1. Science can't explain the big bang - there is still scope for a creator

Comment #314691 by PrimeNumbers on January 7, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Even the "soft" intelligent design can't hold itself. It asks to explain everything by actually explaining NOTHING.

You know, if you don't know the answer, it's ok to say "I do not know", and in the case of why or how the universe is here, it's ok to say "I don't know" - you don't have to have a "god of the gaps" answer that explains nothing.

2. Teachers 'beat and abuse' Muslim children in British Koran classes

Comment #299450 by PrimeNumbers on December 9, 2008 at 6:28 pm

All these schools should be registered and inspected. Any "teacher" found to be abusing children locked up. That's step one. Then to remove all under-age children from religious schooling as it's just pure brainwashing.

3. Vatican thanks Muslims for returning God to Europe

Comment #293491 by PrimeNumbers on November 29, 2008 at 5:35 am

If the Catholics had any sense they'd be sucking up to the secular majority, rather than the Muslims. Get the Muslims in power and you can say bye-bye to the Catholic church.

4. Islamic radicals make mockery of hate laws

Comment #281583 by PrimeNumbers on November 10, 2008 at 4:53 pm

Only answer is to infiltrate these groups, gather good strong evidence of their wrongdoings, then prosecute.

5. Does Religion Make You Nice?

Comment #280703 by PrimeNumbers on November 8, 2008 at 5:28 am

God is an Atheist though. God may believe in other gods through his omnipotent knowledge, but they may be gods to us, but to God, they're merely lesser beings. Only God is God, the highest of the high. God cannot believe in a higher power as God is the highest. Those of us who do not believe in "a higher power" are Atheists.

I had a real lot of fun with a Jehova's Witness with this argument. I topped it off with "If Atheism is good enough for God, then it's good enough for me." I had a laugh....

6. Does Religion Make You Nice?

Comment #280496 by PrimeNumbers on November 7, 2008 at 3:58 pm

Belief in a god is the biggest excuse ever for doing something morally wrong. "It's ok, my god told me to do it", or "It's in this old book written by god, so it must be good" etc.

Of course, the god itself cannot be good, as to be good means you must be able to choose to do bad, but not do that. God has no choice to be good, as what is good is, by definition what god does and says. We now know that god cannot do good, so how can any followers of a god do good by following a no good god? Surely that leaves only atheists who can do good.

7. Bad Faith Awards 2008: Vote now

Comment #279938 by PrimeNumbers on November 6, 2008 at 4:39 pm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/06/palin_and_africa/

Got to be Palin!

8. Stoning victim 'begged for mercy'

Comment #278214 by PrimeNumbers on November 4, 2008 at 1:06 pm

I wouldn't care if it's legal or illegal. Keep it secret and keep it as rescue, not revenge. A bit like Thuderbirds International Rescue, but stopping religious violence and any torture.

Although it is appealing to bury and stone the evil people who do these crimes against humanity, I can not condone killing them. We have to be above them - always.

9. Stoning victim 'begged for mercy'

Comment #278180 by PrimeNumbers on November 4, 2008 at 12:45 pm

We need a hit squad of crack troops, trained in all forms of combat, and a secret network of contacts so that people like this young girl can be rescued and taken to safety. I'd gladly pay a hell of a lot of money to a charity with the goal to rescue such people under any and all circumstances. Enough is enough. These stone age barbarians make me sick. To call them sub-human is too much of a compliment.

10. Teaching hate in UK schools

Comment #275327 by PrimeNumbers on October 31, 2008 at 4:30 am

Paxman did a good job, but he could have said in response their being "good chapters" in the book, "that means there are bad chapters in the book then."

The lady who runs the school should be facing charges under whatever nasty laws the Muslim lobby have tried to get in to protect their religion, perhaps some kind of race hatred law. Now I don't agree with these laws, but in this case, I'd raise an exception.

Shut down all faith schools, and re-open under government control. Remove religious indoctrination from schools. And do it now, before its too late.

I was once asked by a pupil, who's class teacher was also the religious teacher at the school, "why do we have to do RE in school?", and the only answer I could think of for that kid was "to keep your teacher in a job".

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

Comment #275086 by PrimeNumbers on October 30, 2008 at 6:44 pm

I'm listening to Turek speak here, and his arguments are weak indeed. He's reciting old arguments that didn't work when they were invented and don't work now. His name dropping is annoying. His quote mining is frustrating.

Design - yeah, right. Bad design. We don't know how life began - so godditit. The worst argument of all that "if it's I don't know, then it's automatically godidit".

There is no way to say if an act god does is moral or not unless there is a moral law beyond god. Because god is good, there must be a moral law beyond god. If there is something beyond god, then god is not infinite. If god is not infinite, it's not god. End of argument.

