1. Islam in Europe

Comment #114536 by Jez on January 22, 2008 at 11:29 am

Just before you all go running around calling yourself 'islamaphobes'; remind yourself what a phobia is, words like 'irrational' and 'unrealistic' spring to mind, methinks there are better titles to use!

2. The Saudi connection that belittles Britain

Comment #73889 by Jez on September 26, 2007 at 2:01 pm

http://www.sauduction.com/welcome.html

It's just one offence among many...

3. When the ain'ts go marching in

Comment #25243 by Jez on March 11, 2007 at 8:33 am

"They're [atheists] also stereotyped as self-righteous and bitter, perhaps all too eager to trample on others' supposedly benign religious or sentimental illusions."

I don't believe in their god so I am self-righteous and bitter? According to 'them' I'm going to hell and, ergo, must be a bad person! (Doesn't that mean they are threatening me?)
Which side are you going to pick as being 'self-righteous and bitter'?

4. Academy denies claims from job candidate

Comment #25242 by Jez on March 11, 2007 at 8:05 am

Wow, I really thought I was reading about an American school for a moment there.

I miss my CofE primary school now, the only homage they asked was that I bowed my head and thought nice thoughts during the prayers before dinner. Something that even then I thought was taking the P'

5. Faith

Comment #23011 by Jez on February 25, 2007 at 9:49 pm

"it would be good to hear from the old man again, if only to provide a moral framework beyond shopping."

Yeah, you unfaithful, unmoral lot; start stoning people who pick up sticks on a Sunday instead...

"It accepts that you come to the public debate with baggage that will inform your arguments"

Like the bible?

6. Kansas science standards evolve again, becoming pro-Darwin

Comment #22302 by Jez on February 14, 2007 at 1:35 am

"There's no such thing as "mainstream" science. This implies that there is an "alternative" science.

No.

There is only *science*."

'Alternative' is another word for 'not'.

7. Foreword for the UK edition of 'Letter to a Christian Nation'

Comment #22296 by Jez on February 14, 2007 at 1:02 am

Rapture letters; http://www.raptureletters.com/

"a letter will be sent out to each of them on the first Friday after the rapture. Then they will receive another letter every friday after that."

Sounds like spam mail to me...

8. Interview With an Atheist

Comment #22058 by Jez on February 12, 2007 at 8:39 pm

(last 2 links)

That is a joke right? April fool's and all that...

"as any loving god would do he kills and tortures them,.. I'm a true christian!"

Sick.

9. We all fund this torrent of Saudi bigotry

Comment #21266 by Jez on February 8, 2007 at 10:37 am

The newsletters by Herb Mallard are a good guide to the Saudi's influence and corruption:

http://www.sauduction.com/welcome.html

"The princes ship in whiskey and women, laughing in the face of Islam. They rule the people with a tyrannical, unforgiving grip. But because it's America that pays for the oil... and American soldiers on the bases... it's the Americans that fundamentalists blame for all the excesses."

10. What a Friend We Have in Dawkins

Comment #20444 by Jez on February 2, 2007 at 2:21 pm

Comment 15 by John Phillips

Thanks for the link, much better than anything I had found.

Looks like the US is er, having a few problems that may be caused by its 'rates of religiosity'!

11. What a Friend We Have in Dawkins

Comment #20428 by Jez on February 2, 2007 at 10:42 am

"Religion, false though it may be, is the only reliable instrument for shaping the average person into an obedient and well-behaved subject of state and society."

So the more religous the country the lower the crime rate?

I'd really love to see some hard facts on this often stated point, it seems to me it is only true because theists keep saying it is true.

12. Young, British Muslims 'getting more radical'

Comment #19699 by Jez on January 29, 2007 at 10:40 am

Wow Janus, you seem to feel really threatened by Muslims. I think that comment about 'Muslim reproduction rate' can easily be changed to read 'Catholic reproduction rate'. Have we (UK citizens) been overun by Irish/Catholics?
I think the fact behind the fiction is that education, more than anything else, is the biggest factor behind how many children people tend to have.
If you are a spokesperson for 'western Humanistic values' then I am glad I am not a Humanist.
I don't think we need to ban faith schools either, we only need to change the way faith is forced on to children in schools.

