1. Richard Dawkins interviewed by John Humphrys on Cardinal Murphy O'Connor

Comment #177755 by CJ22 on May 9, 2008 at 3:54 pm

How can the Cardinal be denied a public platform? He has a fucking cathedral! The idea that secular society is engagesd in silencing the church(es) is ridiculous. They're free to start their own TV channel if they wish to - it's not like they don't have enough money. I don't see why they should be given free reign to pronounce unchallenged on my quid.

Fides, you're being obtuse just to avoid admitting you're wrong. Admit defeat gracefully instead of resorting to snide and illogical debating dodges, or the next time you have a decent point (as you occasionally do) people won't be reading any more.

2. Pat Condell: Anthology DVD available now!

Comment #173651 by CJ22 on May 1, 2008 at 3:28 am

My grandmother had a saying on manners in public;

"If you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all."

3. Investigating Atheism

Comment #167602 by CJ22 on April 24, 2008 at 7:49 am

The site owner is one David Goode, and his email address is djg39@cus.cam.ac.uk. He tells lies.

4. Investigating Atheism

Comment #167445 by CJ22 on April 24, 2008 at 3:51 am

This site is a subtle piece of propaganda. Clearly "Lying for Jesus (tm)" is seen as an excellent way for Oxford theologians to pass the time. I guess we shouldn't be too surprised that theologians have too much time on their hands, given that their chosen profession is a non-subject. Can't we force these people to get proper jobs?

5. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #167435 by CJ22 on April 24, 2008 at 3:30 am

"I too entered the Lager as a nonbeliever, and as a nonbeliever I was liberated. Actually, the experience of the Lager with its frightful iniquity confirmed me in my nonbelief".

6. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #166217 by CJ22 on April 23, 2008 at 2:31 am

Winston: "Well maybe so, but science isn't perfect either and Dennett doesn't know everything about religion so there!"

Epic fail. To be honest, I actually expected better from Winston than this feeble wounded apology for unreason. If Winston (who is undeniably a very clever clogs) can't summon up a decent excuse for the ills committed by religion other than the "No True Scotsman" fallacy, the God of the gaps, a dash of post hoc ergo propter hoc, and Pascal's Dumbass Wager (which has at least 20 solid refutations that I'm aware of), then religion is well and truly embuggered.

I died a little reading this nonsense from an intelligent, thinking man.

7. If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?

Comment #165662 by CJ22 on April 22, 2008 at 2:22 am

Happy clappy atheists? Other people's rules? Disaproving peer pressure? Screw that. It's woo-woo without the cassocks.

As for science and reason not visiting you in hospital, neither will Jebus. Science will however be the cause of you getting OUT of hospital. For hospital visits I'll rely on my mates.

8. British schools are falling for the pseudoscience of Brain Gym. Why fill kids' heads with nonsense?

Comment #161167 by CJ22 on April 15, 2008 at 1:53 am

Yahoo! Go Charlie...

9. Religious education as a part of literary culture

Comment #161163 by CJ22 on April 15, 2008 at 1:37 am

I have to say I disagree with the prof on this one. Being obliged to study the bible is about like being obliged to study a tract on sado-masochism. The bible may have its poetical and literary sections, but it should be strictly limited to over-18s. It's a disgusting filthy document, and I'd be perfectly happy to see it fall into disuse.

10. Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art

Comment #160364 by CJ22 on April 14, 2008 at 1:56 am

So Russell T. Davies uses a bit of religious language (ironically, presumably, since he's an atheist), therefore secularism is just the same as religion and the whole secularist project fails? This straw man is so big it's blotting out the sun.

Ravenhill sets his own premise, his own conclusions and proves himself in a spectacular example of question-begging and circular logic. It's exactly wrong in almost every particular. One is tempted to scream "[citation needed]" and send him back to his desk with an "F". It's such a big bucket 'o fail in fact, one wonders how one could be so off the beam without doing it deliberately.

This article has become my new benchmark for atheist-buttery.

