1. Ricky Gervais and The Archbishop Of Canterbury

Comment #264965 by Peribolos on October 15, 2008 at 2:13 pm

I'm reasonably convinced that the AoC is actually a closet atheist. Faced with some of the mildest interrogation I've seen Dawkins do he offered a half hearted pseudo philosophical defence of his extra-weak brand Christianity and before Dawkins could actually respond finished with 'I suppose that all sounds rather like mumbo jumbo'. To which Dawkins simply nodded.

Clearly he is working to bring the C of E down from the inside by being massively insipid and admitting intellectual defeat at every available opportunity, could the NSS please make him an honoury associate as well.

2. Lizards make adaptive change

Comment #188983 by Peribolos on June 5, 2008 at 6:07 am

While the results of this study are fascinating I do have to question how ethical it was to dump an alien species on a small island and watch them overrun it.

3. Opponents of Evolution Adopting a New Strategy

Comment #188962 by Peribolos on June 5, 2008 at 3:38 am

Well put on both Raiko. If students want to learn about 'weaknesses' in the theory of evolution they should go to University and study the life sciences. At school level it's ridiculous to suggest children are going to get more than a superficial glance at the theory, that superficial glance will not be helped by allowing teachers to mention the bible as an alternative textbook.

4. Opponents of Evolution Adopting a New Strategy

Comment #188935 by Peribolos on June 5, 2008 at 2:32 am

"I believe a lot of incredible things," he said, "The most incredible thing I believe is the Christmas story. That little baby born in the manger was the god that created the universe."

5. Character Attacks: How to Properly Apply the Ad Hominem

Comment #187901 by Peribolos on June 3, 2008 at 2:20 am

Clearly the doctor's advice is open to a kind of ad hominem attack.

If the doctor believed that the most important thing in life was to be healthy, she would be thin. Instead if she has made a choice in favour of not being healthy it suggests that although she may genuinely believe being healthy is a good thing she thinks the freedom to eat cake is more important.


Moreover an actor's scientology is pertinent to the entertainment value of his movies, as anyone who has seen John Travolta in Battlefield Earth will know.

6. Character Attacks: How to Properly Apply the Ad Hominem

Comment #187645 by Peribolos on June 2, 2008 at 12:16 pm

John Adams was called "a fool, a gross hypocrite and an unprincipled oppressor." His rival, Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, was deemed "an uncivilized atheist, anti-American, a tool for the godless French."

7. The Courtier's Reply

Comment #187413 by Peribolos on June 2, 2008 at 5:51 am

The 'you need to be a theologian to question god' line of argument is ridiculous simply on the basis that if any fields get that monopoly it would be scientists and philosophers. How is a discussion of the existence of god a part in any way of theology? It belongs firmly in the realms of either metaphysics or empirical science.

8. Put a Little Science in Your Life

Comment #187372 by Peribolos on June 2, 2008 at 4:36 am

I think that one of the great losses to science teaching in recent years is the diminishing role of practicals. Even worse, for reasons of cost and presumably health and safety, those practicals that do remain have become hideously boring. I remember my GCSE biology practical involved counting the number of bubbles duckweed produced in a minute. No wonder I didn't take any science subjects to A-level.

9. Louisiana's latest creationism bill moves to House floor

Comment #187362 by Peribolos on June 2, 2008 at 3:45 am

As I type here in the midst of the selfsame swampland, I wonder whether these coins too originate from Louisiana....
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. military is investigating a Marine accused of promoting Christianity in Iraq by giving coins to civilians with a Bible verse written on them in Arabic, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

10. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #187341 by Peribolos on June 2, 2008 at 2:15 am

Someone needs to invent forum software that automatically filters out posts with bible quotes in.

11. Richard Dawkins interviewed by John Humphrys on Cardinal Murphy O'Connor

Comment #187336 by Peribolos on June 2, 2008 at 1:58 am

I like Cardinal Murphy O'Connor. I think the only reason any of you listen to Richard Dawkins is because he is a big bully (listen to the tone of voice he uses) who is setting himself up as God, and to be worshipped. Look at the photos at the top of the page! Surely you have better things to do than hanging around here, being bitter. Maybe try praying.

12. Karma comedians

Comment #187045 by Peribolos on June 1, 2008 at 7:58 am

Peter Hitchens' main comment on his page.
"[Britain's]... elite in the grip of a destructive, intolerant atheism."

13. Teacher tortures, kills boy

Comment #186894 by Peribolos on May 31, 2008 at 4:48 pm

Mordacious1, that would not surprise me in the slightest. If they are half as brutal as some of the schools run by the catholic church in the 20th century then they are probably horrific places. That said they were no worse than many private boarding schools a little earlier in the century. Religion is indeed a 'lubricant' as HourglassMemory put it, but at the end of the day it takes a sadistic twisted person, religious or not, to beat a kid to death. Let's not get too trigger happy on Islam just because we don't like it generally.

14. Teacher tortures, kills boy

Comment #186888 by Peribolos on May 31, 2008 at 4:30 pm

I agree with epeeist's initial statement, until I see evidence that this kind of behaviour occurs regularly in a number of different madrassas I must assume that it is an isolated incident by a single nutcase. Islam may have its problems but the actions of a single individual are neither here nor there. Extrapolating from one occurence to 'all islam is bad' is the kind of reasoning you get in the daily mail, I'm pretty sure a bunch of rationalists can do better. :)

15. Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art

Comment #186309 by Peribolos on May 30, 2008 at 6:05 am

I do think the point about where the original cash for the Sistine chapel etc came from is an important one. Somehow these writers miss the fact that to fund massive works of art you need to take money from many people and sink it into a single project. When that's the (secular)National Lottery or the Government taking from gamblers or taxpayers and giving to community art projects it's pretty justifiable. When it's the catholic church taking from medieval peasants and decorating the inside of a massive monument to a non existent being, probably less justifiable.

16. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #186114 by Peribolos on May 29, 2008 at 3:46 pm

Lots of people seem to be confusing Marxism itself with nominally Marxist states. Marx was simply a very capable philosopher of political economy, perhaps his main failing was to believe people could implement his academic work in practice. Imagine if people tried to create a Nietzschean society, it would be messy and lethal, doesn't change the fact that Nietzsche was a good philosopher.