1. Philadelphia Set to Honor Darwin and Evolution

Comment #198896 by Severus Snape on June 24, 2008 at 4:35 pm

"Christianity versus the relative morality of secular humanism"

Stephen Law has published a few excellent articles that address this myth (i.e. this idea that if you are not a fundamentalist Christian then you are a moral relativist): Click Here

2. 1968 Supreme Court case of Epperson v. Arkansas

Comment #185798 by Severus Snape on May 28, 2008 at 3:08 pm

LaurenceH86 - Lawyers are paid to represent their clients, so it certainly is typical for lawyers to be "in it for the money." Of course lawyers do pro bono work, but most of the time lawyers get paid for the work they do.

3. Animal Science Without Evolution

Comment #184815 by Severus Snape on May 26, 2008 at 8:34 am

epeeist - I'm in Canada, but anyway my point was that many parents whose children are in school teach against evolution at home. It is inappropriate to target homeschooling parents for special treatment. Also, there was an article a week or so ago showing that a good percentage of biology teachers in the USA teach against evolution, regardless of what the law says. So, whether kids are in school or not isn't really the issue.

mordacious1 - in my view it is better if kids teach themselves, with guidance from parents. Authoritarian styles of teaching blunt kids enthusiasm for learning, and the peer pressure of the school environment is so detrimental to their mental health. School kids spend more time worrying about what other kids think of them than they do learning.

4. Animal Science Without Evolution

Comment #184781 by Severus Snape on May 26, 2008 at 6:54 am

Homeschooling Dad here. Please keep in mind that a lot of people homeschool for pedagogical reasons and not because of religion. It would seem that creationists are over-represented in the homeschooling community, particularly in the United States. However, if we are going to have the state intervene to prevent creationist teaching, then that intervention should apply to every parent - whether they are homeschooling or not. If you are interested in learning more about the non-religious homeschooling community, check out my site: http://www.hsfreethinkers.com/.

5. Mayor challenges pope during Genoa visit

Comment #182185 by Severus Snape on May 19, 2008 at 10:51 am

Pro Death by George Monbiot: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/02/26/pro-death/

Conclusion: "These people spread misery, disease and death. And they call themselves pro-life."

6. Golden Compass

Comment #97825 by Severus Snape on December 12, 2007 at 5:22 pm

Thanks for the language warning!

7. Excerpt from 'The Portable Atheist'

Comment #87514 by Severus Snape on November 12, 2007 at 10:45 am

Did you see the Publisher's Weekly review (e.g. on Amazon)?

Excerpt: "What these dynamic writers are railing against often enough, however, is a strawman: an immature, fundamentalist, outdated, and even embarrassing style of religion that many intelligent believers have long since cast off. It could be that Hitchens and his cast of nonbelievers are preaching to the choir and their message is tired and spent. However, this remains a fascinating collection of readings from some of the West's greatest thinkers."

Some strawman...

8. When Congress Interferes With Science, Who You Gonna Call? (Hint: It's not Ghostbusters)

Comment #86827 by Severus Snape on November 10, 2007 at 8:41 am

Is there any point to joining the SCA if you aren't an American?

9. AAI 2007 Photos

Comment #76104 by Severus Snape on October 4, 2007 at 6:10 pm

Where's Spock? Oh wait, wrong convention...

10. AAI Convention webcam

Comment #74016 by Severus Snape on September 27, 2007 at 4:49 am

I'm not a big fan of RRS's style either, but I'm getting old and I'm a bit of a snob :). The RRS has its audience, and the cause is good, so more power to them.

11. Crisis of faith in first secular school

Comment #72831 by Severus Snape on September 23, 2007 at 5:26 am

Perhaps *someone* who is tech-savy (or perhaps that isn't necessary) could set up a petition on the subject. I'm an expat so I'd sign such a petition, but I'm not motivated enough to write to an MP in the U.K. We have our own issues in Canada with religion in schools.

12. Youtube hater, I respect your right to free speech.

Comment #70563 by Severus Snape on September 16, 2007 at 4:35 am

Better judgment ought to be exercised in selecting what gets posted to the RichardDawkins.net site IMO.

13. Dissing Deism

Comment #62451 by Severus Snape on August 9, 2007 at 7:08 pm

Now Magazine is a Toronto street magazine, which has (mostly) left-wing news and commentary, and a significant portion dealing with lifestyle issues, movies, music, etc. So, don't expect perfection in other words from a review...