11. Who wants to kill the elderly?

Comment #153853 by CJ22 on April 2, 2008 at 6:47 am

Alcohol is heavily taxed in the UK. Religion, rather the reverse. I'd be much more sanguine about religion if it suffered regular tax increases in the annual budget, like most other vices do.

12. Writer Arthur C Clarke dies at 90

Comment #146384 by CJ22 on March 19, 2008 at 2:58 am

"The City And The Stars" is a spine-tingler in its scale.

13. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141182 by CJ22 on March 10, 2008 at 6:44 am

The country which has contributed the most to scientific advancement during the last hundred years will continue to do so in the future I think.

14. What's the Point of the Archbishop of Canterbury?

Comment #139168 by CJ22 on March 5, 2008 at 8:49 am

If you have a hierarchical organisation, then somebody has to be at the top of said hierarchy. In order to justify that position, the head of the hierarchy has to do 'in charge' kinda things. The question should be 'is the archbishop actually neccesary', to which the answer is of course 'fuck, no.'

15. America: slouching towards the Enlightenment

Comment #135520 by CJ22 on February 29, 2008 at 4:03 am

What, no Jedi??

16. US Treaty with Tripoli

Comment #135509 by CJ22 on February 29, 2008 at 3:55 am

I always found this argument an odd one, from either side of the debate. Who cares what the 'founding fathers' intended? What's that got to do with today. It's dumbass logic like that that keeps gun manufacturers in business, when the 2nd amendment was clearly designed for a largely empty continent full of hostile forces, not today's America. The 'founding fathers' were a collection of elite, wealthy, land-owning, slave-owning gentry. If such people attempted to 'control public policy' today they'd get the political kicking they deserved.

17. How he was sentenced to die

Comment #133971 by CJ22 on February 27, 2008 at 5:17 am

I'm pretty sure that if the US and the UK threatened to withdraw their military and financial support if no judicial reform was forthcoming, we'd see this issue dealt with right quick.

18. The argument from oranges

Comment #128814 by CJ22 on February 18, 2008 at 2:45 am

Actually, I found his comments quite pithy...

I'll get me coat.

19. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #125141 by CJ22 on February 11, 2008 at 2:49 am

Heck, Bill Bryson gets my vote. His work on the English language and on what-we-don't-know-about-Shakespeare were interesting too, but not sciencey enough I'm sure.

20. Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

Comment #123989 by CJ22 on February 8, 2008 at 5:09 am

Ditto what Noodly said. He's actually appealing for more religious privileges in general, knowing that as the dominant religion, his will benefit the most. He's not the gormless hippy people seem to think he is.

21. Apologetic billboard replaces atheistic sign

Comment #123346 by CJ22 on February 7, 2008 at 2:36 am

I suspect that at least one of those "couple of complaints" came from the pastor of her regular god-bothering shack, so she's just trying to dig herself out of a hole with her fellow mentalists.

Presumably it said "Freedom From Religion Foundation" on the bleeding cheque she cashed!

22. Science Debate 2008

Comment #122786 by CJ22 on February 6, 2008 at 4:42 am

Ask 'em how far they'd go to find oil.

23. Happy Birthday Josh Timonen!

Comment #118795 by CJ22 on January 31, 2008 at 1:57 am

Happy birthday Josh and great work on the site. You make a massive difference and touch a lot of people (so the rumour has it!).

24. New atheists or new anti-dogmatists?

Comment #117945 by CJ22 on January 30, 2008 at 3:30 am

Is Occam's Razor a scientific dogma?

25. Dawkins is third most prolific internet Briton

Comment #117932 by CJ22 on January 30, 2008 at 2:37 am

Sophie Ellis-Bexter at #27?? The one-hit-wonder-from-ten-years-ago Sophie Ellis-Bexter??? How? Are there nude photos I'm not aware of.

That list is weird. No Ricky Gervais, despite having the most downloaded podcast of all time (in Guinness, no less). I too think Karl Pilkington should be on there.

