1. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #178656 by John Pritzlaff on May 11, 2008 at 8:49 pm

Just another example of Sam Harris being vindicated.

To any people saying they can't understand this, read the Quran. Islam really can lead to things like this, and it does, every day, for people in Islamic societies.

Unfortunately, that is commonly seen as a rude thing to say, for some reason (more like unreason).

2. Truly Bizarre : Indians Throw Babies 50ft From Roof To Thank God.

Comment #175238 by John Pritzlaff on May 5, 2008 at 1:26 am

I'd be worried about a)brain damage and b)landing with limbs bent back.

3. Bill Good Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #174043 by John Pritzlaff on May 1, 2008 at 1:30 pm

Every once in a while we get a really good interview such as this -- although it did have the same old questions. But it was a good interview because Dawkins answered every question thrown at him perfectly and patiently. I really get the feeling that a lot of listeners learned something from this.

4. The simple falsehood at the heart of Expelled

Comment #158533 by John Pritzlaff on April 10, 2008 at 5:13 pm

...And Darwin, in revealing this truth, gave us the best hope yet in fighting this oppression. So "Expelled" has actually got it backwards. Darwin doesn't lead to Nazism. He leads to the opposite of Nazism: using knowledge to fight genocidal forces, whether they are in nature or in Nazi-like philosophy.

5. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150958 by John Pritzlaff on March 27, 2008 at 7:37 pm

Happy birthday Clinton!

6. Ayaan Hirsi Ali to get EU protection

Comment #136316 by John Pritzlaff on February 29, 2008 at 10:11 pm

Good news. I hope this works out.

7. Sam Harris debate with Rabbi David Wolpe

Comment #108050 by John Pritzlaff on January 5, 2008 at 11:04 pm

This rabbi was probably the best theistic debater I've seen yet, definitely in the top 5... and yet, I have to say, Sam completely destroyed him in the debate. Sam is an incredible debater, and this was an excellent performance.

Also, I agree that this format is the tits.

8. ...and another FLEA...

Comment #106418 by John Pritzlaff on January 2, 2008 at 9:48 pm

I'm still worried that some of us are using the word "flea" to ignore any new arguments that MIGHT be contained in at least one of these books. Let's be a little more scientific, people. Or at least let's stop making ourselves appear dogmatic. Our critics will take advantage of that.

Nevertheless, I think it can be safely assumed that MOST of these books are worthless as far as rational debate is concerned. I just think some of you are going too far and assuming that ALL of them are.

9. A New Flea in Town!

Comment #95634 by John Pritzlaff on December 8, 2007 at 9:22 pm

I understand that most of these books are probably devoid of real arguments, and thus would not deserve our respect, however I am a little weary of insulting them without reading them first, as many of us have done. Also, the ones that only reference "The New Atheists" in the title don't seem to be too parasitic at first glance, and so maybe they shouldn't be disrespected at first glance. It looks childish, and it makes it look like we aren't open to criticism, which is of course something we all should be open to as we're rationalists. Of course, most of us are very open to criticism, but we have to be mindful of how we appear, and we have to be mindful not to become even a little irrational and tribal in talking about the opposition.

10. Interview with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #94778 by John Pritzlaff on December 6, 2007 at 2:13 pm

Wow, nice interview! I think I'll start watching MSNBC again.

11. Banishing the Green-Eyed Monster

Comment #94765 by John Pritzlaff on December 6, 2007 at 1:41 pm

At first I was skeptical, but by the end I decided that for now, I pretty much agree with Dawkins.

It would be funny if Dawkins is having marital troubles at the moment, but that kind of speculation comes from the same snoopy, gossipy attitude that Dawkins argues against in this article. Besides, I doubt he is.

12. Beyond Belief 07: Enlightenment 2.0

Comment #94499 by John Pritzlaff on December 5, 2007 at 8:05 pm

Wow, I can't wait to watch these!

I am curious why Dawkins didn't speak. Was he invited?

