1. Richard Dawkins interviews Father George Coyne

Comment #300273 by sane1 on December 11, 2008 at 10:20 am

This is really a treat...Thanks.

The mental gymnastics he preforms to hold both the scientific view and the "faith" view are as clear as they are impressive. They lay out faith as what it is, unconfused with the nonsense that masqurades as science. I applaude him for his forthrightness and the picture of "stupid" religion he lays out.

2. God No!

Comment #295535 by sane1 on December 2, 2008 at 10:59 am

just couldn't listen until the end...nearly pointless cutting and pasting of clips.

3. Liddy Dole's Un-American Ad

Comment #279895 by sane1 on November 6, 2008 at 2:54 pm

Way to go Sally!!! This point is almost never mentioned when teh Liddy Dole commercial is discussed. Spot on!!!

4. Why We Believe

Comment #277759 by sane1 on November 4, 2008 at 5:43 am

Nice article. Good approach. Goodness, we are so susceptible to superstition and paranormal beliefs. Now leave me alone, I need to go pray for Obama to be elected.

5. Turek vs. Hitchens Debate: Does God Exist?

Comment #275032 by sane1 on October 30, 2008 at 4:21 pm

Turek started by wasting his time with homorless jokes, and then descended into stupid arguments supported by references to science that did not prove his stupid idea.

Dopey dude.

6. ''Religulous' Is Brilliant, Incendiary

Comment #265919 by sane1 on October 17, 2008 at 2:25 pm

Good movie - go see it. Anti-religious with a sense of humor. Can't beat it.

7. Bill Maher's Religulous Opens Today

Comment #260520 by sane1 on October 5, 2008 at 4:16 pm

Ebert's review is weak - he seems afraid to offend by saying he liked it...

8. Gerin Oil

Comment #258252 by sane1 on October 1, 2008 at 5:01 pm

oh - an anagram for religion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerin_oil

Wonderful: http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/08-10-01images/colley_hate_mail.pdf

NIGEL: Clever. I appreciate your effort. Unfortunatly, you are all wrong. Too bad you wasted your time.

9. 'God as Science Fiction'. Richard Dawkins at the Edinburgh Book Festival

Comment #256927 by sane1 on September 29, 2008 at 6:41 pm

CAN'T DOWNOAD - CAN'T STREAM IT.

What a tease! maybe Mirage Television is more aptly named than I thought.

and that is some haircut on the still image, RD!

10. Without God

Comment #252696 by sane1 on September 23, 2008 at 2:17 pm

So did someone write a book here?

EDIT: Oh, OK. From footnote 1 found at the source link: "This essay is based on the Phi Beta Kappa Oration given at Harvard University on June 3, 2008, and draws briefly on some of my other lectures and reviews."

11. Look Who's Irrational Now

Comment #252529 by sane1 on September 23, 2008 at 9:20 am

Bill Maher's views on western medicine are embarassing.

People are incredibly prone to believing unbelievable things. What's a sane person to do?

12. Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind

Comment #222612 by sane1 on July 31, 2008 at 3:35 pm

Hey.. reading it now. similar to "Predictable Irrationality" but lacking in the kind of detail that makes PI so intereting and persuasive. Good book just the same.

13. Richard Dawkins interviewed about 'The Genius of Charles Darwin'

Comment #222596 by sane1 on July 31, 2008 at 3:09 pm

RD audio! - its been too long!

Good to hear about Darwin from the expert.

And the honesty of RD is so refreshing and admirable.

14. A Holocaust Denier Hits Manhattan (And Hearts Hitchens)

Comment #220321 by sane1 on July 28, 2008 at 9:56 am

Just watched the video - I feel like puking.

15. Jefferson Bible reveals Founding Father's view of God, faith

Comment #215124 by sane1 on July 21, 2008 at 10:38 am

the link has an unnecessary period at the end...delete that and it works.

next time RD is called out for his quote about the malevolent, etc. character in all of fiction, he could nmake reference to this Thomas Jefferson quote:

1820 August 4. (Jefferson to William Short). "That sect had presented for the object of their worship, a Being of terrific character, cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust...Moses had either not believed in a future state of existence, or had not thought it essential to be explicitly taught to his people."[3] (http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Jews_and_Judaism)

16. VOICES OF SCIENCE - Available Now on DVD

Comment #211053 by sane1 on July 15, 2008 at 1:12 pm

THANKS, JOSH!

17. The Politics of God

Comment #210378 by sane1 on July 14, 2008 at 12:20 pm

Wasn't this posted months ago???

18. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208205 by sane1 on July 10, 2008 at 5:42 pm

a heron in the night's post 208200.

You are wrong. The issue is part political, and letters of support will help. I am with RD and PZ on that one.

PS - Why do you think your opinion doesn't matter, anyway?

19. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208201 by sane1 on July 10, 2008 at 5:37 pm

If you are writing, I suggest you state that you found PZ's posts: 'respectful, fair and civil.'