14. OUT Campaign Launched, 'Scarlet Letter' Shirts Now Available!

Comment #59472 by Severus Snape on July 29, 2007 at 7:20 am

Apparently I need to spell this out: Having "RichardDawkins.net" on the front of the shirt helps identify what the 'A' means (atheist, as opposed to adulterer). This design combines an advertisement for the website with an identifier for the 'A.'

What website did you come to today that allows you to spew venom back at its new projects? Do some of you really think that it is embarrassing to advertise it on a T-shirt? If you enjoy the discussion here, spread the word about it! Or don't, just don't waste comment space telling everyone else you won't. And if you have so much free time, please, get busy and start your own campaign!

Well, Josh, I have enough free time to read this thread and respond to your comment. I think the problem is that you are mixing up a campaign to promote atheism with a promotional campaign for this website. The Out Campaign website appears to be a unique creature, for a worthy purpose, but then the shirt refers to the Richard Dawkins website and thus appears purely promotional for this website. That, essentially, is one of the problems a lot of commentators have noted, and it is a direct result of the way you set up the campaign (or, erm, the shirt). You don't need 'RichardDawkins.net' on the shirt to "identify what the 'A' means" (there are other options). I agree with the others who noted that a reference to the Out Campaign website would be more appropriate.

15. Interview with Dan Dennett on Danish TV

Comment #54456 by Severus Snape on July 7, 2007 at 8:20 am

Ho Ho Ho!

Great video!

16. The Debate: Can We Live by Reason Alone?

Comment #39881 by Severus Snape on May 12, 2007 at 7:13 am

Steve Paikin has been a mainstay of TVO for years, and he is an excellent interviewer. He is a very intelligent person. That said, I was a little disappointed in the interview at times, as I didn't like the position from which Mr. Paikin was playing Devil's Advocate, as he clearly was. But, the thing to remember of course, is that the show is made for the general public, and not for Dawkins's fans. Dawkins got lots of time, got his points across in detail, and you can't ask more than that.

17. Growing Up in the Universe: 2-Disc DVD Set

Comment #30300 by Severus Snape on April 7, 2007 at 1:01 pm

My son prefers to have closed captioning on, so we will wait for the next release (assuming CC is indeed in the works). What about Blu-ray or HD-DVD, or is that overkill for these lectures? I don't know as I've never seen the program.

18. Atheist says he's victim of religious hate crime

Comment #29389 by Severus Snape on April 2, 2007 at 6:07 pm

There are a few more details about this incident here:
http://secularalliance.ca/2007/03/30/fac-president-assaulted-at-ryerson/

I haven't spoken to anyone involved, but I am a little skeptical that this is a hate crime against atheism. The area where this incident occurred certainly isn't the best part of town, and to be out there at midnight, and to be verbally confrontational with the nice folks you happen to meet, isn't that bright (sorry for the pun). Still, nobody deserves to be physically assaulted, and on the facts above clearly these hooligans were looking for trouble.

19. Interview: Jerry Coyne

Comment #29021 by Severus Snape on April 1, 2007 at 8:12 am

The Agenda is a current events show, It isn't a science show. The audience is the general Canadian public, so it isn't fair to expect a detailed lesson about evolution. The debate was the best part anyway.

20. Interview: Jerry Coyne

Comment #28874 by Severus Snape on March 31, 2007 at 12:33 pm

Magrathean Economist wrote "Thanks for posting the link."

You're welcome. The rest of the program can be found here:
http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=43

21. 'God Is Not a Moderate'

Comment #18242 by Severus Snape on January 19, 2007 at 5:29 am

Where is Andrew's reply? Does he need some more time to think about this?

22. God-less

Comment #16435 by Severus Snape on January 6, 2007 at 3:11 pm

Gimlibengloin asks, "Well, why don't you just tell me?"

Why should we educate you about Humanism and Humanist thought? It isn't our job to convince you of anything or educate you. Besides, from your later post it appears that you aren't afraid of your local library so do some research about Humanism or do a Google or try Wikipedia.

23. CBC Segment on Evangelist Christians

Comment #14120 by Severus Snape on December 21, 2006 at 8:08 am

#11 (Jared) wrote: "Although I agreed with the host, I did find his voiceovers a bit snarky at times."

Actually, Mark Kelley's (the interviewer's) voice-overs in these types of segments are always like that. It has nothing to do with the subject-matter.