Free Soil Party and in the UK by William Wilberforce. He is right on one thing, The inspiration for the abolition of slavery did come from a book. Unfortunately for Doug that book happens to be "The rights of man" written by Thomas Paine, A staunch opponent of christian doctrine.

So not only has Doug decided to ignore the fact that the bible (his god) explicitly condones slavery, He has gone so far as to accredit it's abolition to the very book which at the time gave complete justification for slavery.

When the screechin’ teachers tell you the Bible has been proven false by archaeology, hark back and show them that each year a new archaeological discovery substantiates the existence of people, places and events we once knew solely from biblical sources, including the discovery of the Moabite stone in 1868, which mentions numerous places in the Bible, and the discovery of an inscription in 1961 that proves the existence of the biblical figure Pontius Pilate, just to name a few.

Don't you just love this logic? According to Doug if a book contains a few truths, it all must be true! The bible mentions real places, ergo, Jesus is the son of god. It amazes me that these claims can be made with a straight face. You are joking Doug, Right? Do the religious have logical thought surgically removed shortly after indoctrination?

When they tell you that Christianity and the Bible justify war and genocide, unsympathetically remind them that societies which rejected biblical morality in favor of a more “rational” and “scientific” approach to politics murdered millions upon millions more than the Crusades or the Inquisition ever did. ...... “The Crusades, the Inquisition, the Galileo affair, and witch hunts together make up less than 1% of the murders that have occurred during modern atheist regimes like Stalin, Hitler, and Mao.”

This is my favorite. Not because it's the point that has been most kicked to death by Atheists, Not because it tries to brush the murder and torture done by christianity under the carpet by comparing it to oppressive, Fascist regimes, But because Doug, Like every other christian, Has made the false claim that Hitler was an Atheist! What planet are you on Doug? Hitler was a devout catholic who, On many occasions, Justified his attempted eradication of the Jews by comparing his plight to Jesus' battle against "Jewish poison", He met the pope on many occasions and even had "God with us" on the belt buckle of every Nazi soldier. I had previously written a whole blog post on Hitlers christian belief, So i will move on.

You mention Stalin and Mao as well. I will grant that they were atheists, And they killed a lot of people. but their killing wasn't done in the name of Atheism. They killed because they ran oppressive regimes and they were dictatorial fascists. And if there is one thing a dictatorial fascist doesn't want it is people believing there is a god which is higher than he is. They want absolute control.

No bout the same facile arguments will continue to be presented by the religious and no doubt us Atheists will be obliged to kick each and every argument to death ad nauseam like we have done for the last 100 years. But i just wish they would come up with something new. It's bad enough when they are reduced to regurgitating scripted questions, But i feel cheapened every time i am forced to regurgitate scripted answers.

How Endogenous Retroviruses Prove Evolution

A lot of evidence out there proves evolution beyond all reasonable doubt. It ranges from the similarity between our own DNA and that of the chimpanzee all the way up to chimp chromosome #13.

Today I'd like to talk about Endogenous Retroviruses, How they prove evolution and how they prove that we and the chimpanzee, At some point in the past, Shared a common ancestor.

For those who don't know Endogenous Retroviruses are molecular remnants of a past parasitic viral infection. Occasionally, copies of a retrovirus genome are found in its host’s genome, and these retroviral gene copies are called endogenous retroviral sequences. Retroviruses make a DNA copy of their own viral genome and insert it into their host’s genome. If this happens to a germ line cell (i.e. the sperm or egg cells) the retroviral DNA will be inherited by descendants of the host.

So what does this mean and how does it prove evolution? Well, When a Retrovirus infects the host it will leave behind a tell tale sign, Like a calling card, In the hosts genome. This calling card is then passed on to the hosts offspring in cases where the genome change was made in a Germ cell.

So if evolution is correct we should find that we share Retrovirus DNA with chimpanzees, And we do, At numerous locations in our genome. Could this be a coincidence? Well it could, But it is highly unlikely. For it to be a coincidence humans and chimpanzees would have had to get infected by the same viruses and have the viruses insert the DNA change in exactly the same place. So as humans have around 3 billion base pairs and retroviruses generally insert their DNA randomly it's impossible that ourselves and chimpanzees would have the same instances of retrovirus DNA at the same locations unless we inherited it from a common ancestor.

