1. Religion in Conflict: Are 'Evangelical Atheists' Too Outspoken?

Comment #156068 by tuibguy on April 6, 2008 at 3:46 pm

At the risk of awakening an old thread, I linked to the original article in response to post that Matthew Nisbet wrote at Framing Science. It was a thinly veiled attack on PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins.

Greg Laden linked to the article, and changed the term atheist to anti-racist to to expose the "dig" that Matthew was laying at PZ.

2. Can Atheists Be Parents?

Comment #107861 by tuibguy on January 5, 2008 at 2:09 pm

Even though the ruling was overturned and the Burkes were allowed to adopt the second child, the provision in the New Jersey Constitution which the Judge used still remains.

I have an entry about the constitutions of Minnesota and New Jersey at Tangled Up In Blue Guy.

3. Logical Path from Religious Beliefs to Evil Deeds

Comment #78613 by tuibguy on October 13, 2007 at 9:11 pm

I haven't read through all of the comments, so I am not sure if this book has been mentioned or not. I am in the process of reading Hector Avalos' book Fighting Words which examines religion and violence from a viewpoint of scarcity. He makes the thesis that violence is a necessary function of religion; and while I was unsure how he was getting there at the start of the book, it is coming together. Rather than re-create a blog entry/book review from earlier today, I would prefer to link to my article.

4. Church and State: Divided we stand

Comment #64124 by tuibguy on August 17, 2007 at 10:03 pm

Do I agree with every aspect and emphasis? No. For example, I do not especially care about whether the US retains its economic pre-eminence. The article is very much written for an American audience. But Dershowitz is right on the main point: the separation of church and state is under attack from many sides, and is worth fighting for.

Hey, Russell, I would guess that this is self-evident. I am not even a fighting man, but the idea that liberty can co-exist with prescribed religion is self contradictory and ludicrous.

5. New age therapies cause 'retreat from reason'

Comment #62250 by tuibguy on August 9, 2007 at 5:26 am

On astrology, I lost my interest in it when I found out that Virgos are obsessively neat, disciplined and driven. Not me. Not by a long shot. Someone suggested it was because I am on the "Cusp of Leo." Still not buying it, cause Leos are supposed to be fiery and argumentative. Still not me. Much later a girlfriend, also a Christian (and an alcoholic) insisted on doing a detailed chart for me. Took her hours; and still none of her machinations and table-ations gave me any useful information.

Religion and alternative cures and astrology are all vestiges of magical thinking. I see it as all of a piece, and the good Prof. is following his mission to the public understanding of science with this current focus. If it drives away the likes of Paglia, too bad. If she wants to be an atheist, perhaps she should do a little deeper digging into the problem of supernatural thinking.

As opposed to drive1, I don't see this as a battle to be fought against religion. I see the process of the continuation, or re-awakening of the enlightenment, as building a lighthouse. People who wish to base their lives on reason will find their way to atheism as long as we shine lights into darkened corners. Unfortunately for the middle-grounders, this means shining the light into all corners and not just the religious ones.

Naturopathy, homeopathy, psychic readings, etc, etc etc, do as much harm as religion because they promise hope from sources which have no means to deliver.

6. Come Out!

Comment #61240 by tuibguy on August 4, 2007 at 10:02 am

Re - my post on Baptists for Brownback - I don't want to spoil anything, but one of the members is Shelley the Republcan, damn his eyes.

7. Come Out!

Comment #61232 by tuibguy on August 4, 2007 at 9:25 am

If anybody needs any incentive to order the shirt, there is a Christian site that is taking the credit for the Out Campaign. A lying preacher at the Baptists for Brownback blog says that he proposed the idea to Scienceblogs that the atheist sites (such as Pharyngula) be forced to display a Scarlet A in the left gutter.

They claim that after much lobbying (and prayer) that ScienceBlogs acceded to their will, and that is the reason that PZ has added it. (He tells some nasty lies about our admired Developmental Biologist friend as well, which I pointed out in a comment. The comment has not as yet been deleted.)

I had written (as Mike Haubrich, FCD) on Pharyngula a prediction; that as soon as the Christian sites find out about the "A" that they would be raising "alarums" throughout their blogospere, and everyone will know what the "A" means. I am not psychic, it was easy to guess. Well, here is an example:

http://baptistsforbrown2008.wordpress.com/2007/08/03/scarlet-letter-campaign-update-a-victory/

With all the lies which abound on the page, I come to the conclusion that Richard is not using overwrought, inflammatory langauge on the "child abuse" claim. The blogger is a youth counselor.

