51. Belief in Belief

Comment #118291 by hoops mccann on January 30, 2008 at 3:06 pm

Duffski says:

"An incredible article; my only complaint is that when it comes to me arguing with theist friends, I am incapable of the intellectual vigour and lucidity of Hitchens or Dawkins... "


Welcome to reality :)

52. Dawkins is third most prolific internet Briton

Comment #117784 by hoops mccann on January 29, 2008 at 3:50 pm

I would like to have seen John Cleese do a little better.

53. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #117660 by hoops mccann on January 29, 2008 at 10:30 am

Sally Luxmoore writes: "Hmm. Interesting. I don't know what this book is (I'm English, is it American?)"


It's American. It was the book that was central to the controversy at Dover, Pennsylvania. The book was intended to introduce "intelligent design" into the biology curriculum of the local school system. Christian fundamentalists had covertly taken over the local school board and railroaded a vote that approved use of the book. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the attempt was blocked by a successful lawsuit. The title reveals the most prominent feature of fundamentalists: unoriginality. I'm sure that the title is a contraction of two book titles: "The Panda's Thumb" and "Of Hens Teeth and Horses Toes", both excellent books by Stephen Jay Gould.

54. The devilish church practice of exorcism

Comment #115127 by hoops mccann on January 23, 2008 at 3:56 pm

"I think a fitting end to the Nazi popes reign would be him tied up and tortured until he "confesses." "



Now, now.

Seriously, I don't think Mr. Ratzinger is deserving of the title "pope" (for what it's worth). I'm starting to wonder if he's earned enough respect to be called "Mr." Anyhow, that priest in Africa should be doing time somewhere.

55. The devilish church practice of exorcism

Comment #115098 by hoops mccann on January 23, 2008 at 2:45 pm

"In practice, official Catholic exorcisms have been dramatically increasing since the mid-1970s, according to Michael W. Cuneo, ..."



In other words, since the movie came out :)

56. The OUT Campaign has its own Flea!

Comment #106755 by hoops mccann on January 3, 2008 at 12:06 pm

I'm always struck by the lack or originality of the fundies. Others have pointed out the use of the red "C". The titles of the fleas speak for themselves. The title of the textbook that the Dover, Pennsylvania school board wanted to use was called "Of Pandas and People". Consider this:
"Of Pandas and People" = "The Panda's Thumb" + "Of Hens Teeth and Horses Toes"
Both of the latter books are by Stephen Jay Gould.

57. Mind your manners

Comment #89393 by hoops mccann on November 20, 2007 at 2:02 pm

> Henri's in the top five trolls on RD.Net

> You're right, NMcC, better to just ignore him.


But is he a Marxist troll or a cultural troll?

58. I didn't know the FLEA CIRCUS was back in town!

Comment #84967 by hoops mccann on November 4, 2007 at 11:28 am

Is anyone actually buying these things? Are they vanity books? Are religious teachers assigning them for study? Are priests making people read them for penance? (Assigning books to read has apparently replaced the "Hail Mary" as a penance item, if what I've heard is true). I can't imagine anyone investing the money and the time to read one of these, otherwise. Maybe the whole thing will backfire, as the derivative books may inspire people to read the originals. I was inspired to read Lord of the Rings by first reading the Harvard Lampoon parody Bored of the Rings.

59. The smallest signs of retreat

Comment #68611 by hoops mccann on September 7, 2007 at 10:09 pm

Anyone who has taken the trouble to carefully read his book or listen to him speak would realize that Richard has always been conciliatory. He is a gentleman. He is willing to give his opponents the benefit of the doubt, and does not use bullying or sophistry to win arguments. This puts him at a grave disadvantage to people who are fundamentally dishonest and treacherous. He is naive in the sense that he underestimates the determination and viciousness of his enemies, believing instead that people are basically honest and that disagrements can be resolved by reasoned debate and evidence. Unfortunately, his (our) enemies are playing a much different game. By choosing to take a higher moral and intellectual ground, he is sometimes "too nice a guy" for his own good. However, I think it is better that he lose a few battles (with his customary graciousness) than to stoop to their level and risk losing the entire war. Ms. Bunting and Mr. Cornwell should be ashamed of themselves, but now I'm the one who is being naive. People like them have no shame.