13. Young, British Muslims 'getting more radical'

Comment #19624 by Jez on January 29, 2007 at 12:53 am

Ouch, I am sorry you feel this way. Interchange 'muslim' for any other belief system.
3 years is nothing, remember that.

14. Young, British Muslims 'getting more radical'

Comment #19616 by Jez on January 28, 2007 at 11:28 pm

Do you want to see or understand what it means to be stoned to death?
I haven't watched the video, I didn't get past the cruelty of the explanation (what happens in stoning) of what it involves and don't like voyeur aspect of watching someone die.
But please, even if you don't intend to watch the video, take the time to learn about this practice.
http://www.apostatesofislam.com/media/stoning.htm
This is a site I found from a link for 'Athiest help and resources' btw.

15. Church of England still valid as state religion?

Comment #19612 by Jez on January 28, 2007 at 11:17 pm

Personally, even as a non-theist, I have felt quite lucky to have grown up in a country where the dominant religion was 'formed by a womanising Tudor monarch'.
I didn't have to deal with God/state law in the same way I know some other people have had to for a start.
The pope; enough said...

16. The Bright Revolution

Comment #19078 by Jez on January 24, 2007 at 5:13 pm

In this kingdom of cats...

I am a non-theist, same as a non-believer of nonsense. You can give me any title you wish, striped, persian or tabby. The fact remains that I am a cat.

Let's agree to disagree on the terminology and just agree on the facts; This is just a cats and dogs argument.

17. Beyond the Believers

Comment #18119 by Jez on January 18, 2007 at 12:17 pm

1. Atheists are often told atheism is a religion, I believe I would be wrong not to criticise religion, are you criticizing my faith?

2. The Jehovah Witnesses or {insert religon here} followers I have met were motivated by their religion. Their religious doctrine/bishop/rabii/book told them to so they did. If my religious doctrine/book/teacher told me to kill unbelievers would it be wrong of you to question that?
Religion is a rationale of religious doctrine.

3. How deeply do you want to push this? Would it not be better to say 'some religious people are not making claims about reality'? 'They' believe their claims have real context hence they challenge the truth that science represents.

4. Which religion? You are following a fad not a fact. If you wish to accuse me of being 'delusional' then I will first throw the same ball back into your court…

18. Ancient religion may face extinction

Comment #16522 by Jez on January 7, 2007 at 5:26 am

DavidJMH (6)

How is calling me ignorant or refering to my remarks as crass and infantile upholding your desire for an "adult discussion... in a reasonable, knowledgeable fashion"?

19. God-less

Comment #16473 by Jez on January 6, 2007 at 6:29 pm

Reminds me of William Goldings 'Lord of the Flies'

20. God-less

Comment #16438 by Jez on January 6, 2007 at 3:30 pm

gimlibengloin (20)

"If I thought that.."
A case of submitting gods judgement to the judgement of your society?

"mundane police"
I was using a quote from one of your posts, I take it to mean our 'modern day' police.

"No, I am not suggesting any such thing"
I am glad to hear it, on the other hand it raises the question "why?" If atheists are less moral than theists why is there not a difference?

"I'm getting a little scared now"
I hope that's not because you feel we have threatened you in any physical sense. If it is because your beliefs are being challenged then that might not be a bad thing, it is good to question.
I hope you have a good nights sleep and will browse the link you posted.

21. God-less

Comment #16430 by Jez on January 6, 2007 at 3:01 pm

gimlibengloin (15)

If you thought it benefited your god would you murder? Does the idea of a 'mundane police' not affect your judgements of the 'right and wrong way' to act when it comes to fufilling the instructions given to you by your 'holy' book?

Are you suggesting that, for example, the percentage of murders are greater, by proportion, by atheists than theists?

