1. The God Delusion in Private Eye

Comment #11682 by Roy on December 6, 2006 at 2:00 pm

Ah, THATS where "The Root of Evil?" videos have gone!

2. When Atheists Have Their Say (5 Letters)

Comment #11626 by Roy on December 6, 2006 at 4:23 am

There is a good cartoon on page 32 of the latest issue of 'Private Eye' magazine. "It's the ideal gift for Christmas...A damning attack on organised religion" "Thank God for Dawkins!"

3. When Atheists Have Their Say (5 Letters)

Comment #11604 by Roy on December 5, 2006 at 10:49 pm

Comment 11597 by Aussie
http://www.ugandandiscussions.co.uk/1143/

One of Private Eye's best covers ever!

4. The delusion of Christianity: Fairy tales that changed the world

Comment #11533 by Roy on December 5, 2006 at 12:11 pm

Hey Guys, we are all wrong, Jesus is back! please get your cheque books out and send all your money to him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifEACinhrAY
However, Like Richard he says prayer is worthless and there is no Hell....oh and he has shaved the beard off! Look at those pathetic people around this guy.

5. The delusion of Christianity: Fairy tales that changed the world

Comment #11522 by Roy on December 5, 2006 at 9:18 am

I think Pete-Owen Jones, the presenter of B.B.C. 4's programme last night "The Lost Gospels" (Who incidentally, trained as an Anglican Priest) ended up somewhat 'delusioned'after he had done his research.
The programme showed how some of the original scriptures sort of "got left out... ahem" According to The Gospel of St. Thomas,for example, Jesus was not the son of God at all, Joseph was his dad alright.( Oops, we can't have that, its got to go !) On the other hand according to St. Peter, Jesus felt no pain at all when he was crucified, because he was divine (Oops, we can't have that,cut that bit out because Jesus suffered for our sins ) It was a truly fascinating programme.

6. Intelligent Design: The Clincher. A butterfly explodes the theory

Comment #11471 by Roy on December 4, 2006 at 10:49 pm

A Classic example of creatures that do not appear to be intelligently designed are the so called flatfishes, as was indeed pointed out by Richard in both his books and The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures he gave one year. I refer to creatures such as the Plaice, Turbot and Halibut, where the fish starts its life "normally" as it were, looking just like say a minnow or herring, then as it matures, something odd seems to happen. One eye migrates to one side of its head, the mouth becomes almost hideously distorted,ending up opening sideways, as opposed to up and down, the body becomes flattened.The animal then spends the rest of its life on it's side. (These adaptations are for living at the bottom of the sea). The quirky awkward "Run over by a steam roller" look certainly does not look like the work of an Intelligent Designer. More information may be found in the following website http://www.answers.com/topic/pleuronectiformes-flatfishes-biological-family By the way, the new look forum looks intelligently designed. The password log-in system should help to keep out those that have not quite "finished evolving"

7. Revealed: rise of creationism in UK schools

Comment #11318 by Roy on December 4, 2006 at 6:43 am

Andy_in_oz,
Was it the so called "Paluxy footprints"
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CC/CC101.html
Well you know, Raquel Welch did have a close call with one or two Dinosaurs in The film "One Million Years B.C." and you know what they say, the camera don't lie!

8. Richard Dawkins: You Ask The Questions Special

Comment #11256 by Roy on December 4, 2006 at 2:19 am

"What do you take me for, one of those people who sends Christmas cards to The Archers?"
Maybe a belief in God could be equated with people who think "Coronation Street" is real ( and they do! ) I fell about laughing when I heard that when the popular sitcom's "One Foot in the Grave" Character Victor Meldrew was 'killed off', some people actually sent wreaths, cards and letters of condolence to the B.B.C.
'I don't believe it'... they obviously did!

9. The delusion of Christianity: Fairy tales that changed the world

Comment #11235 by Roy on December 3, 2006 at 10:24 pm

There are some absolute classics on "Boreme.com" ( why bore me? the site is so entertaining!) e.g.:-

http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2006/bill-hicks-p1.php

Bill Hicks on creationists.This guy takes no prisoners!

http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2006/banana-god-p1.php
An obvious leg-pull on creation

10. The delusion of Christianity: Fairy tales that changed the world

Comment #11176 by Roy on December 3, 2006 at 2:26 pm

Yeah, very good. I put that in one of the forums yesterday!