This evidence is even more compelling when we learn that we share multiple instances of retrovirus DNA with chimpanzees, All of which occur in the same locations in our genome. The odds against this happening by chance in a genome with 3 billion base pairs is astronomical.

Progress Halted Because Of Hindu God And Army Of Monkeys

The Indian government has withdrawn a controversial report submitted in court earlier this week which questioned the existence of the Hindu god Ram. The report was withdrawn after huge protests by opposition parties.

The report was presented to the Supreme Court on Wednesday in connection with a case against a proposed shipping canal project between India and Sri Lanka.

Hindu hardliners say the project will destroy what they say is a bridge built by Ram and his army of monkeys.

Scientists and archaeologists say the Ram Setu (Lord Ram's bridge) - or Adam's Bridge as it is sometimes called - is a natural formation of sand and stones.

In their report submitted to the court, the government and the Archaeological Survey of India questioned the belief, saying it was solely based on the Hindu mythological epic Ramayana. They said there was no scientific evidence to prove that the events described in Ramayana ever took place or that the characters depicted in the epic were real.

Hindu activists say the bridge was built by Lord Ram's monkey army to travel to Sri Lanka and has religious significance.

In the last two days, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a scathing attack on the government for questioning the "faith of the million".

Christians Oppose Anti-Hate Law

Jack Straw this week outlined plans to introduce new laws protecting people from "hate" based on their sexuality or perceived sexuality.

Under the proposal it would be considered a crime to incite hatred against homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and heterosexual people. Mr Straw said: “It is a measure of how far we have come as a society in the past ten years that we are now appalled by hatred and invective directed at people on the basis of their sexuality. It is time for the law to recognise this.”

So naturally the only people in modern England to oppose these new anti-hate laws are the Christians. Christians believe these new anti-hate laws could be used against them. Which is a bit like a Nazi saying anti-racism laws could be used against them. Yeah, That's kind of the point, The laws are to stop you using someones sexuality as a tool of hate.

Colin Hart, director of the conservative evangelical Christian Institute, said: “In a democratic society people must be free to express their beliefs without fear of censure. A homophobic hatred law would be used by those with an axe to grind against Christians to silence them. There have already been high-profile cases of the police interfering with free speech and religious liberty regarding sexual ethics. People shouldn’t face prison for expressing their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

No, Colin. What people have to realise is that just because they believe something, No matter how sincerely, it doesn't give them a right to say it. So stop hiding behind your "belief" as an excuse or reason for spouting venomous hate towards anybody you disagree with.

And let's be honest, Christians are usually the first ones to hide behind censorship as a way of stopping the rest of us doing, Seeing, saying or reading something that they disagree with. Remember their attempt to ban Harry Potter on the grounds of satanic messages?

God Tells Oral Roberts Son To "Deny Lurid Allegations"

Twenty years ago, televangelist Oral Roberts said he was reading a spy novel when God appeared to him and told him to raise $8 million for Roberts' university, or else he would be "called home."

Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says God is speaking again, telling him to deny lurid allegations in a lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in scandal.

Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay.

She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."

At a chapel service this week on the 5,300-student campus known for its 60-foot-tall bronze sculpture of praying hands, Roberts said God told him: "We live in a litigious society. Anyone can get mad and file a lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or not. This lawsuit ... is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion."

When a student was asked to repair Roberts laptop he discovered a document that detailed many instances of alleged misconduct Among them:

• A longtime maintenance employee was fired so that an underage male friend of Mrs. Roberts could have his position.

• Mrs. Roberts — who is a member of the board of regents and is referred to as ORU's "first lady" on the university's Web site — frequently had cell-phone bills of more than $800 per month, with hundreds of text messages sent between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. to "underage males who had been provided phones at university expense."

• The university jet was used to take one daughter and several friends on a senior trip to Orlando, Fla., and the Bahamas. The $29,411 trip was billed to the ministry as an "evangelistic function of the president."

• Mrs. Roberts spent more than $39,000 at one Chico's clothing store alone in less than a year, and had other accounts in Texas and California. She also repeatedly said, "As long as I wear it once on TV, we can charge it off." The document cites inconsistencies in clothing purchases and actual usage on TV.