12. Somalia: Rape Victim Executed

Comment #274171 by PrimeNumbers on October 29, 2008 at 5:09 pm

Yet another example of the horrible Islam disease. Not content in peaching hell for the afterlife, they try to create hell on earth.

13. CFI Pushes Back Against Religious Restrictions on Free Expression, Joins Debate at UN HRC

Comment #269178 by PrimeNumbers on October 22, 2008 at 5:45 pm

Time for everyone to stand up and say no to blasphemy laws. Thanks CFI.

14. Afghan student gets 20 years instead of death for blasphemy

Comment #269175 by PrimeNumbers on October 22, 2008 at 5:43 pm

The Canadian troops in Afganistan should go in, find Parwez and safely remove him to Canada, from where he should be helped to a new life.

15. A 'values' voter speaks her mind on Obama

Comment #267298 by PrimeNumbers on October 20, 2008 at 12:09 pm

She's obviously a racist, but won't admit it, so she's making up religious excuses. Religion is just that - a way of excusing amoral behaviour. That's why religion makes no sense. She's say she can't vote for Obama because he's black. That's precisely what she is saying, but she's not even honest enough to say it.

16. Convert or we will kill you, Hindu lynch mobs tell fleeing Christians

Comment #266590 by PrimeNumbers on October 19, 2008 at 11:43 am

Typical of religions.

Their beliefs are not rational. Because their are people who believe differently, their religion is not totally comforting to them. These unbelievers cause doubt, and doubt means lack of total comfort.

That's why they try to convert! The more people who believe as they do, the more "truth in numbers" they have, the more support for their belief system that has no rational means of support.

Converting others is a sign of insecurity.

17. Dawkins: a theologian's perspective

Comment #261029 by PrimeNumbers on October 6, 2008 at 10:56 am

What a pile of stinking theology. Jesus was not a paragon of moral virtue, not least his support of slavery.

18. YouTube Reinstates Pat Condell

Comment #259980 by PrimeNumbers on October 4, 2008 at 10:41 am

There is a place for nuanced philosophical argument, and there is a place for plain, simple argument. I like what Pat says because he doesn't get bogged down in nuance, and sophistry.

Religious apologists, given they can't conduct a reasoned argument with words meaning what words normally mean, they use sophistry and word-bending to argue. We should not have to do the same. Pat makes simple, powerful arguments, with a good sense of humour. I wish there were more like him.

19. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253418 by PrimeNumbers on September 24, 2008 at 12:15 pm

Catholic doctors take the hypocritic oath.

20. Jewish 'ultras' defend morals with menace

Comment #251532 by PrimeNumbers on September 21, 2008 at 3:08 pm

There not being enough persecution of Jews at the moment, the Jews decide to persecute themselves. Thus is the wonder of religion.

21. Turkey bans biologist Richard Dawkins' website

Comment #249445 by PrimeNumbers on September 18, 2008 at 6:15 am

Muslims fail yet another test and are refused admittance to the human race.

If you can't stand any criticism, no matter how slight, then keep your bloody mouths shut. Don't utter a word. Don't write anything down. If you want to join society, then the door is open, just leave your dogmas, fatwas and jihads at the door.

22. YouTube Removes Viral Video on Palin's Churches For Inappropriate Content

Comment #248407 by PrimeNumbers on September 16, 2008 at 7:07 am

Do they not have men in white coats in the USA that take away mad people? Because surely Palin needs those men in white coats to take her away...

These religious nutjobs are as scary as hell, raving lunatics. They have not one ounce of sense, they're as blind as sheep.

23. Robert Winston criticises dangerous 'science delusion'

Comment #247550 by PrimeNumbers on September 14, 2008 at 2:58 pm

Winston is just a joke... The mental anguish in his head must be horrendous as he keeps his religious and scientific / rational minds apart from each other.

Humour and ridicule are fine to use against the obsurdities of religion. If you don't want to be made fun of, don't have stupid beliefs with no evidence for them.

24. Pope condemns 'pagan' love of money, power

Comment #247542 by PrimeNumbers on September 14, 2008 at 2:52 pm

Pot, Kettle, Black.

25. Sharia courts operating in Britain

Comment #247540 by PrimeNumbers on September 14, 2008 at 2:50 pm

Ludicrous beyond belief. Muslims are not special, they don't get special laws just for them. They need to be put in their place.

26. Science lessons should tackle creationism and intelligent design

Comment #246296 by PrimeNumbers on September 12, 2008 at 6:14 am

I think that a quick guide to creation myths, with amusing pictures on the OHP, makes a great starting point for a science class. You can show how different people all over the world have very strange ideas about how we all came about, and how they're all different.

Next you look at the difference between science, and belief.

And if some children's beliefs get ridiculed, and are "lost of science", then they fail those exams, we'll, it's just tough, and quite frankly, their parents faults.