11. A Modest Proposal for a Truce on Religion

Comment #11155 by Roy on December 3, 2006 at 11:44 am

"If God is omniscient and omnipotent, you can't help wondering why she doesn't pull out a thunderbolt and strike down Richard Dawkins.".... Well we all know why that is!
Does he honestly think if there was no religion there would be no such thing as compassionate "Red Cross" type organisations?

12. Revealed: rise of creationism in UK schools

Comment #11119 by Roy on December 3, 2006 at 7:25 am

Anyone fancy a good laugh?
http://shop5.gospelcom.net/isroot/AIGUS/SampleChapter/10-2-267.pdf

(The 'reason' why we do not find dinosaur and human remians in the same strata )
On a more serious note, is this the sort of thing what they propose to teach the kids?

13. O Come All Ye Unfaithful

Comment #11087 by Roy on December 3, 2006 at 4:47 am

"I bet he'd tell you there's more mystery, magic and splendor in this box of old fossils than in all the Allahs, Yahwehs and Invisible Purple Unicorns mankind has ever invented. "
Yes! I would have been a kid in a sweetshop if someone had presented me with some Tiktaalik fossils to look at. That's yet another fossil I bet the cretinists... er, sorry I mean creationists, wish had not been dug up!

14. Spectator: Books of the Year

Comment #11047 by Roy on December 2, 2006 at 10:49 pm

Yes excellent. Everyone should read Richards book or in the very least, watch this little video. If it would not convince you, you would sit up and take notice.

http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2006/delusional-p1.php?vid=9217

15. Liberty University is looking for Biology Professors

Comment #10994 by Roy on December 2, 2006 at 12:29 pm

Greg,
Did you hear about this?
An evangelist who tried replicating Jesus' miracle of walking on water has reportedly drowned off the western coast of Africa.
Pastor Franck Kabele, 35, told his congregation he could repeat the biblical miracle, and he attempted it from a beach in Gabon's capital of Libreville.
"He told churchgoers he'd had a revelation that if he had enough faith, he could walk on water like Jesus," an eyewitness told the Glasgow Daily Record.
"He took his congregation to the beach saying he would walk across the Komo estuary, which takes 20 minutes by boat. He walked into the water, which soon passed over his head and he never came back."

16. The faithful have departed

Comment #10970 by Roy on December 2, 2006 at 4:30 am

Everyone with a religion should look at this

http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2006/delusional-p1.php?vid=9217

17. Let us test Darwin, teacher says

Comment #10873 by Roy on November 29, 2006 at 2:17 pm

Have you seen this?
http://shop5.gospelcom.net/epages/AIGUS.storefront/en/product/10-2-267

Sauropod dinosaurs seen together with what looks like antelopes or deer.
Pre-Cambrian rabbits anyone?

18. Let us test Darwin, teacher says

Comment #10682 by Roy on November 28, 2006 at 11:02 pm

Arman,
I was educated in England in the 70's in a typical English comprehensive. I remember one of my Biology teachers was an Atheist. My Geology teacher was Roman Catholic ( Even then I did not know how he could "square that circle" )BUT the words 'creation' or even 'god' NEVER entered any of our science lessons.( come to think of it, it was hardly ever mentioned in our Religious Education classes! ) In fact,looking back, I could have never envisaged us having this conversation 30 years later.

19. The end of one law for all?

Comment #10679 by Roy on November 28, 2006 at 10:32 pm

Absolutely Ohnhai. When in Rome....

20. Let us test Darwin, teacher says

Comment #10442 by Roy on November 28, 2006 at 5:55 am

Aleph,
We have a saying in Yorkshire "You can always tell a Yorkshireman, but you can't tell him anything"...Maybe we can say the same thing about Young Earth Creationists!

