1. Life after Jehovah's Witnesses: website offers help to followers who lose their faith

Comment #175962 by Bob Johnson on May 6, 2008 at 9:38 am

I hope some of the US dollars we donate to RDF make their way into British pounds to help organizations such as this group.

exjw provides a banner for other websites to use. While richarddawkins,net does have an "Atheist Resources" link it might be nice to have a "recovering" link and a page of helpful resources

2. Deadly Sins 101

Comment #144005 by Bob Johnson on March 14, 2008 at 9:02 pm

To really understand about sin, try Father Guido Sarducci at www.fathersarducci.com

He knows all about the subject.

3. This deadly religious resistance to vaccinations

Comment #97350 by Bob Johnson on December 11, 2007 at 11:53 pm

Yes, it is getting bad here in the US too
check out www.vaclib.org

4. A New Debate

Comment #75524 by Bob Johnson on October 2, 2007 at 11:35 pm

Instead of a quizz show, I'd be more interested in how they feel their views would be translated into policy.

5. Kansas State School Board Bans Pokemon Due to Evolution Content

Comment #29762 by Bob Johnson on April 4, 2007 at 3:18 pm

Okay so it's an April 1st hoax. But check out that picture. Then go to http://wolfstone.halloweenhost.com/Hatred/brnhry_BurningHarryPotter.html

Hum, did they get copyright permission?

6. The Dawkins Confusion: Naturalism ad absurdum

Comment #23575 by Bob Johnson on March 1, 2007 at 3:05 pm

To #23544 indeed my reading of Dr. Dawkin's vita shows a "Doctor of Philosophy" earned over 40 years ago.

And if as the author suggests a "smarter-than-thou tone," I must ask why would I wish to read from people dumber than me? (Oops, I just did!)

7. Blasphemy Challenge on FOX

Comment #19677 by Bob Johnson on January 29, 2007 at 7:58 am

Response to #19632 "One can only hope it serves a small section of the population."

Unfortunately you find Fox News playing on TVs in bars and restaurants everywhere. It is even found in my doctor's office where small children wait in pain for medical help. Fox News may well be where the next generation gets educated!

8. Former exec in Irvine says he was fired over religion

Comment #19009 by Bob Johnson on January 24, 2007 at 10:08 am

I have bought their products! An interesting new topic for this website would be to list what companies publically support religion. This would then guide my shopping to other competivate companies.

9. A Mission to Convert

Comment #14765 by Bob Johnson on December 25, 2006 at 12:26 am

To answer his question of why so many books and article now? - Dover.

10. Richard Dawkins on the Mike Dickin Show

Comment #14704 by Bob Johnson on December 24, 2006 at 3:41 pm

To Ole (post #13537)

An easy source of information for beginners is at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_evolution
and their main entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution

Both of these entries have dozens of links so you can get more and more details.

11. 7 monks injured in clash over monastery

Comment #14224 by Bob Johnson on December 21, 2006 at 2:21 pm

Montaaanna, where men are men and sheep are scared.

( Montana - a US state near British Columbia)

12. The Blasphemy Challenge

Comment #13136 by Bob Johnson on December 15, 2006 at 7:46 pm

As Dawkins opened with Lalla's quote in the TGD, "But I didn't know I could." If a thousand and one youth realize they can - some may learn from this event. Some may hear of it and tremble in fear some may speak out just for the prize (and hopefully watch it). And a thousand and one DVDs will reach the youth not pushed on them but by effort on their part. All-in-all a noble effort with plenty of potential.

Oh, and needless to say - I deny the existance of a holy sprirt.
(although Oban comes close.)

13. Book a Day

Comment #11780 by Bob Johnson on December 7, 2006 at 9:14 am

Hello Grey Wizard,

"Screed" is a wonderful word in this context. This is the age of sound-bites, a time when most people get their news from the television. Indeed schoolin' comes from the Discovery channel, a book over twenty pages becomes tedious. In a world where one good example is plenty, a systematic evaluation becomes harping.

To those who unable to change their mind no amount of discourse will succeeded. To those who have examined the conjectures and refutations it may be long, but then we are searching for pearls among the ground already covered. (And finding many.)

14. The end of one law for all?

Comment #10646 by Bob Johnson on November 28, 2006 at 5:41 pm

Ah, but we do have this in the U.S. Most civil cases end up in pre-court settlements. Sometimes we are required to settle by arbitration - outside of court. AND do forget "Judge Judy" (a television show for non-US folks) were both sides can resolve their legal problems without a goverment justice system.

15. Dawkins's version of the deity does not exist

Comment #7645 by Bob Johnson on November 19, 2006 at 12:13 am

From the article:
"I leave it to Dawkins to suggest how these essentially spiritual powers were infused into the material brain of an anthropoid."

Well it is antidotal and therefore needs to be subjected to the rigors of experimentation, but I shall tell the tale anyway. I often camp in the Sierra Nevada of California. On this particular evening, I was sitting by the fire with my wife, between us slept our six month-old golden retriever puppy. A bear came into the campground and instantly this puppy was up, at the end of its leash, between us and the bear. Every hair on the dog was standing on end; a low growl towards the approaching bear. "Altruism" is not limited to the "material brain of an anthropoid." It exists in many places and it is not limited to the protection of one's own species. This animal in many ways helped reinforce the adage of "Man's best friend."

We, for our part, grabbed her and tossed her in into the cab of our truck, followed by both of us.

16. Stephen Colbert Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #5323 by Bob Johnson on November 9, 2006 at 12:45 am

On the evolution of my car

Doctor Dawkins, I am responding to your assertion that some products such as cars and your book are intelligently designed. To look at the the car sitting in my driveway it would be simple to believe that somebody, a single somebody, sat down and created this marvel. Fuel injection, high performance tires, multi-speaker sound systems - it couldn't just happen. But it did. And the evolution of the automobile is only another example of improvement over time via natural selection. A walk through any junk yard is akin to digging for fossils. The record is there in rusted steel. In the bottom-most layer the skeletal remains have no radios, then AM and a single speaker on the middle of the dash; higher up you may find a 8-track player, my old Dodge had one. It may not be as impressive as an eyeball, but then it took less than a hundred years. I am an engineer, specifically a software engineer, and I design things. When I contemplate iPod technology coupled with voice dialing on cell phones, the old radio on the dash is a prime candidate for extinction.

Your latest book, which you hoped was intelligently designed, I suspect also went though various lives, losing a chapter here and gain more examples in other places. And the careful reader can discern an editor if they read no farther that page six. Yes, some people read the Preface. I would hypothesize that your office or computer's hard disk contain the various bits and pieces which only became frozen in time when the publisher demanded, "No more changes."

Natural selection is the great idea that the biological sciences have given the world. It explains so much in so many fields. It is a way of looking at systems.