13. Bad Faith Awards: Vote for the winner now

Comment #94488 by John Pritzlaff on December 5, 2007 at 7:19 pm

Archbishop Chimoio's case is the most serious, and the most dishonest. I mean, he tells these people that condoms will give them AIDS, but he's causing them to get AIDS by telling them not to wear condoms! But then again D'Souza has been the most prolific as of late, in America. I actually like that Dawkins is on this list, because there's something so freethinker-ish about allowing such a heretical nomination. Norris just plain pisses me off, because he's so annoying and there's actually a good chance some people might listen to him on the basis of his fame and supposed coolness (even though his his coolness was something of a parody-fad). But ultimately, I guess I've got to go with the Pope, for his prevalence, punctuated by his retarded new encyclical, and the fact that he's the leader of guys like the aforementioned Archbishop Chimoio.

14. What the New Atheists Don't See

Comment #84342 by John Pritzlaff on November 1, 2007 at 8:50 pm

I do think there is, at times, a transcendent purpose independent of my own will (such as a social movement or the will of another), but I don't believe in any absolute purpose in the universe, and I don't think we have to have something absolute to have that kind of purpose (the transcendent and independent kind). Any purpose in the universe is either a longterm trend (such as evolution or entropy) or one or more agent's opinions (and while this does not necessarily degrade the purpose, it does mean that life is what you make it). I don't know if this means I agree or disagree with the "immanent in existence itself" clause; I think it could be said that I agree with it because even in a bare universe without any agents, order could be the "default" purpose, and a grander purpose could be the formation of complex, conscious life. So I do think purpose exists, but it is never absolute and always subjective (and subjectivity in this case is not a bad thing; it is a very good thing -- it's what makes us who we are... also, subjective purpose is not incompatible with purpose independent of our own wills, because there is still the wills of others and the unconscious trends of the universe).

15. Can the rest of us have our planet back?

Comment #65814 by John Pritzlaff on August 26, 2007 at 9:06 pm

I tried to send this comment...

"Thank you for delivering that rant against religion. Comedy is one of the greatest tools for destroying bad ideologies (for example, if someone makes fun of racists on-stage and points out how retarded they are, it's a lot harder for anyone in the audience to go home and be racist and feel serious about it). We need more people like you. Good job and keep it up."

...five times and it didn't work. My name's John Pritzlaff and my email is johnpritzlaff@gmail.com

Can someone send it for me? Let me know if you do.

16. God Bless Me, It's a Best-Seller!

Comment #65703 by John Pritzlaff on August 25, 2007 at 8:11 pm

He can be unnecessarily divisive, but honestly Hitchens is growing on me.

17. The Gullible Age: Review of 'The Enemies of Reason'

Comment #61586 by John Pritzlaff on August 5, 2007 at 10:36 pm

Wow, good article, I'll be viewing this one way or another.

18. 'god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything' by Christopher Hitchens

Comment #36238 by John Pritzlaff on April 30, 2007 at 3:26 pm

I've read so many good and encouraging comments on this article that I have nothing original to say.

We need to keep fighting this culture war.

19. Bill Maher - APATHEIST

Comment #35294 by John Pritzlaff on April 26, 2007 at 7:40 pm

I know a lot of people dislike him, but he isn't really that bad. I think he's an asset. Remember, divided we fall.

20. The Coulter Hoax: How Ann Coulter Exposed the Intelligent Design Movement

Comment #30776 by John Pritzlaff on April 9, 2007 at 6:37 pm

Good article... satirically labeling something satire...

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

Comment #29799 by John Pritzlaff on April 4, 2007 at 8:05 pm

It's a sad reflection of the world today that something like this could actually pass as reality.

22. God's dupes

Comment #25957 by John Pritzlaff on March 15, 2007 at 8:03 pm

Sam is always talking about the ideal of a dialog untainted by faith, and this is a great example of his ideal.

23. God's dupes

Comment #25893 by John Pritzlaff on March 15, 2007 at 2:41 pm

alan_s, that was genius.

24. God's dupes

Comment #25891 by John Pritzlaff on March 15, 2007 at 2:39 pm

I sent Sam an email thanking him for his refreshing truthfulness:

"2007 03 15

Sam, I just want to thank you for the honesty in your latest article. It really is like a breath of fresh air. Us atheists are the first to admit that we may be wrong, but words like those reinforce our confidence to such a strong degree that the opposition seems to be on another planet, on another plane. Thank you, and have a great day today.