26. Banks are helping sharia make a back-door entrance

Comment #117012 by CJ22 on January 28, 2008 at 3:52 am

Overblown tosh. In countries where religions are given tax breaks and preferential treatment in our civil institutions, sharia banking, vapid as it is, is the least of our problems.

27. The real danger in Darwin is not evolution, but racism

Comment #115318 by CJ22 on January 24, 2008 at 2:19 am

What a towering straw-man he's constructed.

I do wonder what these people think they mean by 'Darwinism'. What the hell is it? Nobody's promoting teaching it in schools, as far as I can see, they're promoting teaching evolution. Are we to start referring to things like 'Newtonism' when teaching about gravity now? Or 'Einsteinism' when talking about relativity?

28. Dinesh D'Souza: Winner of the 2007 Bad Faith Award

Comment #112372 by CJ22 on January 17, 2008 at 1:58 am

D'Souza is about as intellectually dishonest as they come. One wonders if it's a marvelous example of compartmentalized thinking that he actually believes his own bullshit. If he's wise enough to see his own tactics for what they are, one wonders what he thinks his god thinks of such shennanigans.

I have no doubt he sees this award as a huge compliment and a boost to his ego. No doubt in a few weeks time he'll be claiming he nominated himself for it, or at least voted for himself. The man is a supreme cock.

29. Science, Evolution, and Creationism

Comment #111918 by CJ22 on January 16, 2008 at 2:27 am

We've evolved to be more complex. Quantifying how 'evolved' we are is a meaningless concept. But not all species are necessarily equally fit simply because they're still extant, since some might be in the process of 'failing'. You could argue that barnacles are more fit than humans, since they can exist almost anywhere there's salt water, and we need artificial support to live outside of all but the most human-benign environment.

Actually, making comparisons is a waste of time. It's like a race where we all started at different times, from different places, and everybody has there own finish line.

30. 'Letter to a Christian Nation' now available in paperback

Comment #111198 by CJ22 on January 14, 2008 at 2:13 am

I Ebayed my hardback copy (along with many other books) in an attempt to make some space. As a book fetishist, I've regretted it ever since. So I expect I'll get the paperback, especially as it has 20 extra pages of Harrisy goodness.

@Matt7895: Postage rates from Amazon US are very reasonable.

31. Another critic who hasn't read the book

Comment #109234 by CJ22 on January 8, 2008 at 4:02 pm

I'd consider the ad hominems a compliment professor. If that's all they got, then we're on the right track. If nothing else, you've proved that honesty is not derived from religion.

32. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109229 by CJ22 on January 8, 2008 at 3:50 pm

@krisking: Ha, ha, nice one. Nobody ever said that on these forums. That bit about Dawkins having worshippers etc. Awesome original thinking! Laugh? I nearly did! you rok!

33. The OUT Campaign has its own Flea!

Comment #106472 by CJ22 on January 3, 2008 at 2:24 am

Sin sin sin sin sin! It really is a slaves religion isn't it?

34. New journal to target education in evolution

Comment #103836 by CJ22 on December 27, 2007 at 2:54 am

I wonder if he understands, for instance, why vaccines need to keep up with evolving microorganisms, or why it's important to complete a course of antibiotics.

35. Blair converts to Catholicism

Comment #102618 by CJ22 on December 23, 2007 at 9:56 am

"Things can only get better" me arse.

36. Blair converts to Catholicism

Comment #102427 by CJ22 on December 22, 2007 at 6:06 pm

Blair: "I didn't discuss my religious beliefs because in this country people think you are a nutter if you're overtly religious!"
Me: "Don't you think you ought to have discussed these beliefs when you were running for office? Don't we have the right to know what sort of world-view any potential leader has?"

Blair only became a catholic because Catholicism grants absolution in a way that Anglicanism does not. Maybe he's worried about Iraq. A creepy guy just got creepier.

37. God rest you merry atheist

Comment #100437 by CJ22 on December 18, 2007 at 3:49 pm

If moderate christianity enables fundementalism, then so does 'cultural' christianity. If the professor considers himself a cultural christian, then he should take his own advise and outgrow it. Cultural christianity is bullying, indoctrination, unthinking acceptance, hypocrisy, shallow and vacuous, and the professor is simply wrong on this issue, imho.

