The Internet: Where Religions Come to Die

Here is an interesting video to which even Mr. Dawkins gives his personal seal of approval.

When Religious Sensitivity Trumps Freedom of Expression

After garnering a large number of hits on YouTube, this video was apparently removed due to 'inappropriate content.' I have chosen to post it here and allow you to decide for yourself. Click on the link below to view.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ca861703b8/religion-from-danny?rel=player

Similarly, Comedy Central recently censored the latest episode of South Park, which depicted the prophet Mohammed in a bear suit, due to not-so-veiled threats to the lives of the cartoon's creators from a U.S. based radical Islamic group called Revolution Muslim. What is going on here? Jon Stewart and The Daily Show address the issue in a more sober than usual, yet typically irreverant fashion.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-april-22-2010/south-park-death-threats

Quotes of the Day:

"You know, that's why our enemy is so frightening--they have no humor. This is a group of people who wandered the desert for thousands and thousands of years and never ran into a knock-knock joke."

--Lewis Black


"There is no room for play in Islam....It is deadly serious about everything."

--Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

A Godless Heathen's Guide to Morality: Introduction

Lately I've come across numerous arguments by theists in books, articles, blogs, forums, and videos stating the belief that one cannot be a moral person without a biblical foundation/grounding. In fact, it would seem that the world as we know it is going to hell in a handbasket thanks to the increasing number of freethinkers who reject not only Judeo-Christian biblical morality, but all standards of morality fundamentally based on religious dogma.

It really does make one wonder whether the people propogating this morality myth have ever actually read the "code" upon which their sense of morality is supposedly based. Even if they have read it and do possess more than a passing familiarity with it, I can't help wondering further exactly how they managed to come to the conclusion that the morality outlined in their particular holy book is not just the "best" standard, but should be the "universal" standard. Let's examine them here.

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neightbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.

Sam Harris, who is more eloquent by far than I, addressed this problem of considering the 10 Commandments as the best guide to morality in his Letter to to a Christian Nation (pp 20-22). He wrote:

The first four of these injunctions have nothing whatsoever to do with morality. As stated, they forbid the practice of any non-Judeo-Christian faith (like Hinduism), most religious art, utterances like 'God damn it!,' and any ordinary work on the Sabbath--all under penalty of death.

Commandments 5 through 9 do address morality, though it is questionable how many human beings ever honored their parents or abstained from committing murder, adultery, theft, or perjury because of them...And what are we to make of the fact that, in bringing his treatise to a close, the creator of our universe could think of no human concerns more pressing and durable than the coveting of servants and livestock?

Mr. Harris then goes on to issue a small challenge.

If you think that it would be impossible to improve upon the Ten Commandments as a statement of morality, you really owe it to yourself to read some other scriptures.

Now, I am certainly no scholar when it comes to world religions, but a couple of weeks ago, I took a crack at creating my own set of "Atheist Commandments" (with a little help from Richard Dawkins). In future posts I will go into more detail with each one, and if anyone has suggestions for things I missed, feel free to let me know.

Quote of the Day:

(In a study involving hypothetical moral dilemmas)
"There were no statistically significant differences between subjects with or without religious backgrounds....Like other psychological faculties of the mind, including language and mathematics, [it appears that] we are endowed with a moral faculty that guides our intuitive judgments of right and wrong....It is our own nature, not God, that is the source of our morality."

--Peter Singer

American History Via Sarah Palin

Here is one of the latest episodes of Fundie Founding Father Hijacking with Sarah Palin in the lead. I really would like to suggest that Palin (and all her adoring fans) read one of the following:  Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, Doubt by Jennifer Michael Hecht, or any of the more recent biographies of the FFs (Thomas Jefferson, Author of America by Christopher Hitchens is a good one.).  However, given that self-education is an activity in which only the evil 'liberal elite' seem to engage, I don't hold out much hope that she would ever condescend to take me up on my suggestion.





Quote of the Day:

"The United States of America should have a foundation free from the influence of clergy."

--George Washington

Atheist Pocket Debater

I do not own an iPhone, but if I did, this would be an application that I just might have to get. It's sort of like a pocket-sized Dawkins/Hitchens/Shermer, etc. at your beck and call...and what sincere atheist/skeptic/humanist couldn't use one of those?  :)

Atheist Billboard Severely Damaged

April 14, 2010


Local St. Augustine news reporters received word from Northeast Florida Coalition of Reason who told Historic City News that one of their controversial billboards on US-1 that displays an atheist message has suffered major damage from apparent vandalism.

The billboard is located 5.7 miles north of SR-16 and visible to southbound traffic on the west side of US-1. The sign reads, “Don’t Believe in God? You Are Not Alone”.


The message immediately raised controversy in St. Johns County when it first appeared on March 29th. Now those behind that message believe vandalism may have been involved.


“We can’t say for sure, but it looks like somebody with a truck could have pulled at the billboard structure from behind in an effort to bring it down,” said Stephen Peek, coordinator of the Northeast Florida Coalition of Reason, the sponsor of the billboard. “Then again, perhaps some heavy object flying off a passing train could have struck it in front, although we don’t see any such object nearby and the billboard vinyl isn’t torn.”

The owner of the billboard structure, CBS Outdoor, was notified of the damage by the United Coalition of Reason, which is the national organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., that contracted for the billboard on the local coalition’s behalf.


“We wanted to first get photo verification of the situation before making our report,” said Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason. “And from the photos, the damage appears significant, too great to be weather related, especially given recent good weather and the good condition of the surrounding trees. On the other hand, the remote location of this billboard adds to the probability of vandalism. But only an on-site investigation by the billboard owner has any chance of solving the mystery.”


A few billboards and bus advertisements paid for by the national organization have been vandalized in the recent past–specifically, three billboards in Sacramento, California, and three bus ads in Detroit, Michigan. “But these are only rare instances during a national campaign that has spanned 26 cities in 14 months,” Edwords stated.


The St. Augustine billboard was put up around the same time as an identical one in Orange Park near Jacksonville, also sponsored by the Northeast Florida Coalition of Reason. The two together cost $2,300, paid by the United Coalition of Reason.


“Our goal has been to reach out to those who already agree with us so they don’t feel isolated,” Peek said. “So if this damage turns out to be vandalism, it will only increase our conviction as to how necessary our message is.”

(This story appears in the St. Augustine News. To visit original link, click http://www.historiccity.com/2010/staugustine/news/florida/controversial-atheist-billboard-severely-damaged-2994)



Quote of the Day

"One is often told that it is a very wrong thing to attack religion, because religion makes men virtuous. So I am told; I have not noticed it..."

--Bertrand Russell

Atheist Humor: Part 5