Of course, it is possible that this is a satire site. It is a little over-the-top.

Regarding the Hawthorne book; to anyone who was hesitating to buy the shirt - the "A" need no longer be a symbol for "Secret Sin" of atheism. Wear it on the shirt so they don't tattoo it on your forehead.

8. Ducking the God Question

Comment #60896 by tuibguy on August 3, 2007 at 5:04 am

If Molly were still alive, this would have not got into the Observer. The writer did no research, apparently, and I wondered if the Observer's contributors are blocked from even using google to get information. The errors have been pointed out above.

And to hungarianelephant and windfall: I am usually disappointed, as you yourselves are, when people correct my grammar and they turn out to be incorrect themselves. One of my examples is the way that people use articles such as in "an historical document." Even though my dialect of English pronounces the "h" clearly, I am still corrected for using "a."

9. The Out Campaign

Comment #59849 by tuibguy on July 30, 2007 at 9:20 pm

Hey, SavageMickey - I would like to know where your restaurant is. Come to my blog and post a comment (don't worry, it's just as good as private) and let me know where I can get some good victuals and support a fellow Twin Cities atheist.

http://tuibguy.blog-city.com, or go to http://mnatheists.org and check out the events. We will be having a freethinkers picnic soon and you are welcome to come if you can get away from work (it's on a Sunday.)

10. The Out Campaign

Comment #59833 by tuibguy on July 30, 2007 at 7:09 pm

I am adding the "A" to my site despite the detractors. I am all ready a member of the Minnesota Atheists, so it won't be a surprise to the state legislators and senators I volunteer for and occasionally get to hang out with. I am fortunate to be in Minnesota's Twin Cities Metro area, so it is not as scary a proclamation to come out of the closet as an atheist as it is in other parts of the state. Certainly it is not as much of a challenge as it is for my brothers, who live in Oklahoma (atheists both, I proudly add.)

http://tuibguy.blog-city.com/my_name_is_mike_and_i_am_an_atheist.htm

I don't take it lightly, and I understand why some atheists are hesitant to adopt a herd mentality, but I think that the least we can do is show some support for people that feel like they are surrounded on all sides.

We're here for you, folks, if you need us.

11. Won't anyone stand up for God?

Comment #54606 by tuibguy on July 8, 2007 at 5:49 am

I really would like to see these people learn at least a bit of science before they write about how inadequate it is. For example, the author claims that cosmologists are taking dark energy and dark matter "on faith" and so he/she thinks that we know nothing at all of it, but that they have to use it to make the math work on the separation of the galaxies.

I wonder if she thinks that neutrons and electrons and protons are taken on faith as well, for the fact that no one has "seen" them (only their effects.)

And this whole Hitler being an atheist thing - did he/she not even read Hitchens? Did she not read what he said about how briliian Stalin was to take advantage of the Russians long historhy of associating Czars with being demi-gods? This is such a tired refrain of religious violence apologetics - "We aren't so bad, look at Hitler!" Well look at him. No doubt he drew a certain inspiration from Martin Luther in formulating the "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem."

Atheists have meaning inspired by the world around us, our friends, our family, our interests, our desires, our hopes and dreams. We have the unfortunate lack of a deity to blame when things don't go our way, of course, and we certainly don't have the self-contradictory pleading "I wish for you to provide this opportunity for me, but if not, then Thy Will Be Done."

Athletes thank God in victory and take solace in defeat. How could God ever lose?

12. Beggars belief: Robin McKie on The God Delusion

Comment #50108 by tuibguy on June 15, 2007 at 5:25 am

'I have found an amusing strategy,' he claims, 'when asked whether I am an atheist to point out that the questioner is also an atheist when considering Zeus, Apollo, Amon-Ra, Mithras, Baal, Thor, Wotan, the Golden Calf and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I just go one god further.'

I think that this really should be extended to include the idea that most modern religions require one to be skeptical of other religious faiths within the domains of their shared "God."

"I share with the Catholics a skepticism of Calvinism, Mormonism, Unification, Lutheranism, The Church of Christ and all the other Christian religions...I am merely skeptical of one more religion than they are."

13. The Great God Debate

Comment #50104 by tuibguy on June 15, 2007 at 5:10 am

First. I really think it would be entertaining to see a debate between Hitchens and someone who is a real firebrand fundamentalist preacher. I could never nail Roberts down, because he seemed to back off on so many things, to accommodate and agree with Hitches on things were horrific things have been done in the name of God. We have the Courtier's Reply in almost all of the debates he has engaged in since the publishing of the book. "That's not the God that I believe in..."

