1. MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove 'this cracker is nothing'

Comment #211384 by Johan on July 16, 2008 at 12:06 am

PZ Myers still intends to prove 'this cracker is nothing'

2. Pope confirms sexual abuse apology

Comment #209664 by Johan on July 13, 2008 at 1:04 am

Pope Benedict XVI says he will use his visit to Australia, which starts today, to apologise for sexual abuse by Australian priests.

3. France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam

Comment #209662 by Johan on July 13, 2008 at 12:57 am

The woman had said she was not veiled when she lived in Morocco and had worn the burqa since arriving in France at the request of her husband.

4. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208481 by Johan on July 11, 2008 at 1:27 am

"God found me in my drug dealer's trailer and spoke to me in an audible voice,"

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where that voice came from.

5. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208458 by Johan on July 11, 2008 at 12:46 am

A supporting email has now been written from Germany as well.

Cheers,
Johan

6. Degrees of religion

Comment #206148 by Johan on July 8, 2008 at 6:18 am

Layla wrote;

"Still, I wouldn't be too hard on her. Giving up one's faith can be a very difficult and scary thing, especially in an Islamic context."

I'm sure coming out is hard. But it will be easier the stronger and less compromising
the non-religious community is. Having a politically correct kind of "love all" attitude will only be a disservice to the people who really want to turn their backs on their religious baggage.

7. Conversation between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #205950 by Johan on July 8, 2008 at 1:02 am

John Lennox gets WAAAY too much time and room in this discussion.
The defense he gives for Christian miracles is, I guess, as good as it gets which is still pretty lousy indeed.

8. Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat

Comment #203426 by Johan on July 2, 2008 at 10:57 pm

The son of a dog is also a dog (it oglu it) is the derogatory Turkish version of the saying like father like son. The Muslim reaction to the ad unfortunately comes as no surprise.

9. Saudi Arabia Leader Calls for Interfaith Dialogue

Comment #150263 by Johan on March 26, 2008 at 4:13 pm

But wait,
Christianity is comprised of three gods and therefore counts as polytheism. Or, if you will, there is one very schizophrenic god.

10. New Atheists Are Not Great

Comment #145157 by Johan on March 17, 2008 at 10:18 am

"Tony Snow, former press secretary for President George W. Bush."

That about says it all, doesn't it. The only good word in that sentence is "former".

Cheers

11. This deadly religious resistance to vaccinations

Comment #97379 by Johan on December 12, 2007 at 1:57 am

A good but sad article.
I wonder though,
"a study of 1.8 million randomly-chosen children in Finland", that would be ALL children in Finland, I assume. Maybe it should read
A Finish study of 1.8 million randomly-chosen children.....

"Was the Mail's campaign based on faith-based thinking, like the campaign in Northern Nigeria?"
Perhaps. But there is no better way to sell newspapers than controversy, faith-based or not. Anyway you look at it it's stupid.

12. Finding My Religion: An Interview With Shalom Auslander

Comment #93919 by Johan on December 4, 2007 at 12:58 pm

I read Shalom's book "A Forskin's Lament". Quite funny indeed.
Shalom seems to me a perfect example of what childhood indoctrination does to the brain. Shalom seems to acknowledge how irrational his belief is. Yet he can't shake it off since his brain was fed this nonsense while growing up. It's now an intrinsic part of its makeup.

13. Highway to hysteria

Comment #93909 by Johan on December 4, 2007 at 12:49 pm

There are obviously no limits to some Americans' gullibility and superstition.

14. Interview with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #93700 by Johan on December 4, 2007 at 12:22 am

Listening to Hitch always makes me jealous, not of his blue eyes, but of his beautiful baritone voice and his mastery of the English language. That I agree on what he says goes without saying.

15. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #93165 by Johan on December 2, 2007 at 10:55 am

I totally agree with everything Dan says in this debate except one thing;
Atheists DON'T have to be held accountable for the atrocities of Stalin & co.
We share (at the most) a non-belief. There is no atheist manifesto that we both get our morals from. Nobody can point to a common source that tells Stalin and the rest of the world's atheists to kill believers, so no responsibility spills over on us because we happen not to believe in god. Arguably, we share responsibility as human beings but NOT as atheists.
Dinesh's argument makes me think of Sam Harris' talk about the problem with atheism as a label.

