1. Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier

Comment #171542 by devolve on April 28, 2008 at 2:47 pm

http://preview.tinyurl.com/yuuje5

To borrow from Sam Harris a bit, "where are the Tibetan Buddhist honor killings?"

2. Interview with Dan Dennett

Comment #169355 by devolve on April 25, 2008 at 8:15 pm

Maybe it's just me (I have a nasty cold and am under the influence of Tylenol PM and a pint of Salvator at the moment) but with the exception of Mr. Dennett -- who didn't really say much -- it just sounded to me like a stereotypical caricature of Ivory Tower types talking just to hear the sound of their own voices. When they started going on and on and on about Sartre, I nearly had to stop listening.

Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

3. Investigating Atheism

Comment #167070 by devolve on April 23, 2008 at 3:31 pm

From the domain registration info (http://whois.domaintools.com/investigatingatheism.info):

Registrant Name:David Goode
Registrant Organization:David Goode
Registrant Street1:4 Ainsworth Court
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Cambridge

David's first book was published in May 2005 by The Canterbury Press. Food in due season: daily table blessings for the Christian year contains structured table blessings for every day of the year, based on the blessings in the Latin breviaries, brought up-to-date in contemporary English and the familiar Common Worship style.

David's second book was published in March 2006 by The Canterbury Press. Living bread: prayers of preparation for holy communion is a broad selection of prayers in preparation for receiving holy communion from the Anglican Fathers of the seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries (some of whom were the 'Caroline Divines'), edited into contemporary English.

4. Beware the Believers

Comment #151824 by devolve on March 29, 2008 at 1:53 pm

This video is, to me, quite obviously a pro-ID statement; or perhaps more accurately (if more convolutedly) an anti-"anti-ID" statement.

It can be boiled down to this:

"Scientists are arrogant know-it-alls, as evidenced by this tongue-in-cheek portrayal of a few better-known ones as bombastic rappers."

I don't find it offensive, and the sight gags do amuse me somewhat. Then again, I'm just one of those idiots who somehow sees the humor in "South Park".

That said, I strongly suspect that the people who are interpreting this as something "on our side" may be guilty of only seeing what they want to see.

5. Machines 'to match man by 2029'

Comment #128898 by devolve on February 18, 2008 at 7:56 am

1. I want an android for a room mate.

2. Did anyone contact Sarah Connor for comment?

6. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #118974 by devolve on January 31, 2008 at 8:27 am

For a while now, I've been thinking that we (meaning the civilized world) should focus less effort on encouraging "democracy", and more on encouraging "liberty". We have a tendency to conflate the two, and I think that's a mistake.

7. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #117550 by devolve on January 29, 2008 at 5:09 am

Eh. At first glance, it appears Mr. Day seems to be a Ron Paul supporter, which is telling.

I suppose not EVERY Ron Paul supporter is a frothing lunatic, but I have yet to meet a frothing lunatic who isn't a Ron Paul supporter. FWIW.

8. The real danger in Darwin is not evolution, but racism

Comment #115176 by devolve on January 23, 2008 at 5:50 pm

Even if Darwin had been a frothing, racist, eugenics advocate (he wasn't), it has no bearing on evolution theory. IF that had been the case, it wouldn't make "Darwin's theories" dangerous any more than gravitation theory would be made "dangerous" if Newton, Einstein, Hawking, and my dog all advocated skydiving without a parachute.

I wonder if Campolo would similarly claim that Christianity is also a "dangerous idea" because the Church was a profoundly bloodthirsty institution (certainly moreso than Darwin ever aspired to be, racist or not) in centuries past?

9. Ethical storm as scientist becomes first man to clone HIMSELF

Comment #113537 by devolve on January 20, 2008 at 12:41 am

The concept of the "cow-human hybrid" suggests a clever one-liner involving the target audience of TV shows like "The View" and "Oprah", but I can't seem to think of what it could be.

10. Disquiet over schools' moment of silence

Comment #103467 by devolve on December 25, 2007 at 6:23 pm

I must count myself among those who don't mind a bit if there's a "moment of silence" in public schools.

I was in American High Schools in the mid-to-late 80s. If at any time during class there happened to be a moment of silence (a spontaneous one), one could almost always count on someone burping, letting loose with a remarkably ROBUST fart, or otherwise thwarting the silence. Nature may or may not abhor a vacuum, but kids abhor silence.

The avant-garde composer John Cage was thinking of something *SLIGHTLY* less juvenile than this when he came up with 4'33".

Shenanigans and giggling WILL ensue, and I think that's a good thing. Somewhere, some smartass kids WILL whisper -- just BARELY audbile -- a "Ra-men" or a "Praise 'Bob'" after a moment of silence. These Pastafarian Guerrillas, and their Fundamentalist, 'back-to-the-Pamphlet' Subgenius cousins must have their cynisacreligion *respected* and *protected*. Otherwise, next thing you know, they'll be tossing out Jesus and Mohammed and Sylvia Brown too, and there'll be nobody left to speak up.

11. Bible bashing dying out in Kansas

Comment #102346 by devolve on December 22, 2007 at 12:40 pm

Phelps and his crew may be in their waning days, but Phelps is "fringe" even by extreme fundamentalist Christian standards.