But the real money line that I haven't heard before is "As for free will, I think we have it, but I think we have no choice but to have it."

Thanks, CH.

14. The Great Mutator

Comment #49669 by tuibguy on June 12, 2007 at 8:52 pm

When will the God-pushers realise they're fighting a battle that's already over?

They are taking comfort from Bob Dylan:

"In the final end he won the war
After losing every battle."

15. The Fastest-Growing Religion

Comment #42617 by tuibguy on May 18, 2007 at 5:34 pm

Apparently you didn't check it out too well, KRKAB as males are not referred to as "Warlocks." They are called witches. No matter. I gave it a shot, too, and had some great sex so it has a positive aspect to it I suppose.

The pagan gods and goddesses are the other naked emperors:

http://tuibguy.blog-city.com/are_all_of_the_emperors_nekkid.htm

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

Comment #41765 by tuibguy on May 16, 2007 at 10:04 pm

Then there was that psychologist, Peterson. I figured I would be most interested in his perspective. He proved to be the only fool on the panel. He either hadn't read or had completely misunderstood Dawkins' book, muttered a bunch of tired points (albeit eloquently), and had the gall to say repeatedly, "Dawkins never addresses . . . " such and such. If he had read the book, he was also a liar.

As in the http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2007/05/emperors-new-clothes-and-courtiers.html" Courtier's Reply, (read both Moran and Myers in one post at no extra charge. Woo hoo!) there are far too many apologists who use this dodge when they are unable to face the fact that the emperor has no clothes. Wny not discuss the invisible pretty buttons? Why not discuss the wonderful invisible hat, the earrings? Is it because they don't really want to look at a nekkid emperor?

Apologists really should be able to do better than this. They have had so many thousands of years to make up better replies.

Because they aren't there, is why!

17. A History of Doubt

Comment #38736 by tuibguy on May 9, 2007 at 4:44 am

Just a request of the administrator - when linking to a video or an audio file, please include the time length of the item in the introduction. It helps make the decision as to whether to click or save for later. In this case I know from listening to this program regularly that it is approx. 1 hour, but often I won't know.

You wouldn't want me late for work, would you?

18. Bill Maher - APATHEIST

Comment #35302 by tuibguy on April 26, 2007 at 8:01 pm

You know, Maher didn't coin the word "apatheist." And not knowing and not caring about the existence of God is precisely where most of us would be were it not for the forces of theism trying to make us believe. I truthfully couldn't care if there were gods or not, but since I constantly face absurd comments of believers, then I have to name my position as atheist so that they don't mistake me for a fence sitter open to evangelism.

http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Ginohn/cetera/apatheism.html

19. Street Evangelist Saves 300 Souls From Enjoying Park

Comment #33783 by tuibguy on April 21, 2007 at 6:41 pm

To many of you, one of things that has always helped me when coming on an outrageous story:

Check the byline. In this case, it is most instructive.

20. Militant atheists: too clever for their own good

Comment #30340 by tuibguy on April 7, 2007 at 4:45 pm

I hate it when there are stupid atheists... And there are (let's not lie to ourselves)... It really makes me angry... because they ARE damaging the integrity the atheist position has always held (that of regarding logic, consistency, and truth higher than blind faith and allegiance to tradition).

I couldn't disagree more. We are all born atheists, you know. Religion is a learned condition; infused by society and education and conditioning through which children are taught that it is the natural condition. Whether some atheists make a bad example, or not, I would wish to see more and more people freed of the necessity to be trapped into behavior and irrationalism based on the beliefs of their parents.

Yes, there are some stupid atheists, but at least there is no eternal punishment nor reward to which they aim their stupidity. While it may take reason to break the bonds of religion, many people are capable of doing so with guidance.

Should you wish to live on an island surround by only elitist atheists, have at it. I wasn't expecting to be invited to dine with you, anyway, and I am sure that I won't miss it.

On to the article, I fail to follow the leaps that the writer makes as he implies that atheism loses on the basis that it has superior arguments from rationality. Atheism may be cold and harsh in that it makes no false promises of an afterlife, however we do lead rich lives and the atheists at the forefront are there because of the insistence that religion be given a free pass when it claims rationality.

Anger and frustration and vehemence are projected onto their positions and some of it may be justifiable especially in the face of articles such as this; but they hardly deserve to be compared to such twisted leaders as Ahmedinijad merely because they don't buy into the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Mr. Moore, I invite you to re-read your article for comprehension and see if perhaps you may wish to re-think your position.

