1. The Pagan Christ

Comment #94906 by ross on December 7, 2007 at 1:45 am

Oh please.
Your single pet agnostic scholar says such and such: therefore it's true.
What about Robert Price or Earl Doherty?
And what about common sense? The Son of God shows up on Earth - virtually the creator of the universe, cures lepers 'n all, raises the dead, feeds thousands of people loaves and fishes, creates havoc, and no one notices? Not a single CREDIBLE reference to this possible source of insurrection found in Roman documents?

2. The Pagan Christ

Comment #94877 by ross on December 6, 2007 at 11:50 pm

At last.
The "Achilles Heal" of Christianity starts to go mainstream.

3. Electrons to Enlightenment 4: Debating Darwin

Comment #61681 by ross on August 6, 2007 at 10:15 am

Paul Nelson's bit was saccharin and self-pitying with the "Deep Thoughts" piano background. Glad I didn't eat first.
And the drunken, pseudo-hip Fanfare for the Common Man was just perfect for the distorted man-on-the-street crap.
Didn't get the point about the Darwin segment.

Dawkins was brilliant and straight to the point, as usual. Introduced as a lightning rod, and an ....(pause for drama)...atheist.

But, I thought that Olson's segment on how to present this to the public offers a valuable point.
After all, if you want to get the theistic public to think a bit you need a stategy that works. Right now they barely even listen. In fact many are down right smug, dismissive and hostile to anything that they didn't learn in church.
Obviously religious certainty is the height of arrogance - not scientific views.
However, if their perception is that they are being talked down to, then there is no way that they are going to listen. You can't just try to teach people, or force views on them.
Personally, I like and prefer the approach of RD. It's direct and disarmingly honest. Harris and Hitchens too. And Carrier and Dennett and...
However, it's not going to reach everyone, and there is no harm in approaching from more than one flank with alternate strategies.

4. They let anybody onto the faculty at Oxford nowadays

Comment #60752 by ross on August 2, 2007 at 7:40 pm

Excellent summation Dr. Benway.
All too often they try to have it both ways - God is outside of matter, (after all he created it, don't y'know), but can intervene without being detected.
This has been an exasperating line of argument.

5. Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour

Comment #59671 by ross on July 30, 2007 at 5:50 am

It's a shame that Max Blumenthal's video is not posted as a "video response" to the YouTube conference presentation.

6. Religion is Hard

Comment #59595 by ross on July 29, 2007 at 9:15 pm

The healing bit was brilliant. I would love to see/hear a whole sketch based on that concept.

7. OUT Campaign Launched, 'Scarlet Letter' Shirts Now Available!

Comment #59592 by ross on July 29, 2007 at 8:57 pm

In reference to one of Dr. Benway's points in post #210, it seems that this tee shirt has generated an awful lot of interest, so, perhaps it would be helpful to have a small survey for the readers of this site as to which options they would feel comfortable with: In your face vs subtle grace; url wars; quotes.
It would be useful to know what this apparent herd of cats would actually wear (if they are buyers and wearers) and then what we/they would actually spend money on.

Maybe a survey could be linked to from the first newsletter...

I think that the shirts all should have the RDNet logo, though, as this is the site and foundation that the majority or people here, I think, would choose to support - hopefully at least as far as the cost of a tee shirt.

8. Dipping a Toe Into Marine Biology, at a Summer Camp

Comment #57990 by ross on July 22, 2007 at 7:17 pm

When there are camps like this available, it truly is a crime to be sending your child to a bible camp.

Even making the choice to take a kid to church on Sunday morning rather than spend that same time taking them to a museum, or a wildlife park, or a symphony or chamber concert for kids, or a cultural fair of some sort, or theatre, seems to me to be a poor one.
Maybe it's just easier...unless the churchy bit is for education only - as in: this is what some people believe and this is where they come.

9. Can the rest of us have our planet back?

Comment #57883 by ross on July 21, 2007 at 11:32 pm

I wish I could provide the link of Omid Djalili at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival when he went on an anti-religious rant, but, alas...
For some lighthearted Iranian humour you can check out: http://www.omidnoagenda.com/blog/static.php?page=videos

And for the 0.001% of you who would enjoy a James Blunt parody involving eight black & tans:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=5135532771914898039&q=kevin+sage&total=154&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

10. Beyond Belief: Atheism (with AC Grayling)

Comment #57708 by ross on July 20, 2007 at 4:42 pm

That's it? One little insult?
Maybe more education and a move to Darwin will help me...and a new 'andle for me plunger.
I would have thought that calling the director of NHGRI "daft" on such a popular site as this would have generated a little more ire.
After once referring to Kent Hovind as an idiot after watching his Dinosaurs and the Bible presentation I thought my computer was going to explode from all the hostile comments and messages.

11. Beyond Belief: Atheism (with AC Grayling)

Comment #57470 by ross on July 19, 2007 at 12:54 pm

Wow. I hadn't realized that Collins was that daft.
Once again, the argument that there are many intelligent people who believe and so maybe there's something to it, falls flat.

