1. Mormons urged to back ban on same-sex marriage

Comment #199197 by Nephite on June 25, 2008 at 10:02 am

I don't know why these sanctimonious people are so concerned about what other people do with their own lives. Makes me want to put on my sword and shield and go into battle!

2. Louisiana's Latest Assault on Darwin

Comment #197679 by Nephite on June 22, 2008 at 1:37 pm

That may seem harmless. But it would have the pernicious effect of implying that evolution is only weakly supported and that there are valid competing scientific theories when there are not.

3. Ben Stein 1, Yoko Ono 0 in 'Expelled' copyright spat

Comment #188329 by Nephite on June 3, 2008 at 11:16 pm

I'm not worried about Expelled. I think the answer to Expelled is reason, not bullying. How about making an all-out documentary on human origins. The greatest story ever told, the new creation myth. Awesome!

4. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #184905 by Nephite on May 26, 2008 at 11:42 am

I think NASA ought to call its next spaceprobe The Ramen: "Faster, Better, Cheaper." :)

5. Proving ID is Creationism

Comment #184084 by Nephite on May 23, 2008 at 2:38 pm

I've heard it all before. I know it really does a number on Pandas, but where did the rest of these guys come from, like Behe, Dembsky, and Johnson. A little more in-depth discussion on the origins of the ID movement and its relationship to earlier creationist movements might be interesting

6. The Stupidity of Dignity

Comment #179370 by Nephite on May 13, 2008 at 7:14 am

I enjoyed Dr. Pinker's thought-provoking article. I was just thinking, if there's any group of people who doesn't want others (especially religion) telling them what to do, it's the young. Maybe humanists should put ads on MTV decrying the imposition of religion into public policy. Then there might be a greater voter turnout among the young. "Do you really want some crusty old bishops in Rome or their zealous representatives in the U.S. telling you what you can do with your own body, or what research medical scientists can and cannot engage in to cure diseases like Parkinson's?"

7. The History Channel might do something right

Comment #176228 by Nephite on May 7, 2008 at 1:00 am

I'm glad they sometimes have sound programming on the History Channel. I watch it a lot, and I think they should change their name: to the Bullshit Channel. About a third of their programs are about UFOs, Atlantis, mythical monsters, Biblical mythology, and other pseudoscientific topics. A few days ago I saw a program on Monster Quest about a half-man-half-dog. Arrrrrrrrrrrr! And who's that silly Bosnian guy who's always trying to find the Ark of the Covenant or the tomb of Jesus or whatever? He worked with James Cameron on a few programs.

8. Dumb and Dumber: A discussion between Ben Stein and Glenn Beck

Comment #176049 by Nephite on May 6, 2008 at 12:40 pm

Are all conservatives creationists? Personally, I don't believe in E = mc2 because it created the atomic bomb, and look how much carnage that caused. Don't tell me it's just true! I don't believe it! I don't, I don't, I don't!

9. Bill Good Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #173862 by Nephite on May 1, 2008 at 9:53 am

First of all I'd like to say that I really enjoyed Dr. Dawkins' interview. While I am more accommodating toward religion than he is, there are times when religion just aggravates me to no end. I just get so sick of all the anti-evolution bills that are popping up in the southern U.S. I get sick of listening to people's hostility to evolution (or "Darwinism," as they call it)--all because of religion. I'm also concerned about religious beliefs in my home state of Utah, such as Book of Mormon historicity. I'm afraid that, among other things, religion co-opts people's curiosity and sense of wonder--religion makes you dumb. I believe that we should keep promoting the atheist/humanist alternative to religion, for there is a rich harvest out there. I also believe that, like the born-again Christians, we should find a way to express our own natural spirituality, and rock out!

10. Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier

Comment #172137 by Nephite on April 29, 2008 at 9:01 am

This does not motivate me to respect Islamic culture. Maybe I'm a prejudiced bastard, but I think they must be just not as civilized as we are. Maybe a little behind the times--like five hundred years.

11. The Art of Creating Controversy Where None Existed

Comment #160798 by Nephite on April 14, 2008 at 11:53 am

I don't think Expelled will be a big seller, but we need to be very vigilant, just in case.

12. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #151377 by Nephite on March 28, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Dear Professor Dawkins:

I would like to wish you a (belated) happy birthday. May you forever strike fear in the hearts of creationists everywhere.

Sincerely,

Richard Rasmussen

13. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141054 by Nephite on March 9, 2008 at 10:40 pm

They just keep on coming. My fellow Americans, you can help by becoming a member of the National Center for Science Education if you haven't already.

