1. Scientists rally against creationist 'superstition'

Comment #186942 by quantum tuba on May 31, 2008 at 10:34 pm

Why was superstition in quotes. There is incontrovertible evidence that creationism is superstition. Also, "superstition", despite being generally pejorative in connotation, is objectively not as bad of a general category as creationism. So the creationists should be offended not for being called superstitious, but for being called creationists. Unfortunately, they are far too faith addled to realize these apparent facets of reality.

2. Mark Steyn vs. the 'Sock Puppets'

Comment #185815 by quantum tuba on May 28, 2008 at 4:54 pm

The Human Rights Tribunal, which denies the basic right to free thought and free speech. Doublethink anyone?

3. Car dealership advert tells atheists to 'shut up'

Comment #185417 by quantum tuba on May 27, 2008 at 7:01 pm

"this is America folks, it's called free speech."

Agreed, however, this is America folks, it's called the establishment clause. Additionally, I doubt it's us atheists who will get really annoyed with this little snippet of idiocy. I suspect that a lot of deists will find being labeled Christian to be deeply insulting.

4. In God's Name

Comment #183664 by quantum tuba on May 22, 2008 at 12:53 pm

"and God's enemy is Satan." Why do fundies always seem to think Satan is so awesome? Also, to call biblical literalism science is a pernicious Newspeak that must be eradicated.

5. Face to faith

Comment #181911 by quantum tuba on May 18, 2008 at 5:48 pm

Is Henri suggesting that Bertrand Russell's ethics were nihilistic or even perhaps utterly immoral? Let us consider that Russell was a man who argued against war, tyranny, and prejudice. Additionally, he desired improvements in education and economic conditions for all. I sincerely hope that Henri was referring to a different Russell, as the one I have read is certainly not immoral, and was one of the leading humanists of his time.

6. Indian village proud after double 'honor killing'

Comment #181859 by quantum tuba on May 18, 2008 at 1:39 pm

What a bunch of misogynistic, reactionary, oppressive, anti-rational, group think addled ignoramuses. If these atrocities are the results of morality, then the time has come for me to quote Emma Goldman.

"Fortunately, the Dawn is emerging from the chaos and darkness. Woman is awakening, she is throwing off the nightmare of Morality; she will no longer be bound. In her love for the man she is not concerned in the contents of his pocketbook, but in the wealth of his nature, which alone is the fountain of life and of joy. Nor does she need the sanction of the State. Her love is sanction enough for her. Thus she can abandon herself to the man of her choice, as the flowers abandon themselves to dew and light, in freedom, beauty, and ecstasy.

Through her re-born consciousness as a unit, a personality, a race builder, she will become a mother only if she desires the child, and if she can give to the child, even before its birth, all that her nature and intellect can yield: harmony, health, comfort, beauty, and, above all, understanding, reverence, and love, which is the only fertile soil for new life, a new being.

Morality has no terrors for her who has risen beyond good and evil. And though Morality may continue to devour its victims, it is utterly powerless in the face of the modern spirit, that shines in all its glory upon the brow of man and woman, liberated and unafraid."-Emma Goldman

7. Citing Faith, Bush Defends War Actions

Comment #177052 by quantum tuba on May 8, 2008 at 1:53 pm

"But Mr. Bush, most experts agree, has taken the American freedom agenda to an entirely new level, by trying to foster democracy in nations that have not known it before, like Iraq and Afghanistan."

Somebody needs to give these people some Chomsky! Perhaps Failed States would teach them how to look beyond the morally vacuous fallacies of faith heads.

This president has done so much to undermine democracy at home, from being appointed by the Supreme Court to shredding the Constitution in the name of counter-terrorism. As for his work as missionary for democracy, our Iraq occupation does not respect the will of the Iraqi or American people, and I have a hard time considering Afghanistan free when blasphemy still qualifies as a capital offense.

8. Gene map proves platypus is part bird, mammal and reptile

Comment #177035 by quantum tuba on May 8, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Ironically, the platypus is a creature which creationists in my class claim "could not have arisen from evolution" on the grounds that it is "too weird." This from the same side that demands to see a crocoduck! I think when creationists say a creature "could not have arisen from evolution" they probably just misspoke when they meant to say it "has an incredibly fascinating evolutionary history." I wish.

9. Did pre-big bang universe leave its mark on the sky?

Comment #159186 by quantum tuba on April 11, 2008 at 2:52 pm

Roger Penrose seems to have been toying with a similar theory recently. However, as he described it, the previous universe did not end in a big crunch but rather reached maximum entropy or heat death. How this could then manifest itself as an exploding singularity is a bit beyond me, but I'm not a theoretical physicist (yet).

10. Hitchens vs. Hitchens

Comment #157898 by quantum tuba on April 9, 2008 at 5:39 pm

InoculatedCities: I to have been longing to see a debate between Hitchens and Chomsky. Watching two of the most high profile and controversial humanists debate such an important issue would be impressive. Additionally, I have never seen Hitchens bested in a debate, but I do think that Chomsky would be able to demolish his ideas.

11. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #155287 by quantum tuba on April 4, 2008 at 9:54 am

What really kills Pascal's Wager for me is my own rebellious liberalism. Any God who would punish you over a matter of belief rather than action, particularly in a field conspicuously bereft of solid evidence, clearly has incorporated thought crime far to heavily into his law. I love freedom of thought and speech to much to cede it to any tyrant, be it human or deity. To a god with such arrogant and oppressive policies, I would have no choice ethically but to proclaim, "God is a n00bcake!" before the low brow, and distribute updated works of Orwell, Bakunin, and Paine among the intelligent.

12. Anti-gay Okla. lawmaker attracts 1,000 backers

Comment #154449 by quantum tuba on April 3, 2008 at 9:31 am

She said her beliefs are rooted in Biblical passages, did she. Coming soon: Sally Kern discusses the threat posed by masturbating, eating shellfish, and permitting witches to live. She is also expected to endorse the stoning of disobedient children and the marriage of rape victims to their rapists.

Anyone who holds this legislator of stone age dogmatism in any esteem is a FUCKTARD!

13. Faith healing church parents charged over toddler's death

Comment #153591 by quantum tuba on April 1, 2008 at 4:00 pm

Gymnopedie: The Sagan work you are referring to is chapter 15 of Billions and Billions, entitled Abortion: Is it Possible to Be Both "Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice"? He co-wrote it with Ann Druyan, and I personally think of it as the best thought out treatise on the debate that I have read.

14. Christian Founders 3D Adventure Computer Game

Comment #153013 by quantum tuba on March 31, 2008 at 9:23 pm

Exactly Dr. Benway, and there is a great deal of evidence, which will be unchanged by any fundie video game, that number 2 is the correct interpretation. I could cite a variety of quotes from some Founders proclaiming their loyalty to deism while others express their Christianity as clear evidence that they wanted to erect a "wall of separation between church and state"* and foster an environment of unimpeded theological and philosophical pluralism. However, it is also obvious that there are laws higher than even the Constitution. For instance, our Constitution and Founding Fathers initially supported slavery and racism, yet instead of taking the Constitution as the sole arbiter of our law, we amended it. Even if it were shown that the Constitution and the Founders supported Christian theocracy, it would be our moral and intellectual imperative to amend it.

*Thomas Jefferson

15. Iowa county board gives initial OK for ghost hunters to investigate asylum

Comment #151457 by quantum tuba on March 28, 2008 at 6:24 pm

Will someone please ask these "ghost hunters" to go away until they can come up with a reliable methodology for their ridiculous studies of paranormal phenomena. How can they "investigate" if they don't have any way of gathering and analyzing data? Oh well, it never stopped theologians, and it won't stop any other anti-rationalists.

16. The Atheist Apocalypse

Comment #148590 by quantum tuba on March 23, 2008 at 11:06 am

I think they chose equality for Hitchens simply because he's the most political of the Four Horsemen. The rest are academics of some sort (Dawkins is a biologist, Dennet and analytic philosopher, which might make him better suited for "reason" and Harris is a neuroscientist).

17. Admitting that you have no religion is not politically correct

Comment #122034 by quantum tuba on February 4, 2008 at 2:20 pm

This university wouldn't happen to be owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp would it?

18. Some non-Christians feel left out of election

Comment #121551 by quantum tuba on February 3, 2008 at 4:20 pm

mmurray: The way I define liberal vs. conservative seems rather different than your definition. To me, liberalism is rooted in an opposition to coercion, and an embrace of empiricism over dogmatism when it comes to political ideals. In this sense, your right wing atheists would still fall under the definition of classical liberalism. Even Hitchens' support of the Iraq War is based on liberal ideals, although I view his opinion as misguided. To me, a conservative is someone who wants to maintain tradition and rely on ideals of jingoism or religion , rather than those of empiricist philosophy. Check out Bertrand Russell's essay "Philosophy and Politics." It is very enlightening.

19. The Science behind the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #116523 by quantum tuba on January 26, 2008 at 5:34 pm

"Dark matter, stuff we can't see or detect?"

LorienRyan is correct that we cannot see it, as it does not reflect or emit electromagnetic waves(and I don't think it absorbs them either, so I could just say doesn't interact with them).

However, LorienRyan is incorrect on the assertion that dark matter cannot be detected. In addition to being detectable through its gravitational influence, most hypothesized forms of dark matter can be detected in particle physics laboratories. In other words, dark matter is not analogous to doG or Russell's teapot by any means.

20. A Letter From Hell

Comment #116181 by quantum tuba on January 25, 2008 at 6:31 pm

GodTube "Broadcast Him" Are they really so arrogant as to think they can broadcast for the almighty dyslexic canine himself? Thomas Paine was right, organized religion is an insult to any potential deity worth worshipping! Then again, for them to read Paine might require rational thought rather than creative lameness, so they won't bother.