Where are these so-called intelligent believers? Haven't yet heard or seen one that can clearly see the arguments. How is it that they miss the point by such a wide margin?

Disclaimer: I mean, of course, Collins is an educated and necessarily intelligent being, but, like other educated and smart people, when religion enters the discussion, his critical thinking skills just seem to vanish. And C.S. Lewis? What incoherent rubbish!

heathen2
(Fire is indeed an excellent movie. Both Water and Earth are, too, imo).

12. Why I Believe Anti-Evangelism Is Wrong

Comment #57454 by ross on July 19, 2007 at 11:58 am

What a whining baby!
For the first two decades after I first raised my middle finger to the sky, I followed the creed that the only thing more tiresome than a proselytizing Christian is a vocal and hostile anti-Christian.
But, as Macho Nachos implies, the live and let live thing obviously doesn't work.
They're still knocking on my door, voting in presidents, and, well, you know, doing all the usual crap.

I really take issue with this crybaby's "so long as it doesn't affect me" stance. What a cowardly way to live.
It's hard to add to Severus' excellent review, but I'd like to try: How can decent people stand aside and watch other people beat, lie to, and in every other way subjugate women and children, and the flock, and not do something about it?
Seems to me speaking up is a pretty minor thing to be so damned riled up against.
What a dickhead.

13. Darwin or Design

Comment #57318 by ross on July 18, 2007 at 10:35 pm

Re: thesciphishow comment #57314

Well, what if it is true? So what?
(I realize that there are assertions made in the interviews that ID contributes by asking questions (can't at the moment recall the exact interviews), but I really don't believe that those questions would not be asked without ID (i.e. the junk DNA bit)).
In any case, why even postulate such a thing as "what if it is true", when there has been no evidence other than incredulity to suggest that it is true? Incredulity, or even "I dunno", is not strong evidence.

If a scientist discovers a super-intelligence that has been interacting with physical laws, do you really think that he or she will keep it a secret to protect secularism?

I, and possibly many of us here, really do appreciate your equal-time presentation. It was fairly done and well-represented.

I think that you should trust that science is looking for the truth about the cosmos and life. And doing so with integrity. I wonder why you expect people to pre-approve your hypothesis that there is some kind of god-thingy involved. If there is a god-thingy then either it's hiding, or we will find it. Why not just sit back and wait? Is it because of religion, maybe?

14. Insurance for Sex Abuse: A policy tailor-made for the Catholic church

Comment #57315 by ross on July 18, 2007 at 10:06 pm

Ha! Catholic Mutual indeed! I can see the ad slogans now:

"Catholic Mutual, because only the Pope is infallible".

"You pay the fee, but priests ride for free!".

"Catholic Mutual, self-insurance for self-indulgence, 'cuz celibacy has its price".

Seriously though, soon they'll take the money for the abuse coverage, then claim that they are "acts of god".

15. Town Hall Seattle: God Is Not Great

Comment #57295 by ross on July 18, 2007 at 7:50 pm

Hitchens states: "The alleged Nazarene, in whose existence I (also) do not believe".

Nice to hear a prominent speaker voice this. As much as I admire and appreciate RD, I get a bit frustrated when he speculates that JC probably existed, when there is virtually no evidence of it. And many reasons to believe that he didn't.

Talk about the ultimate in clay feet. If it were brought to the fore, this point that no one did in fact "die for you on the cross", Christianity as a fact-based faith would certainly be on the run. Of course, most wouldn't listen, but, it's an awfully strong argument against their position. I wonder why this side of the argument is often ignored - except by Hitchens (and Robert M. Price, and Richard Carrier, and Earl Doherty, and Brian Flemming, and...)

16. Darwin or Design

Comment #56808 by ross on July 17, 2007 at 10:52 am

After listening to five of these, I have to comment that if the IDers are so concerned about finding the truth, they should just let science get on with it. If indeed there were such an intelligence out there, busy meddling with our DNA and cosmos (an idea that seems infantile to me), then if anyone is going to find it, it will be real scientists, not armchair amateurs like Salvador Cordova. Nick Matzke's account pretty much proves the scientific checks and balances, and shows professional integrity even when trying to come up with answers against the ID group.
All in all, I'd say that these interviews are an excellent resource for looking at both camps.
And Jason Rennie does provide links to several excellent anti-ID resources.

17. Richard Dawkins interview with Paula Zahn

Comment #22070 by ross on February 12, 2007 at 9:47 pm

I think that RD probably just did more for atheist public relations than I ever thought possible. A quiet rational reasonable unthreatening presentation on CNN is probably not what any of the anti-atheists expected. It was perfect!

18. Is God a Delusion? Atheism and the Meaning of Life

Comment #21952 by ross on February 12, 2007 at 1:23 am

Mr. McGrath's tactics are subversive. A shameful example of twisting another's words to achieve one's own ends. So much for not bearing false witness.
Especially the suggestion that Mr. Dawkins is disdainful of an entire people and not just their belief system.