-John Pritzlaff"

25. A 'Sad First' in the History of the Congress

Comment #25725 by John Pritzlaff on March 14, 2007 at 8:37 pm

I agree with Nazgul, the fact that Christian groups are taking notice is only a good sign that this story will heat up and more people will find out. Possibly, more congresspeople will come out as atheists!

26. Carl Sagan's Cosmos for Rednecks

Comment #25723 by John Pritzlaff on March 14, 2007 at 8:26 pm

haha, that's great... :)

27. Evangelicals battle over agenda, environment

Comment #25507 by John Pritzlaff on March 13, 2007 at 10:25 pm

A hizzouse divided will not stizzand, baby.

28. US Congressman Holds No God-Belief

Comment #25472 by John Pritzlaff on March 13, 2007 at 2:30 pm

I sent him an appreciative email. What a brave man!

29. Even Stephven: Islam vs. Christianity

Comment #24496 by John Pritzlaff on March 6, 2007 at 11:14 pm

Ha, great vid.

30. Daggers Drawn

Comment #23779 by John Pritzlaff on March 2, 2007 at 4:32 pm

I haven't listened yet, but I just want to say that the blurb in the article is a great example of the "conversational intolerance" attitude that Sam Harris talks about. This person's consciousness has definitely been raised, if it was ever low.

31. William Crawley meets Richard Dawkins

Comment #23370 by John Pritzlaff on February 28, 2007 at 8:00 am

About the assumption part:

In both science and faith you do have to assume, but in science you have to assume less, because the assumptions work in real life.

32. Review of 'The Quotable Atheist'

Comment #22249 by John Pritzlaff on February 13, 2007 at 5:21 pm

I doubt he made that up. It's probably just a different version, translation, etc.

33. Review of 'The Quotable Atheist'

Comment #22053 by John Pritzlaff on February 12, 2007 at 8:13 pm

I bought this book more than a month ago from Barnes and Noble. It's very good, and I advise anyone reading this to get it. It's only a book of quotes, and yet the quotes are so well picked and researched that it is well worth the money.

34. Panel discussion on atheism where no atheists are included

Comment #21279 by John Pritzlaff on February 8, 2007 at 11:59 am

Wow, I just found this thread. I missed everything! I hope you and Mr. Hitchens do well tonight, Richard. In fact, I am confident you will.

Good luck.

-John Pritzlaff

35. Atheist Rap: Extian, The Verse from Atheist Nation Pt III

Comment #20835 by John Pritzlaff on February 6, 2007 at 6:06 pm

It's rather annoying hearing so many people decry Greydon when if they were to watch his videos, they would know that he's an EX-crip. He compares his gang activity with religious activity and he states that he's done with that in-group/out-group way of thinking.

For people who like this, you should check out some of his other stuff at thecomptoneffect.com ... His cd is for sale; if you like this enough then you should buy it.

36. Sam Harris at Idea City '05

Comment #18163 by John Pritzlaff on January 18, 2007 at 5:22 pm

This is the video that got me into Sam Harris, and thus into the New Atheism movement. What a great speech...

37. Consciousness Without Faith

Comment #16648 by John Pritzlaff on January 7, 2007 at 9:31 pm

I'm glad Harris wrote this article, because it clarifies a lot of his positions. I'm noticing more people "taking his side" on this one. I think he explained himself well.

Whether we drop the terms or keep them, we're going to run into problems. Saying atheists aren't spiritual is misleading, but saying they are is also. The problem is that there are two types of spirituality here: rational and irrational. That's the message we need to get out there, and I'm not quite sure how.

38. Sam Harris's Faith in Eastern Spirituality and Muslim Torture

Comment #16540 by John Pritzlaff on January 7, 2007 at 8:33 am

I saw someone post that they weren't okay with collateral damage, so they're not okay with torture. Well, yeah, duh. Neither is Harris. But he's saying that, since we are already allowing collateral damage, we should be open to torture. Obviously we aren't open to collateral damage, but right now our government is, and so Harris is saying that they should also be open to torture.