Apparently, Donohue is making a big deal about the university's own guidlines which he says contain that requirement.

20. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208198 by sane1 on July 10, 2008 at 5:31 pm

President Robert H. Bruininks
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Dear Mr. Bruininks:

I am writing to you to express my support of PZ Myers and his recent writings on the subject of the man who took the symbolic craker out of the church. His writings are straight-forward if insensitive to the ultra-sensitive. He has every right to point out and criticize the silliness surrounding the incident, including but not limited to the, near crazy excessive response from the Catholic League.

I trust that, as University President, you will support his freedom of speech. If you want to also point out that any rational person should also agree with him, all the better.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely, Ken

21. Susskind Quashes Hawking in Quarrel Over Quantum Quandary

Comment #207457 by sane1 on July 9, 2008 at 9:35 pm

Cosmic landscape is a great book. I'll have to find his new one...

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316016403?ie=UTF8&tag=californialit-

22. When too much Rapture is barely enough

Comment #204569 by sane1 on July 5, 2008 at 9:09 am

HA! Heaven Shmeaven!

Sam - Please please keep up the good work.

23. Debating creationism in Louisiana schools

Comment #191681 by sane1 on June 11, 2008 at 12:50 pm

ID - IS NOT SCIENCE.
CREATIONISM - IS NOT SCIENCE
Worse, both are just stupidity. Good thing this lady and others stand up to this!

24. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187437 by sane1 on June 2, 2008 at 6:22 am

Appleby - You mean you still do not get the difference? Even after after all this effort to get across to you that homosexuality and bestiality are as fundamentaly different from one another (in the same way) as are heterosexuality and bestiality? What religious or ethical construct are you operating under that blurs the parallels?

25. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187428 by sane1 on June 2, 2008 at 6:09 am

Appleby (Comment #187422 by Appleby on June 2, 2008 at 6:03 am)
So now you can tell the difference?

26. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187416 by sane1 on June 2, 2008 at 5:57 am

Appleby: If you can't tell the difference between fucking a cat and fucking a human being, your slippery slope is way too lubricated. Pardon the metaphor.

27. Put a Little Science in Your Life

Comment #187397 by sane1 on June 2, 2008 at 5:10 am

Briane Greene's books are awesome if you like cosmology and astrophysics. This article isn't particularly persuasive or iomaginative though.

28. Karma comedians

Comment #186715 by sane1 on May 31, 2008 at 7:43 am

Karma = nonsense. Shout it from the hilltops!
The Secret = Nonsense. How foolish do you have to be?
Oprah is bad for the world. Boycott her new age stupidity.

29. Teacher tortures, kills boy

Comment #186714 by sane1 on May 31, 2008 at 7:41 am

Holy Shit!

30. 'Framing Science' and The Dawkins Effect

Comment #180349 by sane1 on May 14, 2008 at 4:32 pm

yes, Szymanowski , there is always the same stuff at the beginning of all of their podcasts, after a while you get good at fast forwarding tot he start ofthe conversation. there are so many good interviews there.

31. Is Science Killing the Soul?

Comment #180347 by sane1 on May 14, 2008 at 4:27 pm

Read it, then sent it in. It is a very interesting discussion between 2 heavyweights. Far more worth your intellectual energy than some interview with a "journalist." (Though of course, I never miss one of those!) Reading is more work than listening, but come on, Silent Mike!

32. Richard Dawkins discusses Einstein's new letters

Comment #180089 by sane1 on May 14, 2008 at 7:53 am

Short, Sweet, True and to the point. Well said RD.

33. Shaw TV Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #175669 by sane1 on May 5, 2008 at 8:30 pm

This interviewer is a dolt. She has trouble asking questions at all sometimes. Weird. Is she actually often on TV somewhere? RD, as usual, was eloquent and interesting and gracious. Very nice of him to finish her goofy stuttering questions for her.

34. Does science make belief in God obsolete?

Comment #174115 by sane1 on May 1, 2008 at 4:44 pm

In reply to Desclin -

244. Comment #173690 by John Desclin on May 1, 2008 at 6:00 am.

35. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #173331 by sane1 on April 30, 2008 at 4:16 pm

RD's answer to this question is very good on the Bill Goode Radio program posted by Josh today. Also, RD's explanation in his letter replying to the dope who wrote to Schermer was excellent.

36. Bill Good Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #173303 by sane1 on April 30, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Couldn't get the link to work - Is it just me?

And if you go to the radio station site and find their audio vault, they say they had technical difficulties for the period of time that the RD interview took place...