22. God-less

Comment #16423 by Jez on January 6, 2007 at 2:47 pm

gimlibengloin (9)

'good' is a description of your societies current construct. I don't believe that stoning people to death is 'good' but in past societies I might have understood this as a 'good' thing.
If 'rape' is defined as taking a woman against her will then it would be easy to find examples of this being a religously rightous thing to do.
Arranged marriages for example.

23. God-less

Comment #16420 by Jez on January 6, 2007 at 2:39 pm

Moral judgements are 'changing' and 'finite' whether you consider morality as a construct of god or society.

24. God-less

Comment #16416 by Jez on January 6, 2007 at 2:33 pm

I don't need to justify acting in a moral way; morality is a social construct.
The fact that I am moral without fear of judgement by a higher authority is, surely, a better judge of my 'goodness' than anyone who believes that they will be judged in the 'afterlife' and so acts morally because of that.
A god that judges people on their belief before their 'goodness' is not worth worshipping IMO.

25. God-less

Comment #16405 by Jez on January 6, 2007 at 2:12 pm

As in chimpanzees are 'amoral' or 'atheist', how then do they have functioning societies? Or any other socially interactive animal for that matter. What make humans so different that they need a god to dictate the way they behave?

26. Ancient religion may face extinction

Comment #16396 by Jez on January 6, 2007 at 1:37 pm

" "It's a little bit like saying. 'What can I do about global warming on an individual level?' " said Sukhia."

Ouch! How many examples do you need? Changing things as a society is based on doing things as an individual.
To paraphrase something I have been told in the past "god won't save those who don't save themselves" or as I would say "it's up to us not god"

27. Without God, Gall Is Permitted

Comment #16384 by Jez on January 6, 2007 at 11:59 am

Modern theists have no new arguments, and they lack the ability to wreak god's vengeance in the way that their forebears' saw fit.

When the very first population of theists roamed the earth, back at the dawn of humanity, bought to life by 'the rising of the sun' and 'the twinkling of the stars at night' and other such unavoidable blows to the atheists' certainty in scientific truth – it was the lack of knowledge that priests found so inviting. How can the theists' allegiance to the queen be trusted when there is a higher authority? It can't – so theists proclaimed their leaders as ordained by god. How could a theist, unconstrained by fear of eternal punishment as their god had offered to forgive them, be held accountable to social norms of behaviour? Worse than heretics, theists needs only to respect an unjudging god.

28. Beliefwatch: Blasphemy (Challenge)

Comment #15587 by Jez on January 1, 2007 at 12:51 pm

I'm going to hell anyway seeing as I'm an atheist;
doesn't matter if I should live a life so holy that if I did believe I would be a saint.

Just to get this proper blaspheme hurdle out of the way; the holy spirit is a crock of shit. (Nearly *'d one of the letters but thought I should do it properly.)

Now that I am properly consigned (as though I wasn't already) to the fiery and non existant pits of hell, I look forward to meeting you one day Lindy. :)

29. What are you optimistic about? Why?

Comment #15585 by Jez on January 1, 2007 at 12:39 pm

We would not be able to prove it as being false (unicorn/fairy argument); we may indeed not be capable of describing the universe at its most basic level, thus making the TOE redundant but it is a good point to aim at. Not only describing it from its base but everything that happens at a higher level.

It's a difficult question isn't it, how do you prove something is true?

30. What are you optimistic about? Why?

Comment #15580 by Jez on January 1, 2007 at 12:19 pm

A theory of everything (TOE) is a hypothetical theory of theoretical physics that fully explains and links together all known physical phenomena. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_everything

It is THE answer. At least for all the physical stuff. Perhaps it is a holy grail, nothing wrong in aiming for perfection.
If it is discovered then it will be indistinguishable from the truth. It is not a question of belief, this is science.

31. Ghosts in the Machine

Comment #15414 by Jez on December 31, 2006 at 5:30 am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/godonbrainqa.shtml