16. Frequently Asked Questions about the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust

Comment #89496 by Johan on November 21, 2007 at 12:46 am

I don't want to reduce this very important matter to mere economics and calculations, but to all the Europeans on this site, remember that the Euro- Dollar exchange rate is very strong right now in favor of the Euro.
As a freelancing musician I don't have the luxury of knowing when my next salary is coming in. Nevertheless, the time is right to contribute to Ayan's security, from an ideological standpoint as well as an economic.

Cheers,
Johan

17. Fox News Discussion on 'The Golden Compass'

Comment #85697 by Johan on November 6, 2007 at 10:07 pm

Notice how fox news starts to sound like fired up redical, actually mainstream, muslims. Does The Golden Compass denigrate christianity?, he askes with a tone in the voice as if that was an abomination.

Another point; this debate seems to me a good example of Sam Harris' latest remarks about the problem with the Atheism label.
I haven't yet seen the film in question but the claim that it "promotes atheism" seems to be the issues here and a problem for many, as if atheism was some kind of dogma worthy of contempt. Throw in the label atheism and you have a huge pedagogical task on your hands that has to be overcome before you can promote a naturalistic worldview and criticize the catholic church.

18. Suffering, Evil and the Existence of God

Comment #85694 by Johan on November 6, 2007 at 9:38 pm

In religious reasoning (sorry for the oxymoron), why is it that the question "why is there something rather than nothing" never seems to apply to god as well?

19. Why do we ignore the plight of ex-Muslims?

Comment #81628 by Johan on October 25, 2007 at 1:32 am

It's about time we put an end to this bizarre tolerance towards the intolerant.
Maybe it's time for some kind of ombudsman who protects the right of lapsed Muslims.
In any case, it's time we in the West start taking this seriously.

20. Why Christians should take Richard Dawkins seriously

Comment #72198 by Johan on September 20, 2007 at 2:10 pm

"What Dawkins demolishes in this book may well be a misrepresentation of God, but it is a misrepresentation, an idol, that we Christians all too have often set up and espoused as the real thing."

eh.., yeah, and what exactly IS the real thing? If the real thing really existed it wouldn't be so bloody difficult to define it, would it?

Cheers

21. The importance of doubt

Comment #66417 by Johan on August 30, 2007 at 1:06 am

"But it shows that even the most dogmatic of the world's religions, if encouraged, can discover a latent propensity towards pluralism in the ideal of non-judgmental universal love."

Even if we were to concede that that statement is true, it only took the church about 1500 years to accept pluralism. Hardly an argument for the open mindedness and "positive" doubt of the church.


Weigh that against some 300 years of progress since the enlightenment and the claim becomes ridiculous.

Cheers
/Johan

22. God in the Military - The Pentagon and its Christian Embassy

Comment #61799 by Johan on August 7, 2007 at 12:31 am

Wow, and I thought an Embassy was a State organization representing the diplomatic interests of one country in another. I'm happy I got informed that there is a Christian country, its borders suspiciously resembling those of the USA, with its own embassy. Is there a Muslim embassy as well??

23. Islamic creationist group launches glitzy, global blitz

Comment #61145 by Johan on August 4, 2007 at 12:00 am

Imdat! Bu Orta Dogudan gelen aptalliga karsi koyma yapalim!

24. The Out Campaign

Comment #59876 by Johan on July 31, 2007 at 1:44 am

I really applaud you guys who live in bigot States who have the guts to come out. I also applaud you guys who haven't made it over the threshold YET! It takes courage to admit being an atheist to your self if you live in a religious city or state.

I'm a Swede and, like most of you know, the population of Sweden is to around 85% non-religious. I doubt that all of those 85% are true atheists but at least 85% of the Swedes don't belong to a congregation. That's terrific!

But even in Atheistic Northern Europe we are under direct influence of everything that's going on in America. It would be wrong to just sit back and relax and stop worrying about the state the world is in, just because things here are comfy, even for atheists.

However, I studied five years at Indiana University, so even I have first hand experience about what it's like to be a non-believer in the States. I'm going to buy the T-shirt out of solidarity to you, my fellow atheists overseas. Not that it will have much effect here in Sweden.

Although I'm far from being a communist, the old communist war cry slightly altered sounds pretty good:
"Atheists of the world, UNITE!"

25. How dare you call me a fundamentalist

Comment #40548 by Johan on May 14, 2007 at 1:01 pm

Can one be an atheist without having read sufficient amount of theology?

I don't know how much has been written about Wagner's Ring Cycle?
But I know it's a hell of a lot; books, treatises, thoughts on stage direction etc. I also know people who claim there life changed in some way by hearing Wagner. Yet, no one would suggest for a second that it would somehow be unfair to dismiss all the old Germanic and Scandinavian gods of Wagner's Ring cycle as mere fantasy without having read everything that has ever been written about them.