21. Let us test Darwin, teacher says

Comment #10386 by Roy on November 28, 2006 at 2:03 am

How Charles Darwin would have loved this!
http://tiktaalik.uchicago.edu/
What a fantastic find.

22. Let us test Darwin, teacher says

Comment #10379 by Roy on November 28, 2006 at 1:37 am

http://www.talkorigins.org/origins/postmonth/jun05.html
"So, when does a protozoan change into other protozoan, or let's say, a tadpole? And when does that tadpole become a rodent, and that rodent becomes a monkey, and that monkey becomes a human? Doesn't even a basic life form have a beginning, or have been created, somewhere"
They think Evolutionists believe tadpoles evolve directly into rodents? ( it just shows how the creationist mind works ! )

Read the reply Which begins "I sent, probably to no discernable purpose, the following missive in reply". brilliant.

23. Let us test Darwin, teacher says

Comment #10348 by Roy on November 27, 2006 at 11:13 pm

Mitchell
Geological time :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siccar_Point

"God made the world and all of the creatures in it in six days only 6,000 years ago. Read the first few books of Genesis for details"
They seem to have an answer for everything
I have been looking at a Creationist website that features an article trying to de-bunk the famous "Siccar Point" unconformity in Scotland

http://www.biblicalcreation.org.uk/scientific_issues/bcs100.html
They seem to take good science and 'warp' it for their own ends
Even to an amateur geologist like me, it seems a bit lame..."biblical floods" and all that.

24. Why Are Atheists So Angry? A Debate with Dennis Prager

Comment #9763 by Roy on November 25, 2006 at 10:25 pm

Rabbi Milton Steinberg probably thought the Earth was only 6000 years old too. I might as well say "One beautiful crisp winter's day I saw a waterfall frozen into three parts, It made me think of the great trinity, Dawkins, Dennett and Harris".

25. Ryan Tubridy interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #9710 by Roy on November 25, 2006 at 4:10 pm

Richard NEVER says God does not exist, he says it it highly improbable that he does. His opponents such as David Quinn do not say "I think there is a god "They say I KNOW there is a God" end of argument, then put their fingers in their ears and go la la la, How pathetically arrogant can you get.

So The all powerful God waved his magic wand, created matter, then he decided to create 'man in his own image', but waited 13.7 billion years to do so,....yeah right...

26. Science v God: the showdown

Comment #9683 by Roy on November 25, 2006 at 2:35 pm

I made my mind up when I was about 10 or 11 years old.
http://throwawayyourtv.com/2006/06/bible-is-bullshit.html
Penn and Teller, the classic show that sees the bible for what it really is. The part about the Ten Commandments thingy outside an Alabama courthouse will really make you cringe!

27. Public school teacher tells class: 'You belong in hell'

Comment #8943 by Roy on November 22, 2006 at 11:25 pm

Well,I do not know about hell but I do not think anyone is going to heaven :-

http://yourgodisimaginary.com/video1.htm

28. Liberty University is looking for Biology Professors

Comment #8941 by Roy on November 22, 2006 at 11:12 pm

Do they teach that the Atlanic Ocean is in fact widening at 20km an hour, not a few cm a year ( I just wonder how they explain how it has grown like that in less than 10,000 years, turbo charged Plate Tectonics? ) I suppose the Global Positioning Satellite measurements they use are all wrong, even though the GPS receiver on my friends farm tractor can tell him where he is in his fields to within about 1 metre!

"Comments" 59, 60 and 61 Hello the spammers are here.

29. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and E.O. Wilson on the gospel of science

Comment #8646 by Roy on November 21, 2006 at 10:14 pm

"Scientists, of course, readily admit their ignorance on this point. Religious believers do not.... An average Christian, in an average church, listening to an average Sunday sermon has achieved a level of arrogance simply unimaginable in scientific discourse."
Spot on Sam!