Pseudo-science and crap like ID are great to show how real science is better.

27. It's no wonder evangelical atheists need to shout so loud

Comment #237954 by PrimeNumbers on August 27, 2008 at 1:03 pm

Barry Cooper, the idiot who has not read Dawkin's books, but instead shouts at a straw man parody - perhaps he shouts so much because his argument stinks.

28. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #234966 by PrimeNumbers on August 22, 2008 at 10:05 am

I'd really like to see Richard doing a "proof of evolution" programme.

As a computer programmer, I've proven to myself the power of evolutionary algorithms, producing useful results by means of:

a population,
an environment that defines my goal,
a test to see how well the population fits the environment,
breading of those that fit the environment the best,
and most important, a level of mutation

The results are superb, and prove that the precepts of evolution work.

I know Richard has done this kind of work on both TV and books, but I'd really like to see it done again, with modern production values.

I'd like to see more discussion and showing of how the human body is badly "designed", the "design" links between humans and animals both in form and in DNA.

29. Pastor Michael Guglielmucci spun gospel of lies

Comment #234934 by PrimeNumbers on August 22, 2008 at 9:15 am

Liars for Jesus!

30. Bill Maher on Religion

Comment #233665 by PrimeNumbers on August 20, 2008 at 7:47 am

Bill Maher makes me laugh, but he also comes across very well. Can't wait to see this movie!

31. Last Night's TV: The Genius of Charles Darwin, Channel 4

Comment #233608 by PrimeNumbers on August 20, 2008 at 5:16 am

Dawkins v Rowan Williams was superb. Well done Richard. You surely made Rowan look the fool with his watered down religion.

32. 'The Genius of Charles Darwin' DVD (PAL Region 2) Available Now

Comment #233607 by PrimeNumbers on August 20, 2008 at 5:13 am

Region coding is such a pain. I'm happy you're doing a proper release though.

33. Saudi Marriage Officiant : 'It Is Allowed To Marry A Girl At The Age Of One'.

Comment #198660 by PrimeNumbers on June 24, 2008 at 10:52 am

So Muhammed is a paedophile and a child molester. Lovely. And here now, we've had a Saudi official confirm it. So, when can we start buying the Muhammed is paedophile T-Shirts?

34. 'I despise Islamism': Ian McEwan faces backlash over press interview

Comment #197646 by PrimeNumbers on June 22, 2008 at 12:25 pm

It is not wrong to dislike a religion. It is not wrong to absolutely detest a religion. It is not wrong to poke fun at followers of religion.

Religion is a choice, and members of religions choose to be members.

To detest a religion is not "hate crime", and not racist.

35. Muslim countries win concession regarding religious debates

Comment #196610 by PrimeNumbers on June 20, 2008 at 8:19 am

Religion poisons everything - here's more evidence, and more proof. Religions cannot be trusted. They are so dishonest, they can't even stand up to reasonable criticism of them, so they have to hide away. Or put it the other way, religions are on the run....

36. Darwinmania!

Comment #195353 by PrimeNumbers on June 18, 2008 at 5:37 am

I just had to do some heavy math to optimize a matrix of 9 numbers. So I tried a genetic algorithm, starting with a random population, and breeding the fittest pair of parents each time, with some random mutation thrown in. In no time at all I had the code working producing superb results, much better than I was getting using a more traditional, intelligently designed approach.

So I think evolution wins over intelligent design once again! There's no proof of the power of evolution like proving it to yourself.

37. John McCain: America a Christian nation, needs Christian president

Comment #190138 by PrimeNumbers on June 8, 2008 at 12:43 pm

McCain is a grade 1, class A MORON! He doesn't know his own country's history and he doesn't realize that the founding fathers of his country were NOT christian and many despised christianity.

38. Teacher tortures, kills boy

Comment #186893 by PrimeNumbers on May 31, 2008 at 4:44 pm

"Without god, all is permitted".

The obvious corollary is "With god, anything is justified."

39. Mark Steyn vs. the 'Sock Puppets'

Comment #185811 by PrimeNumbers on May 28, 2008 at 4:31 pm

I really don't care what Steyn says, or his own religious or political beliefs. Same goes for Ezra Levant. I don't care what they have to say or print, but I don't want some stupid HRC deciding for me and censoring them.

I find the whole concept of "hate crime" obnoxious. Especially as the HRC go after "hate thought crime", making 1984 look "nice".

The fact is nobody deserves to be protected from being disliked.

40. Mark Steyn vs. the 'Sock Puppets'

Comment #185695 by PrimeNumbers on May 28, 2008 at 10:10 am

http://ezralevant.com/ is great to read more on this story.

The reason why the HRCs win 100% of the time is that they're only concerned with people feeling offended, and they win because the complainant was obviously offended. It's self-fullfilling prophecy of the worst kind.