Same goes for any god!

26. How dare you call me a fundamentalist

Comment #40547 by Johan on May 14, 2007 at 1:01 pm

Can one be an atheist without having read sufficient amount of theology?

I don't know how much has been written about Wagner's Ring Cycle?
But I know it's a hell of a lot; books, treatises, thoughts on stage direction etc. I also know people who claim there life changed in some way by hearing Wagner. Yet, no one would suggest for a second that it would somehow be unfair to dismiss all the old Germanic and Scandinavian gods of Wagner's Ring cycle as mere fantasy without having read everything that has ever been written about them.

Same goes for any god!

27. Among the Disbelievers

Comment #40538 by Johan on May 14, 2007 at 12:36 pm

If one does not believe in God, what should one believe in instead?

That question is as dumb as asking "when I get off heroine which drug should I take instead?"

The faith heads seem to lack the ability to envision what it feels like to be sober.

28. Atheism in America

Comment #40296 by Johan on May 14, 2007 at 5:06 am

Awesome family with lots of balls and talent!
What a sad story though.
Keep your heads high!!!

29. Huge rally for Turkish secularism

Comment #35954 by Johan on April 29, 2007 at 2:02 pm

Secularism in Turkey unfortunately has a bit of a bitter taste since many secularists are leaning towards fascism/nationalism, and are called "Kurtlar" (wolfs) in Turkish. Fascism/nationalism in Turkey is for many Turks just another dogma that they more or less consciously masquerade as secularism. (Pardon me for generalizing) This is mindset of the people behind the Armenian Dink's assassination, the charge against Orhan Pamuk for being disrespectful of the "Turkishness".

Under the title of the daily newspaper Hürriyet it reads "Türkiye türklerin'dir" which translates as Turkey belongs to the Turks. Imagine if some German newspaper wrote Deutschland den Deutschen (Germany to the Germans) or a newspaper of any other nationality for that matter would make a statement of that sort. It would be outrageous.

30. The Video: Bill O'Reilly Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #34433 by Johan on April 24, 2007 at 3:47 am

O'Reilley and the entire fox channel are not interested in real journalism. This is mud wrestling. And the only one coming out looking good is the pig.

I don't see how Richard, Sam Harris or anyone else for that matter who has different ideas than O'Reilly has anything to gain by appearing on his non-intelligent pig show.

31. Nisbet and Mooney in the WaPo: snake oil for the snake oil salesmen

Comment #31933 by Johan on April 15, 2007 at 1:18 am

It's funny how the major point of this article "there is nothing wrong with science but needs to be carefully taught to (in some ways even distorted, I guess) for many Americans to accept it" rather comes across as saying " there is something seriously wrong with more than half the American population, being a deluded bunch that can't accept facts.
Maybe that is not what the authors intended to convey but to my European mind, that's how it reads.

By the way, has anyone seen the film "Jesus Camp" yet? It opens next week in France, where I currently live.

Best,
Johan

32. Thanks for the Facts. Now Sell Them.

Comment #31925 by Johan on April 15, 2007 at 12:52 am

It's funny how the major point of this article "there is nothing wrong with science but needs to be carefully taught to (in some ways even distorted, I guess) for many Americans to accept it" rather comes across as saying " there is something seriously wrong with more than half the American population, being a deluded bunch that can't accept facts.
Maybe that is not what the authors intended to convey but to my European mind, that's how it reads.

By the way, has anyone seen the film "Jesus Camp" yet? It opens next week in France, where I currently live.

Best,
Johan

33. Atheist Apostle

Comment #24345 by Johan on March 6, 2007 at 5:07 am

To: Comment #24335 by Pantore

Deliberately or not, you're totally missing Sam's point. Sam only wants to illuminate the paradoxical view most of us have, that causing collateral damage and making innocent people suffer in war is acceptable and part of the game, but torturing a maybe guilty terrorist for information is not.

By saying that Sam has NO problem torturing is taking his thoughts on this issue of context and hugely oversimplifying his stance. You're not helping anyone by doing this, Pantore.

34. Ayaan Hirsi Ali Feature

Comment #24319 by Johan on March 6, 2007 at 12:23 am

Ayaan became a member of the Liberal Party because they were more susceptible to her ideas about Islam although she sympathized with the Labor Party on many other issues. Unfortunately, just like many other countries, people in politics try to be too politically correct thereby indirectly accepting the cruelties made in the name of Islam. This, according to Ayaan's book, was also the flaw of the Dutch Labor Party.