I would like to point out, especially to interested observers outside the US, that Fred Phelps' cult has very little to do with American religious attitude. As heinous as his cartoonish group of hate-mongers may be, in some ways the more "mainstream" religious believers are more insidious. The Fred Phelpses of the land almost certainly will never be elected to any public office. I do not believe for a minute that Mike Huckabee (for example) would ever join a protest carrying a sign reading, "God hates fags", but I do believe he would support public policies that would be anti-science, anti-gay, and anti-liberty based solely on religious conviction. There are tens of millions of Americans who would gleefully support this, as well.

I don't think there's much evidence at all to suggest that 'Bible bashing' is dying out in Kansas, or anywhere else in the US, for that matter.

12. Way of the Master Radio talks about Dawkins' Christmas Comments

Comment #100517 by devolve on December 18, 2007 at 7:19 pm

Wow, quill. Thanks (I guess... maybe) for the Way of the Master links. I had never heard Dan Barker before, but now I think I should read his book.

I was mostly amused by "Todd" in the debate with Barker all the way up until Dan asked him whether he would have prevented the 9/11 attacks had he the power. At that point, Todd and his beliefs no longer seemed to me to be merely misguided, but rather malevolent. For those who -- probably wisely -- did not listen to this debate, Todd replied (in part) that not only did the people who died on 9/11 deserve it, but that furthermore we ALL deserve it.

Then follow it up with the implication that human suffering is "righteous", and examples of circular reasoning so egregious that even someone so unschooled in formal debate as I am can recognize them... Sheesh!

I simply can't imagine how anyone goes about trying to debate these people. I imagine I'd run out of the room screaming in frustration after the first five minutes. Thank goodness for the "Four Horsemen" and all the rest who say what I wish I had the rhetorical prowess to say myself.

I guess I'm lucky I grew up in a family that was nominally Christian, but not very zealous about it. I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to grow up in a household headed by the likes of "Todd". I knew some kids like that when I was a kid. I wonder what they're up to now.

13. THE FOUR HORSEMEN - Available Now on DVD!

Comment #98920 by devolve on December 14, 2007 at 10:39 pm

It's too bad that they didn't film the part where they rolled up a huge Cheech & Chong-sized joint, fired that sucker up, and then watched "Koyaanisqatsi" as nubile 20-something swimsuit models performed scantily-clad interpretive dance to the Philip Glass score.

14. THE FOUR HORSEMEN - Available Now on DVD!

Comment #98915 by devolve on December 14, 2007 at 10:24 pm

Today, we pour over the correspondence between Adams and Jefferson (and many others), and I'm fairly sure that, at the time, neither party expected that their musings would be studied and scrutinized for centuries to come.

Will historians, polemicists, and interested Regular Joes many decades or centuries in the future replay these videos for a peek into one small facet of life in the early 21st century? I certainly hope so.

15. Beyond Belief 07: Enlightenment 2.0

Comment #94338 by devolve on December 5, 2007 at 11:03 am

Does Scott Atran seem awfully smug and self-satisfied every time he asks a question from the audience, or is it just my perception?

It seems as though no matter who the speaker is, whenever he asks them a question the subtext is: "I'm Smart And Beautiful Me, And You're Dumb Old Stupid You, Aren't You?"

Disagreeing is one thing, but to me he seems to be going out of his way to be smug about it. I suppose it's of little substance, but I'd be interested in knowing if I'm just imagining it.

16. Why Science Can't Save the Republican Party

Comment #93351 by devolve on December 2, 2007 at 8:00 pm

Try to imagine any modern-day Republican saying the following in public:

*** On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of conservatism.***

That speaker's political career would be over in an instant today. But that's Barry Goldwater, a relic of the days before the Republican party became the Jesus Party.

17. Poll finds more Americans believe in devil than Darwin

Comment #92323 by devolve on November 30, 2007 at 9:40 am

This story makes me unable to decide whether to laugh or cry.

I wonder how many "believe in" gravitation theory?

18. American kids, dumber than dirt: Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history

Comment #81744 by devolve on October 25, 2007 at 5:54 am

I declare shenanigans. Even if the vast majority of kids are as dumb as a bag of rusty hammers (which I doubt), I'm quite skeptical of the claim about no student being able to figure out how to use a ruler as a straight edge. Crusty old farts have been lamenting the hellbound handbasket probably since just after the invention of the handbasket.

Teenagers are *supposed* to be dumb as hell. Many of them tend to grow out of it. I don't think I would trust a 16 year old who never played video games, didn't listen to music on his iPod, and just sat around reading textbooks on statistical psychology and industrial chemistry all day (perhaps while marching in place).

19. Scarlet Letter Campaign Update: A Victory

Comment #62357 by devolve on August 9, 2007 at 11:37 am

If you've ever read a Jack Chick pamphlet (http://chick.com), visited http://christiangallery.com , heard of the Phelps family (http://godhatesfags.com), or seen almost any American televangelist in action (Jack Van Impe for example, who claims in utter seriousness that UFO sightings represent demonic activity), or read the Rapture Ready forum (http://www.rr-bb.com/), it's very easy to understand why "Baptists for Brownback" doesn't immediately register as satire to a lot of people. I'm still not entirely convinced, and that's a sad statement.

20. William Crawley meets Richard Dawkins

Comment #23524 by devolve on March 1, 2007 at 1:04 pm

How I wish that a conversation like this were possible on mainstream American TV. I'm not familiar with William Crawley, but I very much appreciated his ability to ask pointed and challenging questions in a courteous and honest manner. On most American talk shows of this type, no one is content with simply disagreeing - they want to "win".