60. Kenya: The Death of Religion And Rise of Atheism in the West

Comment #56610 by hoops mccann on July 16, 2007 at 2:24 pm

"The article claims Hitchens is the sympathiser, not Dawkins. And I don't know if it's true."

Hitchens is a former Trotskyist. Trotskyists are not known for their sympathy for the former Soviet Union. Trotsky himself was murdered by Stalin for not accepting the direction that the Russian revolution was taking in the 1920s.

61. Heliocentrism is an Atheist Doctrine

Comment #45810 by hoops mccann on May 29, 2007 at 10:34 am

sanforized?

62. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Comment #41113 by hoops mccann on May 15, 2007 at 2:00 pm

"... and another one's gone, and another one's gone. Another one bites the dust."

Queen

63. Consciousness Comes from DNA

Comment #40542 by hoops mccann on May 14, 2007 at 12:52 pm

"Gallup found mirror self-awareness in oranges..."

I *thought* I heard a scream when I was operating the juicer this morning!

64. Cardinal: homosexuality a form of prostitution

Comment #39624 by hoops mccann on May 11, 2007 at 10:44 am

"He also uses a report from 243 Latvian doctors as proof that homosexuality is an illness."


And as we all know, Latvian doctors are the best doctors. This bozo talks like Borat.

65. The Fifth Flea!

Comment #28224 by hoops mccann on March 28, 2007 at 12:33 pm

He's created a whole new literary genre!

66. Research links some scriptures to hostile acts

Comment #23727 by hoops mccann on March 2, 2007 at 9:00 am

Homo economicus writes:

Anyone remember Clockwork Orange when he is in prsion and reads the bible?


"It had been arranged by the prison charlie, as part of my further education to read him the Bible. I didn't so much like the latter part of the book which is more like all preachy talking, than fighting and the old in-out. I liked the parts where these old yahoodies tolchock each other and then drink their Hebrew vino and, then getting on to the bed with their wives' handmaidens. That kept me going."

"I read all about the scourging and the crowning with thorns and all that, and I could viddy myself helping in and even taking charge of the tolchocking and the nailing in, being dressed in the height of Roman fashion."

67. Dawkins v. Collins Debate

Comment #23448 by hoops mccann on February 28, 2007 at 7:46 pm

There's something that I don't understand about Dawkins' response to the "perfectly tuned constants" issue. When confronted, he responds by arguing either that the underlying structure of the universe makes the values inevitable or by invoking the anthropic principle/multiverse argument. Why not just point out that describing the constants as "perfectly tuned" for life is putting the cart before the horse? It was life that adapted to the conditions in the universe and not the universe that adapted itself (or was pre-determined) for life. If the conditions (constants) had been different, life would have been different (but still possible). This seems to be a simpler way to get around the design argument than resorting to esoteric and hypothetical theories. Am I missing something here?

68. Review of 'The Quotable Atheist'

Comment #22061 by hoops mccann on February 12, 2007 at 8:56 pm

Katha Pollitt says "For me, religion is serious business -- a farrago of authoritarian nonsense, misogyny and humble pie ..."

I would add to that: unjustified guilt, fear of eternal "punishment" non-participation and existential paranoia.

Also, it's interesting to note how the churches have appropriated Frederick Douglass. For centuries the clergy supported slavery and serfdom. But since they were forced kicking and screaming to accept abolition in the 19th century, they started taking credit for spearheading the anti-slavery movement. Douglass is often presented as a "safe" Christian, much like Martin Luther King.

69. The God Delusion

Comment #21748 by hoops mccann on February 10, 2007 at 10:58 pm

Orr informs us that "the Ultimate 747 argument was shredded by reviewers".
And just where did this happen? Every negative review of TGD that I read was based solely on personal attack, with liberal use of out-of-context quotes and straw man versions of Dawkins' statements. Not a single review dealt with his arguments point for point.
And why should he have to cite "religions thinkers?" The whole point of TGD is to question the basic premise of all of these works, which he would be tacitly accepting as true by taking them seriously. It's like saying that I have to read the "best available works" on the Bermuda Triangle and Astrology before I can refuse to believe in them.