The Decline of Europe

This brief news report is whining about how the Europeans are losing religious faith and becoming more and more anti-religious. Why is this a bad thing? Increased divorces, crime and suicide rates. Of course, it ignores the evidence that divorce rates are higher among religious people and that atheists are under-represented in prisons. I don't know about any statistics regarding suicide and faith however my gut instinct tells me that religious oppression is more likely to drive someone to suicide than the openness of freethought and expression.

Anti-religion in Europe

Baptist Reverend on Religion and Politics

Dr. C. Welton Gaddy is the President of the Interfaith Alliance and, if I heard right, a baptist reverend who is speaking in this video about separating religion and politics!

Why can't all Christians be this rational??

C. Weldon Gaddy on Fora.TV

What Is A Christian Camp Really Like?

I've never been to a Christian or Bible Camp (actually, I never went to any camp as a youth, except for a Cub/Scout Jamboree). I could only guess what happened there - until now!

Who Stole the Fruit Juice?


Thanks again to http://atheistmedia.blogspot.com/ for the link.

Here Be Dragons!

Just finished watching Brian Dunning's 'Here Be Dragons' again (3rd time, I think) but in HD this time. Love it! I'll be burning it to DVD and showing it to students when I get a chance.

It's a documentary about Critical Thinking that everyone needs to watch:



The HD version is at the movie's website here:

http://herebedragonsmovie.com/

Dawkins on the Genius of Darwin

The BBC just finished a 3-Part series on the Genius of Charles Darwin hosted by Richard Dawkins. It is another attempt to show the truth about Darwin, his theory of natural selection and evolution.

The Genius of Charles Darwin
(3-Parts, split into 15 segments)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqm285F8Fks&feature=PlayList&p=FCC435FD85CBC4A4&index=0&playnext=1

Comprehensive and compelling. It explains how all living things came about. The last few segments are much more philisophical and addresses the concerns that many people have that evolution takes away the hope and comfort of a religious view of life. Does 'Darwinism' destroy the hope that there is something to look forward to after death? These segments explore how Darwin coped with the death of his 10-year-old daughter, and other tragedies, without god.

HumanistDad

The Lost Gospels

Anglican Priest Peter Owen Jones explores the history of Christianity by focusing on the Lost Gospels of Peter, Mary and others (from http://atheistmedia.blogspot.com)

The Lost Gospels

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-7560334588471801986

Proof that Man and Dinosaurs walked hand-in-hand

Arrggh, it burns!! This video is over 26 minutes long. I made it to 10 minutes. How long can you watch this creationist prove that dinosaurs and man lived at the same time before your ears pop or your eyes become bloodshot?

Proof dinosaurs lived with man

Fund Truth, Not Ignorance

On November 8, PBS will air the program "The Bible's Buried Secrets" that will use actual evidence (yes, real, scientific evidence!) to examine the history of the bible and its stories. The preview is below:



Not surprisingly, one Christian, Donald E. Wildmon, has gone bat-shit crazy and has started a petition to stop the funding of PBS (the U.S. public TV network) here: https://secure.afa.net/afa/activism/signpetition.asp?id=1780.

Here he outlines his objections to PBS:

I have often said that PBS should not receive tax dollars. "The Bible's Buried Secrets" is simply one more reason Congress should stop supporting PBS with our tax dollars. Congress gives PBS hundreds of millions of tax dollars to help support the network.

Maybe he believes a better use of public funds is to support organizations that promote the propagation of 'knowledge' that has no real evidence of any truth? You know, like a church.

Humanism in the News

It's a rare event but Humanists do get in the newspaper from time-to-time.

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/469380

The article is titled 'Goodness without God'. It mentions Christopher DiCarlo who will be voted Canada's Humanist of the Year by the Humanist Association of Canada. The writer also mentions some incorrect statements about atheism and evolution. Here is the email I sent to the author to help clear up some of his errors:

Thank you for your article in today's Star!

I couldn't help but notice your bias toward theists in your article as you made a number of incorrect statements regarding atheism and evolution. Unfortunately there is a great deal of misunderstanding about what atheism is. Maybe a future article from you would be beneficial to help clear this up and reduce the bigotry that atheists have directed toward them?

Here are the statements that concern me the most:

"humanist, as atheists prefer to be called." - This is NOT true. I am an atheist and a humanist. However, the two are not dependent on each other. Everyone (including you and I) was born 'an atheist'. We didn't believe in any gods at birth which is our 'natural' mindset. The term 'atheism' or 'atheist' assumes that the natural, normal way of thinking is to be a theist and that everyone else must have a mental problem. Atheism defines me by what I am not - a strange label. Consider the word 'racist'. What is the word for someone who is not a racist? Aracist? Of course not! We define racists by what they are and there is no need to define those who are not racists. We are not born 'racist' - we actively choose to become one. Therefore, an atheist is simply someone who does not (or has not been convinced to) believe in gods. A humanist is someone who chooses to believe in the philosophy of humanism which includes being skeptical in the existence of gods, fairies, dragons, unicorns and other supernatural beings.

"But what ties them together is a strong belief in Charles Darwins' theory of evolution, and a reverence for those who dedicate their lives to it." - It's been said that getting a consensus from atheists is like herding cats. There really isn't anything that ties atheists together other than the fact that atheists do not believe in gods. This is partly what humanism attempts to do - it provides a philosophy that can tie some atheists together. However, the tenets of humanism are constantly questioned and can be changed. On a radio program in B.C., even Richard Dawkins (the world's best known atheist?) criticized humanism for being too 'human-centred' (as far as I know, Dawkins is not a Humanist).

As for Darwin's theory of evolution, this is erroneous. Darwin's idea was 'natural selection' - Natural forces (competition, environment, predators, etc.) will kill off many organisms before they can reproduce so only those that reproduce pass on their genes. Therefore, nature has 'selected' the survivors. A cheetah is most likely to kill the slower antelopes so the faster antelopes will reproduce and pass on 'fast running' genes. Slow cheetahs will not be able to catch antelope so they die; therefore fast cheetahs will eat and reproduce. There is a slow but continual arms race between faster antelope and faster cheetahs. The theory of evolution (in science, 'theory' means 'almost completely true' - science never expects to have full and complete knowledge of any concept so the word theory is used instead of fact or true) is NOT Darwin's theory. The theory was built on Darwin's original idea. Darwin didn't even know about DNA which provides an astonishing explanation of how evolution physically works.

Atheists and humanists do not 'revere' evolutionists. Maybe some do, but not all. Personally, I have a deep respect for those that work tirelessly to discover truths about reality. I also believe that science is the greatest tool that humans have ever developed for understanding what is or is not true. Why do psychics and faith healers always fail when held up to scientific scrutiny? Why do computers, lights and nuclear power plants, 'work'? Because science works!


I am an atheist because I simply have not been convinced that any gods exist. Is there a god? I don't know. I think their existence is very unlikely therefore I do not believe. This is how I decide that Santa doesn't exist, or the Tooth Fairy, or the magical world of Harry Potter, or if space aliens are living on earth, etc.

Thank you