21. Answers To the Atheists

Comment #30327 by tuibguy on April 7, 2007 at 3:41 pm

What are the good deeds performed by christians over the centuries because of their religion?

I could make a list of people like Raoul Wallenberg who did perform good deeds as Christians, but then I would need to point out that their good deeds do not prove Christianity is valid. They did the good deeds as people, and Wallenberg and Schindler, for example could still have done the same things if they were atheists.

The thousands of good people who have done good things, virtuous things, as Christians don't negate the many things that have been done in the name of religion. Were religion to disappear we would still have an innate human morality. Religion enforces social codes and mores, it didn't create them.

22. Did John Paul II perform a miracle? Am I Mother Teresa?

Comment #30324 by tuibguy on April 7, 2007 at 3:30 pm

You are living, dear reader, at a watershed in human history. This is the century during which, after 2,000 years of what has been a pretty bloody marriage, faith and reason must agree to part, citing irreconcilable differences. So block your ears to the cooing voices on Thought for the Day, and choose your side.

I'm not quite that optimistic; I think that religion is in its death throes, desperate to hold on and using the premise of Intelligent Design to scratch at the edge of the cliff of reason. But I think it still has a hold on enough of the population that even such obvious absurdities as the Miracle of John Paul II will not dissuade the "intelligent faithful." Some may privately write it off, but hold on to their faith through it all.

I still think that we are in for another 500 years of struggle against religion.

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

Comment #30079 by tuibguy on April 6, 2007 at 11:41 pm

I was linking to the YouTube snippets on my blog; merely because I thought that the presentations are invaluable so I am glad that they will be available. Since Richard has been so much associated with Atheism, people need to know that he makes extraordinary presentations on science which illustrate concepts clearly.

I will remove the posts if they don't constitute fair use, and if I think that they will interfere with sales (although my blog only gets 500 hits a day and shouldn't be too much of a barrier to people who want to order the DVD set.)

24. Is this another Sokal Hoax?

Comment #29128 by tuibguy on April 1, 2007 at 7:10 pm

What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

Please, I have heard snippets of this before but have never been able to find out what movie it is from. Reference?

25. Happy 66th Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #27685 by tuibguy on March 26, 2007 at 6:17 am

May your day be filled with discovery. Thanks for sharing so many of your discoveries with the rest of us!

Mike Haubrich
Minnesota

26. Cold is hot in evolution -- Researchers debunk belief species evolve faster in tropics

Comment #26000 by tuibguy on March 16, 2007 at 3:34 am

"Our analysis shows that new species actually evolve faster as we move towards the poles. It would take one species in the tropics three to four million years to evolve into two distinct species, whereas at 60 degrees latitude, it could take as little as one million years."

I am a little fuzzy on what this means. It may be the way that the journalist wrote it, but what do we use as the "average species?" Carnivores? Insects? Birds? Flora? It seems a little vague, and I am sure that the original article is more specific about which species were actually studied.

27. An apology to Peter Kay

Comment #25106 by tuibguy on March 10, 2007 at 6:15 am

Well, now I have a new book on my "wish" list. And to Homo Economicus I believe that there are many newsbreakers who believe that their fame obliges them to be newsmakers. Our American media is riddled with them

I'm not sure where anybody got the idea that we should enjoy purely objective newsmedia outlets, except perhaps for journalism profs who feel that the craft they teach is "elevated."

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

Comment #16521 by tuibguy on January 7, 2007 at 5:22 am

I came out of reading The End of Faith with the same understanding of torture that Harris presents, with the exception that torture has rarely been found to produce valuable data or information. It is tempting to tighten the screws on someone that is withholding data that could save lives, if nothing else than from a power exchange with a person who wishes to commit a heinous crime.

His section approaches the discussion of the ethics of torture through a "t" account process; the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.

As for mysticism, I get that he is saying that meditation does yield great benefits but we needen't ascribe those benefits to the supernatural. Mystics have taught us how to mediate without praying.

Finally, as to the paranormal, I get that he was saying that it is unlikely that these processes exist but if a scientific process can demonstrated to test the data empirically he will be open to reviewing the data and not automatically dismissive. It is a far cry from embracing them.

Of course, this is only from one reading of the book. Gorenfield may have read it several times and pulled out something different. His venom betrays any pretense of objectivity.

29. E-Petition: Abolish Faith Schools

Comment #15350 by tuibguy on December 30, 2006 at 3:39 pm

I wish that I could sign it, but as an American I can only wish that it has the desired effect.