• Mrs. Roberts was given a white Lexus SUV and a red Mercedes convertible by ministry donors.

• University and ministry employees are regularly summoned to the Roberts' home to do the daughters' homework.

• The university and ministry maintain a stable of horses for exclusive use by the Roberts' children.

• The Roberts' home has been remodeled 11 times in the past 14 years.

Tim Brooker, one of the professors who sued, said he fears for the university's survival if certain changes aren't made.

"All over that campus, there are signs up that say, `And God said, build me a university, build it on my authority, and build it on the Holy Spirit,'" Brooker said. "Unfortunately, ownership has shifted."

Top 10 Banned Books In America

It seems the religious right are still stamping their feet, But this time they aren't telling us what we can do or say, They are telling us what we can read.

Here is a list of the ten most banned books in America (By most banned we mean banned in most states). Thanks to the American Library Association who compile this list for giving us an insight in to what really pisses the religious off.

"And Tango Makes Three" - for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;

"Gossip Girls" - for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;

"Alice" - for sexual content and offensive language;

"The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things" - for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

"The Bluest Eye" - for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

"Scary Stories" - for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;

"Athletic Shorts" - for homosexuality and offensive language;

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" - for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;

"Beloved" - for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group;

"The Chocolate War" - for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.

They sure don't like homosexuality those Christians. Makes one wonder why their god would have created them in the first place.

If i had my way the christian bible would be on this list for genocide, infanticide, murder, incest, Telling people to "rip open pregnant women" and various other horrific acts.

If you can get your hands on any of these book do society a favour. Buy a few copies and leave them in place of the bible in various Churches.

Artificial Life In The Lab, Coming Soon

Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.

The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming.

Mr Venter told the Guardian he thought this landmark would be "a very important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before".

The Guardian can reveal that a team of 20 top scientists assembled by Mr Venter, led by the Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, has already constructed a synthetic chromosome, a feat of virtuoso bio-engineering never previously achieved. Using lab-made chemicals, they have painstakingly stitched together a chromosome that is 381 genes long and contains 580,000 base pairs of genetic code.

The DNA sequence is based on the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium which the team pared down to the bare essentials needed to support life, removing a fifth of its genetic make-up. The wholly synthetically reconstructed chromosome, which the team have christened Mycoplasma laboratorium, has been watermarked with inks for easy recognition.

It is then transplanted into a living bacterial cell and in the final stage of the process it is expected to take control of the cell and in effect become a new life form. The team of scientists has already successfully transplanted the genome of one type of bacterium into the cell of another, effectively changing the cell's species. Mr Venter said he was "100% confident" the same technique would work for the artificially created chromosome.

Evolution Saving Elephants From Poachers

Evolution is saving elephants in Africa by producing herds with tiny tusks or none at all, which provides no profit for poachers and thus ensures the survival of the species. Natural selection at work, Right before our eyes.

The phenomenon has been noticed in all parts of Africa where hunting has been going on longest, with both trophy hunters and poachers always shooting the elephants with the biggest tusks.

A survey in the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda in the 1930s showed that only 1 percent of adult elephants were without tusks. Then it was regarded as a rare mutation.

This year Eve Abe, of the Ugandan wildlife authority, found that 30 percent of adult elephants in the same area were without tusks. Richard Barnwell, World Wide Fund for Nature conservation officer for Africa, said the trend towards elephants having smaller tusks or none had been noticed all over the Savannah area of West Africa, where elephants had been hunted longest.

All the elephants with genes that produce big tusks have been taken out of the population. Those that remain either have small tusks or none at all.

Top 10 Signs You Are A Fundamental Christian

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8- You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the
scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find
nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving.

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

Evil Bible

Creation Nuts Get Government Funding

Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter earmarked $100,000 for a group, headed by former political associates, that opposes teaching evolution in schools.

The money is set aside for the Louisiana Family Forum in the labor, health and education financing bill for fiscal 2008, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Sunday. The group is being paid “to develop a plan to promote better science education.”

The forum is slated to use the funds to write a report on ways to improve science education in Louisiana, but critics say support for the group -- which once produced a “battle plan” to fight the idea of evolution -- is really support for religious teaching in public schools.

I wonder how much money i can get to teach my pig-monkey theory