"Religion is a symptom of irrational belief and groundless hope."
Posts Tagged ‘ atheism ’
Dawkins Only “6.9 out of 7” Sure There is No God
Many fundamentalist atheists have an abnormal sense of certainty about what they think they know to be. Humility isn’t welcomed company amongst the militant atheists, and they don’t come much more militant, or absolutist, than Richard Dawkins, the world famous author and enemy of all things religious. Yet here we have Dawkins in a debate calling himself an agnostic, of all things.
Woody the Lovable Nihilist
You gotta love Woody Allen. Most atheists claim, and some vehemently, that finding meaning in a God-less universe is no big deal. Not so Woody Allen. His honesty about the matter is nothing if not refreshing.
Mini-quote: Nanny State Atheists Flunk Grammar
Quite simply, the Constitution prohibits the state from interfering with the church, but does not prohibit the church from influencing the state. And there is no limit whatsoever to what states may do in the realm of religious expression. The First Amendment ties only the hands of the federal government. Once again, this truth is hiding in plain sight. “CONGRESS shall make no law …” Congress was prohibited from picking one Christian denomination and making it the official church of the United States (the Establishment clause) and flatly prohibited from telling the church what to do (the Free Exercise clause). In fact, the real separation in the First Amendment is not between church and state but between the federal government and the individual states. The federal government is stringently forbidden to extend its tyrannical little hand into the operation of religious liberty in the individual states. States have unfettered religious liberty under the Constitution, and can do whatever they and their state constitutions permit. — Bryan Fischer, “Freedom From Religion Foundation Needs Grammar Lesson”, RenewAmerica
Atheist Alert: Do NOT Read This Book! “Unbroken”
Spoiler Alert: If you have heard of and plan to read the best seller, “Unbroken,” and if you don’t want to know details of how the story ends, you will not want to read any further. And it really is a worthwhile read. Literally everyone likes it. So if you want to read it, bookmark this and come back after you’ve finished it. Actually, this would be a fantastic book for atheists to read, because it would challenge some of their cherished assumptions about Christianity. Lauren Hillenbrand’s second best seller (the other being Seabiscuit) is about Louis Zamperini, a world class miler (he was in the 1936 German Olympics) who fought in WWII, was captured by the Japanese and endure several years of hell on earth. As the title implies, he remained unbroken, but to endure the kind of pain and torture he did at the hands of maniacal sadists deeply affects a person, and for a time he was definitely broken. Hillenbrand is a good story teller with a direct, non-flowery style. She brings this man and his world alive, and in a way that’s so much more powerful for her somewhat sparse approach. Zamperini was an incorrigible boy
An Atheist’s Contribution to Culture—and Some Thoughts on the Limits of Atheism
By Mike D’Virgilio I take everything back! No, not really. I’m sure all the vitriolic God-haters (yes I know, they wouldn’t say they hate God, who they believe doesn’t exist—it’s those lousy religious morons they hate) who took me to task for implying that atheists contribute nothing to Western culture won’t be commenting on what an open-minded person I’ve become. I found nothing persuasive in the knee-jerk, clichéd comments about how stupid religious people are and how logical atheists are. But after reading the book I’ll be talking about, it is clear that many atheists have contributed much good found in our Western heritage. Heck, I’m sure even Freud said a thing or two of value. The book I speak of is called “Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture.” It is the story of a young man, born of a white mother and black father, who struggled to escape thuggish hip-hop culture, and finally did, because he had an erudite father who encouraged and forced him to educate himself. The reason this resonated with me in light of my previous post, is because the father rejected religion. Yet in spite of that, I
It’s a Wonderful Atheist Life?
Watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the zillionith time last weekend, and still loving every minute of it, a thought struck me: Could an atheist or an atheistic culture have produced such a movie? Most of us would probably consider that a rhetorical question, with no as the obvious answer. This is also partly inspired by a book I read not long ago, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, and one I’m reading now, The God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West. Many modern atheists and agnostics, especially the most vociferous, argue that religion is a dangerous delusion and mostly destructive force. Yet what exactly has atheism given the world? What does asserting a Godless universe inspire in human culture? Your average atheist would probably say, saving us from religion, and mostly Christianity. And being a Christian, living in the West, that is what I refer to when I say religion. The enemies of religious belief are fond of citing the Inquisition as an example of the evils of religious intolerance and dogma. Recently I heard a figure of 3,000 people being killed, but even if we say that
Christmas Horror Averted at Virginia School
An inspiring Christmas story: Virginia public school students were apprehended for wearing funny sweaters and tossing candy canes to fellow students before the start of school. “They said the candy canes are weapons because you can sharpen them with your mouth and stab people with them,” a student reported. Thanks for defending us from the horror of Christmas, O, all-wise administrators of Battlefield High in Haymarket, VA! You’re our heroes! Story here.
Genetic Basis for Religion Found
Actor-writer John Cleese explains the rock-solid evidence for atheism, in this very funny video: H/t to Bruno Behrend.
“A Celestial Dictatorship, A Kind of Divine North Korea”
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair may seem an unlikely choice to defend religious faith, but there he was doing that in a debate with anti-theist Christopher Hitchens in Toronto:
Is the Bible “The Most Potent Force for Atheism Ever Conceived”?
by Mike Gray Recently in a comment on this weblog the Bible came under criticism from one of our readers named Ray: Of course atheists know more about religion than believers. That’s why they’re atheists. I was raised in an ultra-religious family, and when I felt my faith starting to waver, I vowed to read the bible from cover to cover to strengthen it. I did – and never believed again, or missed my beliefs. Most believers simply have no idea of the barbarity and savagery which fills the book on which their religion is based. It was written by ignorant savages and if ever there was a candidate for book burning, the bible is it. Here are some quotes from more eloquent people than me: “Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.” – Isaac Asimov “Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize
The Word of the Day Is “Atheopathy” — And Stephen Hawking Seems To Suffer From It
by Mike Gray Why is our universe unique? It’s the only one that string theory can’t explain! According to Jonathan Sarfati: Hawking has again made the headlines with his new book, co-authored with science writer and physicist Dr. Leonard Mlodinow, strangely called The Grand Design. This supposedly proves that no Creator was necessary. Yet once again, he goes way beyond the evidence. Indeed, Hawking’s early training, like the current president’s, was probably decisive in determining his world view: As usual with atheistic scientists, Hawking’s atheopathy long predated his science. His influential mother Isabel was a Communist, and in his teen years he admired the strongly anti-Christian mathematical philosopher Bertrand Russell. As with Dawkins, his arguments for atheism are puerile, e.g., We are such insignificant creatures on a minor planet of a very average star in the outer suburb of one of a hundred billion galaxies. So it is difficult to believe in a God that would care about us or even notice our existence. All of which is a spurious argument at best: . . . as C. S. Lewis pointed out, the medieval theologians were well aware that compared to the vastness of heavens, the earth was but a
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