14. The argument from oranges

Comment #129742 by Nephite on February 19, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Are you trying to torment me with this clip? Oh, the pain! Seriously, though, I hope we're victorious in Florida because there's a lot at stake. You can sign the Adopt Florida Science Standards petition at [url]http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/flascience/[/url]

15. Pope says some science shatters human dignity

Comment #120557 by Nephite on February 2, 2008 at 1:18 am

I feel passionately that medical scientists should be allowed to do their research--including stem cell research, embryonic and otherwise--unhindered by superstition. Is adult stem cell research more promising than embryonic stem cell research? How should I know; I'm not a scientist. And neither is the Pope or President George W. Bush. Despite all the Pope's flowery speeches about human dignity, on this issue, at least, he is a raving fanatic. His kind are no better than the cult in Asimov's "Nightfall." May Reason prevail!

16. A Letter From Hell

Comment #117084 by Nephite on January 28, 2008 at 8:23 am

By the way, I do feel sorry for anyone who takes this stuff seriously.

17. A Letter From Hell

Comment #117080 by Nephite on January 28, 2008 at 8:14 am

This video is great fun, but I wish it were a bit more graphic, you know, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. "Please don't throw me in those flames! Oh no! Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" :( I also like to listen to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God from [url=http://www.audible.com]audible.com[/url]. It's great entertainment when I'm drunk or stoned.

18. The Science behind the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #116978 by Nephite on January 28, 2008 at 12:07 am

Thanks for the great videos. When is this thing going to be up and running, anyway?

19. The New Theology

Comment #113501 by Nephite on January 19, 2008 at 7:54 pm

I think this was an enjoyable article, having a good length and depth. I guess this is as good a time as any to say that unlike Dawkins and the "Four Horsemen," I am not a militant atheist. (Don't worry. I'm not a troll, either.) Like Ursula Goodenough, Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, among others, I believe in having a dialogue with religious believers and in trying to inspire everyone, both believers and nonbelievers, with the wonder of science.

20. The Moral Instinct

Comment #110820 by Nephite on January 12, 2008 at 6:53 pm

I'm not saying I like everything about Mother Theresa, but I believe there is something noble about getting down in the trenches, putting your arms around someone and comforting them when they are suffering, not simply giving money, solving scientific problems, or inventing new technology from the insulation of a laboratory or a mansion.

21. The Group Delusion

Comment #110597 by Nephite on January 11, 2008 at 3:04 pm

I think Dawkins should mellow out with the accusations. Instead of provocatively calling the Wilsons' statement a lie, call it a misstatement or something.

22. For the Love of Christ

Comment #102051 by Nephite on December 21, 2007 at 1:19 pm

Where can I get a video or audio clip of this guy. It would be a good laugh. I think that anyone with any sense at all, believer or not, wouldn't expose their teenagers to this nut.

23. 2007 Audiobook Download of the Year: The God Delusion

Comment #99103 by Nephite on December 15, 2007 at 3:01 pm

Audible is great, especially for the blind and visually impaired. You can download The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, Letting Go of God by Julia Sweeney, and Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Cheers for Audible!

24. This deadly religious resistance to vaccinations

Comment #97058 by Nephite on December 11, 2007 at 10:54 am

I wonder if there's any legal action we can take against these f***ing idiots.

25. The art of the soluble

Comment #96270 by Nephite on December 10, 2007 at 9:01 am

I think it's good to be skeptical about all speculation. For example, I don't believe in string theory because it hasn't been proven. It may be true, but I won't accept it till it's been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Same for intelligent life on other planets. Same for philosophical theories about space and time. And of course, I have no faith in an afterlife.

26. The art of the soluble

Comment #95827 by Nephite on December 9, 2007 at 9:40 am

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins asserts that he has almost certainly disproved the existence of God, a subject that philosophers have argued about for centuries if not millennia, because, as he states, as far as we know, complex systems occur in nature only as products of "crane" mechanisms like natural selection. But all we know is what we observe on this tiny little speck in a ten-billion-light-year sized universe, and what we can see from our telescopes. Might Dawkins be over-reaching? Maybe God isn't quite the open-and-shut case Dawkins thinks it is. Maybe the whole universe was thought into being through the agency of a giant cosmic muffin. Ha ha ha!

27. Let us kill all the teddy bears

Comment #95572 by Nephite on December 8, 2007 at 3:50 pm

I wonder if there are any Prophet Muhammad coffee mugs. If anybody knows where I can buy one, please let me know.