41. That's it. Texas really is doomed.

Comment #184946 by PrimeNumbers on May 26, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Surely this is natural selection in action. Those without brains destroy education. The more education is destroyed, those with brains will leave Texas, or else do something about it. Or not, and they're all doomed.

42. The Dissent Of Darwin - The World Of Richard Dawkins

Comment #180557 by PrimeNumbers on May 15, 2008 at 7:48 am

Evolution will find solutions. But it can only ever get a locally optimium solution, and not a maximally optimum solution. It's obvious that the testicals are a locally optimum solution, but yes, not a maximally optimum one. The testicals are a solution, just not the best one. There's countless examples of this that prove evolution, not disprove it. And consequently disprove intelligent design. So, let's say bollocks to the argument from design!

43. Investigating Atheism

Comment #168263 by PrimeNumbers on April 24, 2008 at 8:21 pm

The whole site is a straw man. As pointed out many times above, it reads like a case of "lying for jesus".

44. Richard Dawkins: 'Growth in creationist beliefs a problem for schools'

Comment #156228 by PrimeNumbers on April 7, 2008 at 6:27 am

I used to live near a Vardy school. I'd meet a friend on the bus comming home from work. He worked at the Vardy school. He was a Christian, but a good one in the sense that his morals were better than his God's, a genuine nice person. I think his opinion of the "Christian" school was that it was very un-Christian, other than at face value, but the morals and ethics behind the scenes were suspect.

45. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152329 by PrimeNumbers on March 30, 2008 at 5:41 pm

So, according to Arab News, Muslims don't want to be insulted. Let me give them some advice - don't be so insulting. And stop insulting our intelligence.

When they say "They don’t understand how much Muslims love and respect their Prophet", they don't understand that freedom and free speech are more important.

When they say "But Islam does not teach that, it advocates peace and co-existence", I say, tell your preachers, your leaders to act by example. Learn to stop crying "insult" at every opportunity, to grow up, to become big and adult.

When they say "I am afraid that the Western world has failed to understand the severity of the problem,", I say the problem of Muslims feeling insulted is entirely of their own making. Their religion is their choice. Their feelings of insult are their choice.

When I feel insulted, I know it is my choice to feel so. And right now, they have insulted me. WHen they say “I have my own reservations. Muslims are serious but the other parties are not. They are not committed. They want to hold dialogue, just for the sake of it and for Muslims’ consumption.” they insult me by ignoring the vast numbers of people on this planet with no religion who they have yet to make peace with and have shown no signs or intentions of doing so.

46. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152281 by PrimeNumbers on March 30, 2008 at 3:43 pm

I watched the movie as soon as I'd heard it was online. I was disappointed that the point of the movie was not made more clearly, in that so called "moderate" Muslims need to rise up and be counted as moral human beings, who despise violence done in the name of their chosen religion, and excise passages from their holy book that promote or are used to promote such violence. I am however, happy, that the message of the movie was, when you watched it carefully, a reasonable one.

One of the reasons why the Catholics have such large numbers, is that even those who no longer believe in the tenants of that faith, don't leave the Catholic church. The problem with Islam is worse, in that there is a death sentence for any that want to leave or do leave.

So the first step is to change that. We need Muslims the world over to denounce the killing of those that leave their religion, and to enforce the basic human right of freedom of choice. It is totally morally unacceptable to intimidate or kill someone for their own freedom of choice over religion.

After that all religion needs to be put in it's place - personal beliefs to stay with the person, at home, in private.

47. Saudi Arabia Leader Calls for Interfaith Dialogue

Comment #149889 by PrimeNumbers on March 26, 2008 at 10:17 am

"deploring "the disintegration of the family and the rise of atheism in the world �" a frightening phenomenon that all religions must confront and vanquish." "

So much for the religion of peace.

Religion has tried to confront us - and they keep losing. Why? Because they lie, they cheat, and they're just plain wrong. Man's moral sense is so much better than their awful gods'.

Man does not think eternal torment is a good thing. God does.
Man does not believe in killing children. God does.

48. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #149882 by PrimeNumbers on March 26, 2008 at 10:13 am

Happy birthday Richard!

Please come and visit Canada once you're through with the USA tour. There are a lot of people up here who need your kind of enlightenment.

49. Pakistan blocks YouTube over blasphemous video

Comment #133333 by PrimeNumbers on February 26, 2008 at 4:39 am

Remember, the very existence of us Atheists offends muslims. As I've said before, muslims need to learn that they're not special, and their crazy belief system is just that - it doesn't give them any special rights or privilidges.

50. Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

Comment #123627 by PrimeNumbers on February 7, 2008 at 12:14 pm

The ABC once again shows he doesn't know what he's talking about and manages to annoy both his flock and us by his ill chosen, ill thought, treacherous and traitorous words.