READ THIS BOOK!

It's a real eye opener. Not only with respect to the life of Muslim women on the Horn of Africa. It also opens our western eyes towards our own society that we now take for granted.

If I had achieved 10% of what Ayaan has done with her life considering her starting point, and if I had a fraction of her courage, I would be the equivalence of Bill Gates or something today. This is probably true of almost all people in the West.

Go Girl!

35. William Crawley meets Richard Dawkins

Comment #23386 by Johan on February 28, 2007 at 10:15 am

"What's so special about belief?"
It's quite ironic that Dawkins poses that question after having spent I don't know how many hours on writing The God Delusion, a book about belief.

Of course I know what he means. There is nothing so special about belief to warrant it a special, elevated position free from criticism. On the other hand, what's special about belief is that it makes people kill in the name of it.

36. Richard Dawkins interview with Paula Zahn

Comment #22126 by Johan on February 13, 2007 at 1:20 am

It's ironic that the black guy claimed that Christians get their morals from the bible. If it were so, he would still be the SLAVE of some rich southern family. Fortunately for him, most Christians don't read the Bible that literarily. But please, don't claim that Atheists are the hypocrites.

37. Panel discussion on atheism where no atheists are included

Comment #20941 by Johan on February 7, 2007 at 4:04 am

Is it due to this site only being in English, and all things posted are limited to the English language, but would such horrible journalism exist in Europe? I have NEVER seen anything this biased and one-sided be it in Sweden, France or Gremany.

Americans (sorry fellow atheist, great, Americans for the gross generalization) need to fucking get a grip on how to do journalism!!!

38. 'Everyone Is Afraid to Criticize Islam': Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #20897 by Johan on February 7, 2007 at 1:23 am

If everyone had just a fraction of this woman's courage the world would be a better place.

I ordered a copy of her book "infidel". Should arrive any day now.
MeIM, I'm glad you say it's such a good read. This book should hit the top of the lists!

39. Root of All Evil? Discussion

Comment #20356 by Johan on February 2, 2007 at 1:00 am

Even though some ideas being aired in this debate make me cringe, the program itself is a positive thing. The "sacred" bubble that has sheltered religion from any kind of crtiticism has been popped. Religion and faith are being dragged out in the open to debate and discuss in a civil manner.

But I agree with Will in Aus, too many religious people and too few atheists. Or at least the atheists go too little air time.

40. James Randi on Larry King Live

Comment #20095 by Johan on January 31, 2007 at 10:35 am

Here is a question:
why couldn't Rosemary Altea use her "psychic ability" to check if there really is a million bucks in that bank account. Perhaps Randi's dead grandfather could verify the claim from the "spirit world" . Or perhaps some dead relative of a bank employee.

Oh, what a load of codswallop!

41. Arguing for Atheism

Comment #19295 by Johan on January 26, 2007 at 6:07 am

" In my opinion, many of these events—and others often attributed solely to religion by atheists—were less religiously motivated than politically driven, or at the very least involved religion in the service of political hegemony."

This argument is bloody poor. One could also say that these events were driven by the desire to take over certain territories, and therefore call it a geographical issue. But it's almost always an issue of taking over a piece of land from "the other flock", people of some other faith.

Is not the never-ending struggle in the Middle East about which group of this or that religion should occupy which piece of land?

Were not the crusades about freeing Jerusalem, the city which the Christians claimed their own holy city, from the Muslims?

And regardless of how much one might disagree with the politics of the Bush administration, the 9/11 bombers were not its political opponents, not democrats, not socialists but Muslims.
And they wanted to wound the heart of the Great Satan, not the heart of the Great Evil Republican, or something like that.

In my opinion it seems much harder for religious people to share this word (or parts of it) with adherents of different faiths, than for people of a certain political convictions to get along with their political antagonists.

So, please, stop pussyfooting around religion because it's to blame "only" 99% of the time.

42. For the Bible told them so

Comment #18594 by Johan on January 21, 2007 at 11:34 pm

"I realized my orientation, too, was a gift from God," he said.

I guess the last thing to go is always the belief.
Or is this a hint that it's still easier in America to come of the gay closet than the atheist closet?

43. Dispatches: Undercover Mosque

Comment #18244 by Johan on January 19, 2007 at 5:42 am

Scary stuff bit hardly surprising anymore. Too bad that anyone who has looked a bit into what the Qur'an has to say comes to realize that the views of the extremists are more true to the teachings of the scripture.

