Ratz... Let me live 'neath your spell. Do do that voodoo that you do so well. For you do something to me That nobody else can do. Let me live 'neath your spell. Do do that voodoo that you do so well

I know this discussion is about free speech, as Richard and others have rightly pointed out, but there is something else in this article that peeves me. The writer calls the other side "pro abortion". I personally don't know anyone who is pro abortion.

My daughter has a 16 year old friend who was recently raped by her grandfather and got pregnant. Since she has spent a lot of time at my house, we are fairly close (no father figure in her life) and she asked me what she should do. Her christian mother wanted her to have the baby, it's god's will. I counseled her to have an abortion, she did. I drove her to the clinic and paid for the services. Am I pro abortion? No, it was the second-worse thing that this child had to endure next to the rape. She was traumatized and terrified by the whole experience. To say that she or I are "pro abortion" turns my stomach.

What I am is anti-rape, anti babies having babies, pro sex education,and pro free and readily available birth control. No, I am not pro abortion, I am a supporter of women (and girls) having the right to control what happens to their bodies and to do so without guilt or shame. I bet the speakers that the writer is talking about are not "pro abortion" either. /rant

p.s. Once the mother found out she had an abortion, she threw her child out of her house. The girl is now living with her aunt (who happens to be an atheist). Both these women are the daughters of the rapist.

Best James Earl Jones voice:

I find this site's lack of cheese disturbing...

Relatively (small pun) soon, there will be a Theory of Everything and all these others will pale in comparison. Hopefully, this will occur in my lifetime.

But my favorite explanation has to be Natural Selection. It is magnificent in its simplicity, anyone can understand it, and yet majestic in its ability to explain how life evolved. Life, the most important aspect of our existence. And of all theories, it's the one that the most people would want to disprove and yet is still stands, 150 years old, unblemished.

I'm sure that no one here is addicted to the internet.

I have to admit, I'd be the first geek in line to hit jesus with a shovel...I hate zombies. One word about eating his flesh and drinking his blood and I'd have to go all Woody Harrelson on him.

Comment 117

How's this: "The pope has been warned not to set foot in the UK again under threat of arrest".

It's about religion, it's newsworthy, and very very positive.:)

The situation is, that when articles like this get a pass without a complaint, the news outlet will think that this kind of "reporting" is what their consumers want. Thanks Paula for letting them know that this is not the case.

Here in the states, the situation is much worse. It usually is, of course. The network on my radar this week is CBS, a station once targeted as a bastion of liberalism by the right. It started, as it usually does, with their seasonal coverage of christian activities. I give them a pass on this, because for some reason they consider this stuff newsworthy. Fine, I have a remote to take care of that problem.

But then a commenter at Weit remarked that someone on the CBS Morning Show mentioned that "Christopher [Hitchens] will now discover the truth and will be meeting his maker. This irked me, and put CBS on my list to observe more closely.

Then yesterday, I saw a piece on the CBS Evening News by Steve Hartman that pushed me to write a complaint. It's a story about a "deadbeat" heroin addict/atheist who has been helped by prayer during the christmas season. Read the article or watch the video and see if that "reporting" doesn't make the BBC pale in comparison.

Happy Holidays everyone.

I am very sad. This man, through his oratory and writing, made the world a better place. I will miss him.

Not "books" but excerpts from books. Bit of a difference.

Steve

Yes, it is great that she sees religion as a crutch, she compared it to pot the other day. I found out that she had smoked some pot with her friends and she told me it wasn't as bad as religion since pot never killed anyone. Ha! I really couldn't argue with that, although I told her that both could be bad. She replied that she had friends who were pot smoking christians...we had a good laugh at that. Those kids are really off the rails.

My wife is always accusing me of indoctrinating our children into atheism. Yes, I have a house full of atheist books, I'm on atheist websites daily, I have shirts with atheist slogans, and openly criticize religion at every opportunity. But I also allow my kids to attend church when invited by friends or relatives. I drive them there and pick them up if necessary. I ask them what they thought of the service, listening without criticizing. One Sunday school teacher told my daughter that she was her most knowledgeable student and she wished she'd attend more often. The daughter replied that she was an atheist but didn't mind learning about different religions.

My daughter is going through a rough patch in her life right now (being 16 is very difficult nowadays). She told me that she wishes that she was raised christian because she needs a crutch to help her get through this difficult period. I replied that why at first religion may appear to be a great support in times of need, it's actually a crutch that is rotted throughout and would collapse under the weight just when she needed it the most. If she gets through this trouble, she'll be a stronger, wiser person and more able to handle all life's problems in the future. I have to admit that it would be easier to confront her problems with "Let's pray about it" rather than thinking of solutions. Besides, it's too late for religion. She's too much of a critical thinker.

