1. Blasphemy

Comment #122482 by Stephen on February 5, 2008 at 10:31 am

People...

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2008/02/02/can_outrage_in_afghanistan_inspire_us/

The Boston Globe already ran the letter...on the website anyway...not sure about print

2. Inferior Design: Richard Dawkins reviews Behe's lastest book

Comment #53332 by Stephen on June 30, 2007 at 9:10 pm

Teehee! He mentioned my dog, Max, a Jack Russell!

3. Evolution: God as Genetic Engineer

Comment #49159 by Stephen on June 10, 2007 at 5:56 pm

Good to read something from Carroll. He's a great writer, scientist, and speaker. He came to my university for Darwin Day earlier this year. I got him to sign my book :-)

4. World's most prominent atheist takes on the Biblical God (and other topics)

Comment #39239 by Stephen on May 10, 2007 at 8:08 am

Jack van Impe is a piece o' work...his wife too. I watch the show whenever I see it on just to see whats on the forefront of Xian fanaticism.

5. Fortune-telling no longer in the cards in Philly

Comment #38983 by Stephen on May 9, 2007 at 5:09 pm

hmm..i live in pittsburgh and i know there's at least one psychic's place about a mile away. maybe i'll alert the authorities....and close a scammer down...as per state law.

6. James Cameron finds grave of Jesus & Son

Comment #23194 by Stephen on February 26, 2007 at 5:22 pm

^^^^As Ronald Hendel, University of California, Berkeley, wrote in his review, "Watching it reminded me of an expensive infomercial, in which the actor-salesman makes increasingly exaggerated claims for his product—it makes you lose weight, adds muscle, and makes you rich to boot."


oh, thats rich haha

7. James Cameron finds grave of Jesus & Son

Comment #23167 by Stephen on February 26, 2007 at 3:23 pm

simcha jacobovici is behind this, like Exodus Decoded (which attempted to prove that the Expodus happened factually, but the doc was full of assumptions, speculation, and was not very scientific). at the risk of sounding like a raging anti-semite before even seeing the show, my guess is that this one might also be as unscientific and full of assumptions as Exodus Decoded, only this time, jacobovici is trying to establish that jesus' life does not parallel with the jesus story of the new testament--therefore validating his judaism against xianity (just as he tried to validate his beliefs in Exodus Decoded).


i'd imagine this guy might come up against the same opposition from the xian community as an atheist would if he found 'evidence' like this. time will tell, but even as an atheist, i'm wary from the start

8. James Cameron finds grave of Jesus & Son

Comment #23138 by Stephen on February 26, 2007 at 1:33 pm

this is from the same people who made the Exodus Decoded doc on the History Channel, so skepticism is definitely in order

9. Panel discussion on atheism where no atheists are included

Comment #21158 by Stephen on February 7, 2007 at 7:55 pm

that was positively disgusting...surprised to see something like that on cnn.

i hope dawkins sets them right when he's on tomorrow night

10. Consciousness Without Faith

Comment #16626 by Stephen on January 7, 2007 at 4:43 pm

13. Comment #16620 by Don'tForgetToBreathe on January 7, 2007 at 4:24 pm

You make some good points. I agree with you (and Harris) that atheists can have "spiritual" experiences and that they have nothing to do with the supernatural. Still, I feel the problem with using words like these is that religious people tend to interpret them in their own terms and, even among atheists, seem to flirt with having a supernatural meaning.

Then again, maybe Harris is starting something of a meme of his own, like the Bright movement. Maybe he's just reclaiming such words for naturalistic use.

11. Consciousness Without Faith

Comment #16573 by Stephen on January 7, 2007 at 12:17 pm

Sam Harris is a great writer, speaker, and critic of religion. The spiritual or mystical experiences he speaks of, I believe, do occur, but I also believe that he should stop using those words. They have too much baggage attached to them from centuries of religious use.

I think a good example of the experiences he speaks of is when you find yourself just staring off into/at nothing, not thinking, not observing, just there. For that brief moment there is a realization that you were not thinking, something that rarely happens. Thats my interpretation at least. If that is the case (or something very simliar to it), I think Harris should stop using terms like "spiritual" or "mystical", or, at the very least, always and only use them with quotation marks--that way readers know that he doesn't mean to use the words in the sense that is normally thought. Still, since in speeches and interviews he uses the terms quite often, quotation marks just won't cut it. He either needs to drop the terms, replace them, or just find a better way of explaining exactly what he means by his experiences and the terms. I think he could do a little better in explaining scientifically these experiences also, so they don't come across as sounding so religious. Even in essays like this one (in which he explains that he doesn't interpret the experiences religiously), his way of speaking about them flirts a little too closely with religious "mysticism" and "spirituality" in the way most people think about the words.

12. Moral Minds: The Evolution of Human Morality

Comment #9757 by Stephen on November 25, 2006 at 9:58 pm

This should be an interesting listen

13. Stephen Colbert Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #2025 by Stephen on October 18, 2006 at 8:44 am

At least one comment from an actual American who regularly watches the show and is in on the joke:

The job of everyone that is interviewed by Colbert is to be the straight-man to Colbert's antics. If he were actually attacking Rchard Dawkins you'd know it because he can be quite scathing (e.g. the White House Correspondents Dinner and most interviews with politicians). Otherwise, he plays the ridiculous right-wing nut with clear ad hominem attacks where he creates his own fictional logic landscape. If you play along as the straight-man, the joke flows perfectly. If you attack him back you just look like an idiot for attacking a fictional character in a contrived universe.

As such, Professor Dawkins played perfectly.

And just because Stephen teaches Sunday School and is a practicing Catholic does not place him near the same league as the religious nuts this site is attempting to address. I suspect if all religious people believed as Stephen this site would be nearly useless. He's progressive, open, and understanding. In fact, I suspect some atheists could learn something from his acceptance of others beliefs.

14. Richard Dawkins explains his latest book

Comment #88 by Stephen on September 21, 2006 at 10:28 pm

I was thrilled with surprise at seeing The God Delusion on the shelves early a couple days ago in Barnes and Noble. I had been expecting the October release date, and was completely shocked to see it out already. I picked it up immediately. I'm about 150 pages in so far, and it is a fantastic work. By the way, I also enjoyed The Ancestor's Tale---I would agree: a good candidate for a magnum opus (though I'll get back to you when I finish TGD).