I have seen a few similar documentaries now in various languages and, as far as I can remember, none of them cared to measure the views of the extremists against the suras that actually advocate these views. It is as if the journalists behind the documentaries wanted the general audience to think that the Muslim extremists simply must be nuts without anything to back them up.

In my opinion, the scariest thing is that the extremists seem pretty good at taking the teachings of the Qur'an seriously

44. A Modest Proposal for a Truce on Religion

Comment #11108 by Johan on December 3, 2006 at 6:30 am

I once had a friend who claimed that it doesn't matter how dark it gets, your eyes will eventually get used to the new levels of light, even when there is no light at all, and you will be able to see. All my other friends and I mocked his idea saying that (which of course is obvious to any thinking person), if not a single photon hits the retina, you don't see. Period.
Our friend got upset accusing us of not respecting his belief, and being dogmatic.

I interpret the argument of the religious moderates and anyone thinking that if scientists laugh at alternative explanations of certain phenomena they must be just as dogmatic as the religious fanatics they debate. It would be like accusing a person of dogmatism for laughing at the idea that Thor swings his hammer every time there is lightning, when we know perfectly well that the theory of electricity has offered human kind a perfectly non-magical, tangible proof that the Thor theory just doesn't work. Just switch on the light!

The problem is that there are still a great number of people who don't understand why the theory of evolution is a proof that God couldn't have created all the species in one blow, and most likely doesn't exist at all.
Only out of this ignorance comes the accusation against scientists and laymen thinking scientifically of being dogmatic in their convictions. Would you switch on the light, please!!!!

45. The New Atheism

Comment #10971 by Johan on December 2, 2006 at 5:31 am

Being a somewhat intelligent, thinking religious moderate must be awfully hard seeing the effects religious fanaticism has on society on the one side, and enduring the criticism of religion on the other. But communicating atheism to religious moderates and in a constructive way challenging their beliefs from a non-religious standpoint is also tricky. Maybe a little analogy can illuminate the dilemma religious moderates on the one hand atheists on the other must face.
My father is a staunch teetotaler living in Sweden. His argument, along the same lines as Richard Dawkin's, goes; even the most moderate drinker supports the whole enterprise of alcohol and the respect that alcohol (when consumed moderately) is paid in society.
Nobody all of a sudden decides to become an alcoholic but slips into
over-consuming (for all kinds of reasons) from having been a moderate drinker first. Although alcoholics tend to die at an early age, the number of alcoholics tends to be constant simply because the transition into the alcoholic group from the group of moderate drinkers never ends. Although the tax rate on alcohol in Sweden is very high indeed, it ought to be several times higher in order to cover the costs alcohol consumption directly and indirectly put on society.
And the argument that red wine reduces cholesterol levels in the blood, ad therefore should be considered healthy, is a bad one, since there are much healthier ways of doing this, eating the right sorts of fat, for instance, omega-3 found in Salmon, avocado, nuts etc, foods, unlike wine, that are not detrimental to the brain and liver. Basically, don't eat junk food in the first place! Almost all of the people over 100 years old tend to drink zero alcohol. Society on a whole and all people would be healthier if alcohol consumption was abolished. The evidence for this is overwhelming. There is the argument of a staunch teetotaler.

So, how does a very moderate drinker and 100% atheist like myself react to this argument and these hard facts on alcohol consumption in Sweden (which would apply anywhere)? Well, although I totally appreciate the facts and arguments against drinking and don't doubt their validity and accuracy for a second, I still enjoy a glass of wine or a beer occasionally. For purely emotional reasons. I have friends who are moderate drinkers and I like drinking with them. Giving in to reason would mean refusing to toast with my buddies and to a lesser or higher extent turning my back on parts of my social life. And neither my friends nor I have problems with wife beating, drunk driving etc. We're just normal decent people who can handle alcohol consumption and enjoy a little buzz every once in a while and the joyous atmosphere that goes with it. Chances are you yourself are just the same. If you, lime myself, can handle alcohol consumption by keeping it moderate and don't cause harm to others you might be inclined to say- "alcohol itself is not the problem, some people (always the others) are."
Religious moderates tend to argue along the same lines, "Religion per se is not bad, people are. Look at us, we are just decent non-violent normal church goers."
Fair enough. But both alcohol and religion are "substances" that change the state of the mind. We probably wouldn't get anywhere with prohibitions but maybe it's about time to enforce an age limit and double IDs in order to be able to attend a church service.