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religion:

Well worth a read. »

Regarding the National School Chaplaincy Program.

“It’s almost as though they’ve … nothing but fear to distract themselves from the fact that without God the universe has no objective purpose or meaning. Nothing beyond the constructs they confect to cover the abyss.”

—Faithless are coarse, uncaring and without purpose, says Cardinal Pell (Sydney Morning Herald)

“

Many of those who have thought long and hard about religions - and hence know the answers - don’t actually believe the doctrines that they rightly identify as belonging to the church they are affiliated with.

They know, for instance, what a good Catholic is “required to profess” as Pope Benedict (when he was Cardinal Ratzinger) often said, and so, if they are Catholics, they profess it. But they find that they cannot actually believe it. Many people maintain their loyalty as vigorous members of their denominations while quietly setting aside the dogmas, either utterly ignored as irrelevant or wreathed in protective layers of metaphor.

”

—Daniel Dennett
Ummmm? Not a response I expected.Ummmm? Not a response I expected.

Ummmm? Not a response I expected.

via Pharyngulavia Pharyngula

via Pharyngula

From Examiner:

On May 29, a 37-year old Maldivian citizen named Mohamed Nazim stood up during the Q & A period of a religious lecture given by Islamic scholar Dr Zakir Naik, and announced that he did not believe in any religion. The audience of 11,000 Muslims reacted violently with many calling for his death and some physically attacking him. The police intervened though and Nazeem was led away to the second block of nearby police building Iskandharu Koshi. There a crowd gathered outside and demanded the police give him to them for beheading. Instead he was whisked away to an undisclosed location, still under arrest. His apostasy was both a state and religious crime. Under the Maldives Constitution, no one can be a citizen unless he is also a Muslim and many Muslims, including the lecturer Dr. Zakir Naik, believe apostasy from Islam merits the death penalty.

Read more at Pharyngula

(via Atheist Media Blog)

Godman!Godman!

Godman!

A bit late, but here’s my quick drawing of Muhammad. She’s quite beautiful, I can’t see anyone getting upset about this.A bit late, but here’s my quick drawing of Muhammad. She’s quite beautiful, I can’t see anyone getting upset about this.

A bit late, but here’s my quick drawing of Muhammad. She’s quite beautiful, I can’t see anyone getting upset about this.

thedailywhat:

Lights Out: Tim Minchin and Fraser Davidson give South Park a run for their money with the filthiest motherfucking song ever sung about the Pope.

Can’t wait to hear PS22’s take on this.

[tcc.]

On Clarke’s third law:

Arthur C. Clarke’s third law of prediction stated: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

I would go a step further and say that any sufficiently advanced natural process is also indistinguishable from magic. Or at least, I am lead to believe that many people are unable to even imagine the possibility of human consciousness emerging from natural processes without the need for a metaphysical explanation.

Mind/Body Dualism is one big argument from ignorance.

“That’s the obnoxious part of religion, and why it’s in conflict with science. Science is the world of Let’s-Find-Out, while religion is always the land of You-Can’t-Know-That. One tries to build fences around sacred domains, the other has great fun knocking them down. Go ahead, pretend that your god is safe and hidden away where scientists can’t poke at him with needles or measure his emanations with widgets that go beep or photograph his spoor and stick it in a chromatograph — we don’t care. The only way he can escape our probes is if he doesn’t exist…so the more you protest that he is absolutely indetectible, the more we nod and say, “Then you’re admitting that he isn’t even vapor.”

—PZ Myers: Am I to be the next enemy of the NCSE?

“Educated apologist, how dare you weep Christian tears, when your entire theology is one long celebration of suffering: suffering as payback for “sin” — or suffering as “atonement” for it? You may weep for Haiti where Pat Robertson does not, but at least, in his hick, sub-Palinesque ignorance, he holds up an honest mirror to the ugliness of Christian theology. You are nothing but a whited sepulchre.”

—Richard Dawkins, “Hear the rumble of Christian hypocrisy”

Sky Cake! (via Atheist Media Blog)

Glenn Moon, the sequel.