I've been thinking that it's very difficult for atheists to exist in our society. When they're troubled, they're missing that easy, albeit disingenuous, support group. That's why many atheists turn to atheist websites, these places are usually very supportive, but in a rational/humanistic way...without the superstitious make-believe nonsense.

Here's hoping that David Robertson pulls through, even it means him coming to RD.net to proclaim a miracle.

If we were like christians, we could claim a deathbed conversion. I'm glad we don't do things as slimy as that.

This is what happens when both state houses are Republican along with a Republican Governor.

Punctuated equilibrium? Seriously? His interview notes must be ancient.

[edit] Oh, I see...he read Gould twenty years ago.

I see this as an opportunity to establish a Rastafaria­n church in this town. It could soon be the predominant religion in Alabama if this judge's plan spreads across the state.

It would be interesting to see if anyone asked you to remove it. If there was a complaint, I'm sure it would come from someone wearing a cross.

A few years ago, I wore an "ATHEIST" sweatshirt to an IEP meeting for my son. One of the teachers at the meeting announced that she was offended. The principal asked me if I'd take it off. I stated I would, if he would go into the parking lot and scrape off each and every christian bumper sticker on the teachers' cars that I had to pass on the way into the meeting. He dropped it.

Earthquakes are an act of god. Arrest the pope!

So...was there ever a lawsuit resulting from the Damon Fowler situation? Fowler v. Louisiana Assholes...

I wish I still lived in Germany.:(

Comment 3 by epeeist

Ooh, I see that article isn't open for comments. Otherwise the more ultramontane Catholics who post on the site would be down on it claiming that "it was nothing to do with the current or previous popes" and that "it was just knee-jerk anti-Catholicism" and "there is no organisation in the world that provides better child protection than the church" or the classic "how many scout masters and teachers abuse children?" (tu quoque much?).

If you miss those kind of remarks, you can always go here. Bonus: this whole problem is caused homosexuals.

Someone should produce something similar to these and request that they be aired during the Super Bowl in the U.S. They won't be shown of course, but the publicity would be pretty good. Lot's of publicity for the "banned" message, totally cost free.

Comment 4 by epeeist

Richard would ask, "How did the Kangaroos get to Australia?" And that article has two possible answers. After the flood, the ocean levels were so low that they merely hopped there. Or Pangaea hadn't broken up yet (remember, this was only 6-10,000 years ago).

The question then becomes, where are all the kangaroos between where the ark landed and Australia? When the oceans rose, were they drowned? And none were left on land?

Funny stuff.

Look what happened to Simon Singh when they did this to him. Luckily he had the financial resources to see it through to the end. This guy certainly doesn't have the same resources. These bozos sue the lone blogger so that others will see how costly it is to tell the truth. I hope some organization can support this guy in his defense, or he'll settle out of court and that will be a warning to others to stfu.

All the speakers featured are elite academics and professors at top institutions, some of whom are also Nobel Laureates.

Does PZ Myers and the University of Minnesota, Morris fit that description? Or was he tossed in because of his popularity?

ZOOM! Just watched the space station spend 6 minutes crossing the sky above my house in Grass Valley, CA. Hauling butt (of course). Couldn't see any meteorites, full moon and all. The station will be back in1 1/2 hours, but for only 2 minutes then.

The scary thing is that next to some of his competition (Palin and Bachmann), he's the normal one.

Some of the best fossil finds are discovered in the dusty basements of museums.

rjohn

If it makes you feel any better, our high school here in CA is doing the same thing. The school no longer provides textbooks for electives. Unfortunately, most of the science courses (especially the Advanced Placement courses) are considered electives. I just bought my daughter's AP Chemistry text. The teacher bought about a dozen used texts (with her own money) on Amazon, but asked parents to buy them if they could afford them. My beef is that my kid takes only advanced placement classes and I'm paying through the nose for her books and lab supplies. When I got my teaching credential in the 80's, I was told I couldn't even require my students to supply their own pencils. Times have changed, obviously.

And you're right, the sports teams are not hurting. They just got new turf for the football and baseball fields. Perhaps it was paid for by voluntary donations, I'll have to look into that. Maybe the science department needs to have a car wash or a bake sale. We seem to be spending all our money on cruise missiles...

If you don't have Ed Yong's blog bookmarked, DO IT! Do it now! You'll thank me later.