39. Sam Harris's Faith in Eastern Spirituality and Muslim Torture

Comment #16448 by John Pritzlaff on January 6, 2007 at 3:56 pm

This article is relatively malicious in the way it describes Sam's viewpoints. I agree with Sam's point about torture, if I remember it correctly. I think it came down to: "If we're willing to wage war, then we should be willing to torture. There's no difference between harming people with bombs and harming people with torture, except that the latter is more personal, and thus gets more sympathy from us." Now, most of us here are not in favor of the war. But the war is a reality, and thus torture is too. Obviously our ideal is to not have wars or torture, but we have one, so we're going to have the other.

Sam's viewpoints on the "paranormal" are pretty benign. He basically says: "I just want these things looked into a little further, because of the bias against them. They've been unfairly stigmatized, and therefore we may have a bias against them that allows us to overlook some possible truth-value in their claims. I personally don't think this line of inquiry will lead to much, but I agree that it's worth looking into.

And his views on Buddhism and eastern spirituality are very straightforward, and I'm frankly dismayed with how many atheists don't seem to get what he's saying. All he says about spirituality is that there are obviously steps we can take to change our perceptions of the world, and this needs to be looked into, because a lot of this stuff may be beneficial. The meditation he talks about is simply thought, contemplation, and (as he rightly states) this is a concept that we don't need to take on faith. His whole point is that we don't need to discard everything in eastern thought, because a lot of it is good. But that has nothing to do with taking it as dogma, which is what Harris is explicitly saying we should never do for anything. Zen is good, it helps us think, this is obvious. We don't need to take any unnatural claims on faith in order to see this.

I think the Buddhism discussion is a good step. I don't think the questions he asks at the end of the chapter about consciousness (is it more than a phenomenon) will lead anywhere, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be asked. I think that he makes some good points about the nature of the ego, and I think it is just a phenomenon. It ties into the zen stuff nicely, because there are a lot of great lessons to be learned about the nature of consciousness from Buddhism. That's all from me.

40. Pat Robertson: God told me of 'mass killing' in 2007

Comment #15920 by John Pritzlaff on January 3, 2007 at 9:05 pm

I'm glad you put this up. I really don't have anything to add. This is just insane.

41. What are you optimistic about? Why?

Comment #15666 by John Pritzlaff on January 1, 2007 at 11:11 pm

Sorry Sancus, but you misinterpreted what he was saying.

42. Left Behind: Eternal Forces on The Daily Show

Comment #15497 by John Pritzlaff on December 31, 2006 at 9:22 pm

No, Mel Z, they actually get real guns.

43. The Blasphemy Challenge

Comment #13521 by John Pritzlaff on December 18, 2006 at 4:41 am

I'm 16, so I guess I'm one of the youths a lot of you keep referring to. I can't speak for all the participants, but I personally took part in the contest because I am an atheist activist, not because I thought it would be rebellious or cool. I have been researching religion for 5 years, and am extremely confident in my atheism. Like I said, I may not be a good representative, but it seems that there are a lot of people around my age on YouTube that are very intelligent atheists.

I have mixed feelings about the contest. On one hand I am worried that it will have a negative effect, that it will make us look exactly as fanatical as those we oppose. I have experienced this effect on YouTube myself. But on another hand -- a more steady one -- I think it will be a great consciousness-raiser, will show that not all atheists are "condescending" [not true] oxford professors, and that there really is such a thing as an atheistic activist and we're not going to take the prejudice any more. It's a mixed bag, but I think it's definitely more worth it than not.

44. God's Inbox

Comment #12812 by John Pritzlaff on December 14, 2006 at 12:20 am

He only has 3 billion messages... that doesn't seem like enough.

45. In case you didn't know I'm a fool, here's an article to prove it.

Comment #12806 by John Pritzlaff on December 14, 2006 at 12:07 am

aidanjt, most atheists would disagree with your definition of "pure atheism". Atheism is simply the lack of belief in god(s), not the belief that none exist. Some atheists do claim to believe that none exist, but they are still almost always open to the possibility, no matter how improbable it is to them. Agnosticism is often defined as the belief that it is impossible to know whether god or gods exist, and many atheists and theists are also agnostics by this definition.