EDIT: THANKS _ Comment #173245 by Zzyx1170 on April 30, 2008 at 2:37 pm

I placed an mp3 of this without advertisements on RapidShare at:
http://rapidshare.com/files/111602137/Richard-Dawkins_Bill-Good-Show.mp3

37. Does science make belief in God obsolete?

Comment #172446 by sane1 on April 29, 2008 at 3:02 pm

And as to this silly argument that religion answers WHY questions, but science doesn't, thereby somehow making it legitimate. Just because an area of thought can ask and answer the question "why are we here" doesn't make its answer right or even worthwhile. Besides, science and rational thought can answer those questions anyway. The answer just isn't anything about god. Why are we here? We are here to live, and procreate, and die. There - an answer to a WHY question NOT based on religion.

38. Does science make belief in God obsolete?

Comment #172436 by sane1 on April 29, 2008 at 2:55 pm

The question is odd, indeed.

What science actually does vis-à-vis religion and god, is make belief in god (as in "god" controls any aspect of our lives or of our future) as wrong-headed as belief that sea monsters exist and may eat us, or that witches exist and may cast spells on us, or that rain dances work and may increase the chance of rain. All demonstrably wrong but widely believed in the past.

Or to quote from Neil deGrasee Tyson's rant of other demonstrably wrong notions that are widely held despite the evidence: what goes up must come down, or the sun is a yellow star, or on a dark night you can see millions of stars with the unaided eye, the North Star is the brightest star in the nighttime sky, in space there is no gravity, total solar eclipses are rare. These are all demonstrably wrong, but still widely believed in spite of the evidence. (See Death by Black Hole, Neil deGrasee Tyson, p293)

39. Religion a figment of human imagination

Comment #171474 by sane1 on April 28, 2008 at 2:04 pm

I'm pretty sure my dog thinks of me as a god.

40. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #171462 by sane1 on April 28, 2008 at 1:56 pm

oh no - clearmind has been here too. Of all the IDiot silliness that has been found on this site, clearmind's is surely the most IDiotic, as much for its inarticulate expression, as for its plain uninformed stupidity.

41. Science leads to killing people

Comment #171438 by sane1 on April 28, 2008 at 1:41 pm

Fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard. fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard. fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard. fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard. fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard, fucktard!

Tearing down universities, courts, sanity. Building up stupidity. What a fucktard! Divine sprirt of the universe, my ass.

Sorry - couldn't help myself.

42. Religion a figment of human imagination

Comment #171392 by sane1 on April 28, 2008 at 1:20 pm

Imagination indeed!

43. Interview with Dan Dennett

Comment #169094 by sane1 on April 25, 2008 at 2:43 pm

Love to hear Dan Dennett any time anywhere. Who are the other bozos?

44. The Atheist Next Door

Comment #158194 by sane1 on April 10, 2008 at 7:38 am

Lance Armstrong! That made my day!

45. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Paula Kirby

Comment #157853 by sane1 on April 9, 2008 at 3:56 pm

The "hallucinating" comment at the end was priceless! Absolutely Priceless!

46. Get out of here, atheists!

Comment #157754 by sane1 on April 9, 2008 at 1:58 pm

"YOUR PETITIONERS ARE ATHEISTS and they define their life-style as follows. An Atheist loves himself and his fellowman instead of a god. An Atheist knows that heaven is something for which we should work now â€" here on earth â€" for all men together to enjoy. An Atheist thinks that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner conviction and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue, and enjoy it. An Atheist thinks that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellowman can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment. Therefore, he seeks to know himself and his fellowman rather than to know a god. An Atheist knows that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist knows that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man. He wants an ethical way of life. He knows that we cannot rely on a god, nor channel action into prayer, nor hope for an end to troubles in the hereafter. He knows that we are our brother's keeper and keepers of our lives; that we are responsible persons, that the job is here and the time is now."


~ Madalyn Murray (later O'Hair), preamble to Murray v. Curlett, U.S. Supreme Court, April 27, 1961

47. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Paula Kirby

Comment #157735 by sane1 on April 9, 2008 at 1:36 pm

I clicked on "Dawkins Talk", and seem to be waiting for the biggest slowest download ever. is the link actually working?

I can't wait any longer!!!

EDIT - NEVERMIND - Went to Pironiro youtube site and got right into it...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGDTtsh0KTM&feature=PlayList&p=5A51158D152B0E3E&index=0

48. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #157616 by sane1 on April 9, 2008 at 10:41 am

There is so much stupidity on this show, and so little of RD, I can't take it!!!!!!!!!!

49. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #148685 by sane1 on March 23, 2008 at 3:38 pm

Thanks for the writeup Richard. Thanks for clearly pointing out what a sad situation this dishonest film really is.

50. The Moral Instinct

Comment #111632 by sane1 on January 15, 2008 at 8:05 am

Artful: You believe it, because you are afraid "we are sunk if it is not true." First, we are not sunk if it is not true. We are sunk if folks continue to believe superstitious and religious (contra the evidence) ideas. Read: How The Mind Works, S. Pinker. Regardless, and this is the second point, your fears about what might happen if something is true, do not in the slightest attest to their truth or falsity. Free inquiry leads to truth, not fear based reasoning and concern about the consequences of ideas.