30. John Safran vs. The Mormons

Comment #8358 by Roy on November 21, 2006 at 2:46 am

Brilliant!
I remember many years ago there was an article on TV about a little girl who died for want of a blood transfusion,( her parents were Jehovahs Witnesses, so they would not sign the consent form ). That Saturday morning, guess who came a knocking on our door? My mother, normally the most gentle of persons, gave them the most almighty bollocking I have ever heard! (including the "thou shalt not kill" quote )Then told them to "Bugger off and don't come back"

31. How Full Is Your Quiver?

Comment #8352 by Roy on November 21, 2006 at 2:16 am

It is obvious that "Thou shalt not eat too many pies " is not one of the 10 commandments
Just like the "Plymouth Brethren" sect, they get married when they are about 17 then produce as many kids as possible.

32. The God of the Bible is No Delusion!

Comment #8339 by Roy on November 20, 2006 at 11:20 pm

Jared,
"When are these people going to learn that feelings of wonder and words written 2000 years ago just don't count as evidence if you've got nothing else to back them up?"
Imagine if the Old Testament had just been recently discovered in a cave somehere. Archaeologists would read it and think "Oh is that what people believed in those days? how interesting !" Considering what we now know about the earth (indeed the universe) no one would take it at all seriously.

33. The God of the Bible is No Delusion!

Comment #7967 by Roy on November 20, 2006 at 2:46 am

What really gets to me is those who take EVERY word of the Bible as the truth, even the Noah's Ark rubbish. They should look at David Attenborough a bit more. For example,there are over 250,000 species of beetle in this world, did all the half million couples manage to hitch a lift?
One evangelical type website I looked at said "Ah but the animals Noah took were in fact, baby animals, so there would be enough room to fit them all on" Can you believe an adult person in the 21st Century actually wrote that?

34. The God of the Bible is No Delusion!

Comment #7922 by Roy on November 19, 2006 at 11:38 pm

Eh, what?
"Yet, that theory is completely false, and there is no scientist of any standing, who would dare claim that it has been proved indisputably true. The theory is propounded on the basis of implication and circumstantial evidence, that fails to satisfy the truly enquiring mind."

Over to you, Richard.....

35. 42% think faith is as evil as smallpox

Comment #7921 by Roy on November 19, 2006 at 11:30 pm

Yes it looks as if Theos has "Shot itself in the foot" with that one.
Who was it once described a belief in God as "Like looking for a black cat in a darkened room. Actually the cat isn't there, but a lot of people have 'found' it? "
Mark
One of the funniest things I saw this year was a cover of Private Eye magazine which had a picture of Bush on it looking out of an aeroplane window.The speech bubble coming from his mouth reads "Stop the plane, God is on that cloud over there waving at me!" Many a true word.....

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

Comment #7662 by Roy on November 19, 2006 at 1:45 am

P.S.By far the best thing to come out of the catholic church was the TV comedy series "Father Ted" including that immortal line directed at Fr. Dougal McGuire by another priest character "Its nonsense isn't it?"

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

Comment #7660 by Roy on November 19, 2006 at 1:37 am

So what do the Catholics believe? That when you drink wine and eat a wafer in church it is actually the blood and body of Christ, (Transubstantiation) and That Mary "Shot off into Heaven" (The Assumption) Something that was made up apparently between 4-600 years after Christ's death.
Give me fossil Ammonites any day of the week!

38. Science vs religion

Comment #7353 by Roy on November 18, 2006 at 10:06 am

I listened to the podcast with interest, especially the last part about "Home Schooling". Talk about the lunatics running the asylum, surely the term "Creation Science" is an oxymoron?
"Now children, that naughty Mr. Einstein was wrong about the speed of light, those stars out there are only 10 feet away, not millions of light years."

39. I'm an atheist, BUT . . .

Comment #7290 by Roy on November 18, 2006 at 5:30 am

Dom "With the notable exception of David Attenborough, science documentaries on tv are watched by a niche and increasingly smaller audience"
One of the finest yet most neglected science documentary series on the BBC has recently been released on DVD. "Earth Story" with Aubrey Manning.Welcome thrice welcome! It is easy for a 'Non- scientist' to follow without been condescending, if you know what I mean.If anyone watches that and they still think the Earth is less than 10,000 years old, well,there is no hope for them.

http://www.bbcshop.com/invt/bbcdvd1988&bklist=%3Cvenda_bklist1%3E

40. Richard Dawkins and the "new atheists" come to America

Comment #7250 by Roy on November 17, 2006 at 10:33 pm

http://home.austarnet.com.au/stear/default.htm

The antidote for "Answers in Genesis"

41. The sexiest man living!

Comment #7202 by Roy on November 17, 2006 at 4:02 pm

Was that written by Private Eye's 'Glenda Slagg' ?