38. U.S. Congress Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith

Comment #98109 by CJ22 on December 13, 2007 at 4:48 am

why I moved to Russia and don't vote anymore

39. Believe it or not

Comment #97388 by CJ22 on December 12, 2007 at 2:19 am

The Reality-based Community.

40. 'Boycott Worked': Compass Flops - Opening Weekend $26 Million; Narnia $63 Million

Comment #96886 by CJ22 on December 11, 2007 at 3:51 am

"I haven't run into anyone any damned good who uses the phrase "chattering class"."

Agreed. The phrase belongs on the junk-pile along with the word "brigade". It's anti-intellectual bullshit, and anybody who deploys it should have their limbs removed with a rusty spoon.

41. Atheists' sign sparks controversy

Comment #96388 by CJ22 on December 10, 2007 at 1:15 pm

Ah Americans do so love their annual War Against Christmas tradition.

42. In the Beginning was the Song

Comment #96387 by CJ22 on December 10, 2007 at 1:13 pm

Well there's a happy coincidence. I've been discussing precisely this topic on another forum. Now I have some ammo :) Cheers Admin!

43. Mitt Romney's Faith In America address (as prepared for delivery)

Comment #95268 by CJ22 on December 7, 2007 at 7:31 pm

I'm told New Zealand is very nice.

44. Holy Nonsense

Comment #95234 by CJ22 on December 7, 2007 at 4:33 pm

Clearly he isn't worried about offending secularists. Too small a voting block? But when push comes to shove, he'll risk offending mormons before he risks offending the christian right, for the simple reason that not only are their more of the christian right, they run the party he will be running on behalf of. Mormons can expect to be disapointed in the white horse or whatever the hell he's supposed to be. Secularists, can, of course, go fuck themselves.

45. Merry Mithras 2007

Comment #94972 by CJ22 on December 7, 2007 at 4:48 am

"It's an interesting direction to start your Christmas special with..."

rofl.

46. Mitt Romney's Faith In America address (as prepared for delivery)

Comment #94965 by CJ22 on December 7, 2007 at 4:27 am

Americans, you have my deepest sympathy, and my best wishes in these troubled times. I fear for you, genuinely.

47. Sherri Shepherd needs to go away now

Comment #94617 by CJ22 on December 6, 2007 at 4:10 am

She's just a Sherri trifle.

48. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc. were atheists, and they were terrible! Answer that!

Comment #94240 by CJ22 on December 5, 2007 at 4:27 am

How many people did God kill?

http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com/2007/01/how-many-has-god-killed-complete-list.html

If anybody could find a link to how many people RELIGION has killed we can add them together.

49. Finding My Religion: An Interview With Shalom Auslander

Comment #94218 by CJ22 on December 5, 2007 at 3:31 am

I've always been an atheist and was born in a secular society with very little attempt at indoctrination, so it's hard for me to understand Shalom's position. It seems like intellectually he's perfectly well aware that the God of his religion makes no sense, but all the same he's unable to shake that construct off. It says much for his character that while emotionally still believing in the Big Sky Bully, he's nevertheless not prepared to give it the time of day it demands, and is perfectly willing to tell it to go screw itself.

We all hold irrational beliefs. Often they're more visceral than anything else. I don't believe in ghosts, not even a little bit, but I can nevertheless cause a shiver down my own spine just by thinking about ghosts in the dark. That doesn't mean deep down I believe in ghosts, it just means the body has trouble distinguishing between real beliefs and imagined ones.

Anyhoo, respect to Shalom for his struggle. I've never walked in his footsteps, so I can't say I 'get it', but I wish him well in his struggle towards the light of reason.

50. Nurses Told to Turn Muslims' Beds to Mecca

Comment #94214 by CJ22 on December 5, 2007 at 3:14 am

"Yes, a quick tug from matron is the answer."

You only get that in private hospitals