42. E-Petition: Abolish Faith Schools

Comment #6928 by Roy on November 16, 2006 at 7:54 am

I had a friend who used to work with quote :"A couple of really nice young lads" then one particular day one of them said to him "You won't see us for the next few weeks, we are going away on a course, it is to do with our religion" They were in fact, members of the 'Plymouth Brethren' sect.
After they had finished their course and returned to work, my friend said he was utterly horrified. in his words "Roy, I have never seen two people change so much in such a short time, they were like a couple of brainwashed zombies. Gone was the laughing, the joking, the ribbing, they seemed half dead somehow,totally witless"
A little indoctrination is a dangerous thing!
By the way, they will not read our comments on here, they might believe in God but they do not believe in computers....

43. E-Petition: Abolish Faith Schools

Comment #6911 by Roy on November 16, 2006 at 6:56 am

I have just signed it. We do not want them, it would be the thin end of the wedge.The thoughts of a "Liberty University" here makes me cringe.
It would be an insult to intelligence.

44. Science vs religion

Comment #6665 by Roy on November 15, 2006 at 9:42 am

CF1
I often go into those sites you mention
"I used to parrot exactly like you - for a quarter of a century in fact. I woke up"
I am at the moment reading Sam Harris's 'The End of Faith'.( Which I recommend wholeheartedly to anyone who has not read it yet) There is actually a comment on the front cover by Richard Dawkins:-
"Read Sam Harris and wake up"

45. Science vs religion

Comment #6653 by Roy on November 15, 2006 at 8:56 am

I notice Charlene's comment on Noah's ark:-
Genesis 6:14 - 15
"Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. "
Noah's ark is 450 feet long. The largest wooden ships ever built were just over 300 feet, and they required diagonal iron strapping for support. Even so, they leaked so badly that they had to be pumped constantly. Are we to believe that Noah, with no shipbuilding knowledge, was able to construct a wooden ship longer than any that has been built since? but not only was the ark too big to be seaworthy, it was far too small to be able to contain the earth's millions of plant and animal species.

46. Science vs religion

Comment #6630 by Roy on November 15, 2006 at 7:17 am

I have a lovely answer for those evangelicals that believe that every word of the bible is true.
The story of Noah's ark? did you know there are 250,000 species of beetle?

47. Reading of The God Delusion in Lynchburg, VA

Comment #6066 by Roy on November 12, 2006 at 11:45 am

That was wonderful, the best yet, The man is impossible to "trip-up".
The thoughts of anyone teaching that dinosaurs co-existed with human beings really makes me squirm, as it did Robert Winston when he visited a 'museum' showing such a witless scenario in U.S.A.

48. Losing Our Religion

Comment #5790 by Roy on November 11, 2006 at 4:18 am

Joad:-
"If we thank god for our food, rather than thanking the farmer who grew it, we risk insulting the farmer into no longer bothering to grow food. After all, his efforts didn't produce the food. It appeared magically, independant of his efforts".
That reminds me of a lovely story about a vicar ( priest) watching an old man working in his very beautiful garden "Do you know? " said the vicar, meekly "You and God have made a wonderful job of this garden!"
"Aye" replied the gardener, giving the vicar a cold hard stare, "But you should have seen it when God had it to himself!"

49. Controversial Religious Summer Camp Closed

Comment #5319 by Roy on November 8, 2006 at 11:27 pm

Let us hope the snowball grows!

50. Liberty University is looking for Biology Professors

Comment #5155 by Roy on November 7, 2006 at 3:38 pm

"The ability to lie through your teeth consistently in the manner of a Dr. Joseph Goebbels would be considered an advantage"