27 December 2011

Abstinence FAIL

[source]

Holy Smoke



Believe in me - send no money
I died on the cross, that ain't funny
But my so-called friends they're making me a joke
They missed out what I said like I never spoke
They choose what they want to hear - don't tell a lie
They just leave out the truth as they're watching you die
Saving your souls by taking your money
Flies around s**t, bees around honey

Holy smoke, holy smoke
Plenty bad preachers for the Devil to stoke
Feed them in feet first this is no joke
This is thirsty work making holy smoke yeah
Making holy smoke

Jimmy Reptile and all his friends
Say they going to be with you at the end
Burning records, burning books
Holy soldiers, Nazi looks
Crocodile smiles just wait a while
Till the TV Queen gets her make-up clean
I've lived in filth, I've lived in sin
And I still smell cleaner than the s**t you're in

Holy smoke, holy smoke
There's plenty bad preachers for the Devil to stoke
Feed them in feet first this is no joke
This is thirsty work making holy smoke yeah

Holy smoke - smells good

They ain't religious but they ain't no fools
When Noah built his Cadillac it was cool
Two by two they're still going down
And the satellite circus just left town
I think they're strange and when they're dead
They can have a Lincoln for their bed
Friend of the President trick of the tail
Now they ain't got a prayer 100 years in jail

Holy smoke, holy smoke
Plenty bad preachers for the Devil to stoke
Feed them in feet first this is no joke
This is thirsty work making holy smoke

Holy smoke

24 December 2011

The 6 Moral Dealbreakers of Christianity

Book Review: Interview with Gods


If you read this book as a novel, the plot is too simple - a group of friends (members of a non-political, non-violence ecologically focused group called One Planet) were contacted by "External Consciousness". In order to protect the information these people got, the USA secret service killed them all.

The "meat" of the book is the five chapters presented as the interviews with External Consciousness by these members of One Planet. If read as fiction, it is dry. Basically, it is External Consciousness explaining how a higher intelligence has designed the "biomatrix" - the biological system on Earth, the developments and so on. If read as science, well it is non science! The first interview is about the creation. Poised as a description of how Universe has evolved and how life on earth has evolved, the chapter is full of voodoo promoted by people such as Deepak Chopra.

I would not recommend reading this as fact or science. I would not recommend reading as novel too.

Also published on Random Walk in Learning

22 December 2011

Any act done by an atheist is superior to an act done in the name of god

21 December 2011

Christians, don't watch this!

Hitchens Has Risen

News has been spreading that Christopher Hitchens has risen from death after reportedly died three days ago. Here is the evidence.

If you do not believe what I have said, why you would believe in the old books claiming Jesus has risen from the death?

16 December 2011

14 December 2011

To XMAS And Beyond!

The Autobiography of a Secular Humanist

by V.N.K. Kumar

Some quotes below:

I became more and more convinced that god must have many psychological problems, even if we asssume that he exists. For one thing, he seems so insecure. He demands worship from everyone — praising him, pleading for money, requesting relief from illness. Why should an omnipotent, omniscient & omnibenevolent being need this flattery if he is omnipotent and solicitation for help if he is omniscient & omnibenevolent (He should know who needs what kind of help at which time, shouldn’t he?). Perhaps, I reasoned to myself, this makes him feel powerful, which shows his inferiority complex and insecurity. Secondly, he goes out and creates faulty humans and then blames them for his own mistakes. So even if hypothetically we assume that he exists, I felt that he doesn’t deserve my respect and adoration.

I found out through Comparative Religion that every religion thinks it is true. But I concluded that all 10,000 + currently alive religions cannot be true simultaneously, though they can all be false simultaneously. I discovered the difference between science and religion. When knowledge is inadequate, science poses a question, but religion proposes a belief.

So it seemed to me that God was rapidly losing his job as an explanation for things we don’t understand.

However, the biggest advantage to believing in god(s) — apart from the comforts of believing in everyday protection in this life, and immortality for self & Ultimate Justice for people who have deliberately hurt us, in the afterlife – is that you don’t have to unnecessarily tax your brain cells to learn & understand anything worthwhile about the origins of the Universe, life & humans — no physics, no biology, no geology, no paleontology, no anthropology, no evolutionary psychology, no neurotheology, no comparative religion, no nothing. Most of the religious people do not have any in-depth knowledge of these subjects and also have not cultivated the art of logical & critical reasoning and hence lull themselves into a sense of self-complacency thinking that their puerile religiosity is unquestionable.

I confess I wanted to learn & understand and didn’t mind the effort required . And so I ended up as an atheist cum secular humanist.

09 December 2011

Another USA republican ad

Will USA survive till 2025?


While I disagree with Pat Buchanan's notion that America is founded on a Christian value and it will be the Christian value to hold America together, the signs of the collapse of USA are too obvious to anyone. It is strange that those within USA cannot see it coming. You may buy the 4-hour audio book via the Amazon link or download here.

Financially, there are two problems:
(1) 15 Trillion government debts which is about 100% GDP of USA, and with about another 55 Trillion (present discounted value) of committed medicare and social securities in the pipeline.
(2) The trade deficit has been increasing and there is no sign of reversal. We all know that a household cannot get out of trouble by more borrowing, ditto for a country.


However there are some good news. Of the 8 Trillion, only 8% are in foreign ownership. That means if USA government defaults, if won't be a foreign power forcing her to do so. Of the 55 Trillion debts for the future, a large trunk is related to healthcare. At present, USA is spending, per capital, twice as much as the average of developed countries (the next 4 highest spenders average USD4000 per capital verses USA's UDS8000) [source], adapting any other country's healthcare system will save the government at least half of the CBO debts.

Socially, there are
(1) large inequalities of income
(2) overblown healthcare expenses
(3) declining performances of the educational system [some sample data]
(4) delusional public wishful thinking that a god may save you

Politically, the current system is completely corrupted.

It is dominated by warmongers. USA is currently engaged in two wars (that we know of) and maintaining a huge number of military bases oversea . The defense spending (should be called the aggression budget) is larger than seven of the next highest spenders combined. How could a population of 5% (globally) spend 46% of global total military expenses? How could it be sustainable?

In China, just an example, if a government official is found corrupted, s/he may be executed. While I do not condone corruption and capital punishment, at least symbolically, the government is against corruption. The USA political system has now corrupted to the point that such bribery has been legalized to be called "lobbying". Occupy Wall Street movements has been calling out loud and clear than citizens demand cleaning up the corruption and put Wall Street in check. Has any political leader acknowledged the cry and at least commence a dialog?

This brings me to the reason I am writing this post. Here is a potential occupant of the White House. What are the issues he focused on? People going to church? Gay marriages?


Here is a response I approve.


and this is a most appropriate one to the stupidity of USA's possible future "leader".


To remain strong, the first step is to acknowledge that USA is weak now. Do some evidence-based researching and come up with some good policies to help USA citizens to get back up on their feet, make a decent living and rebuild from the ground up. There is no god and hence there will be no divine help anytime soon. To fund the rebuild, get the tax rates back to the 1950's to the 1960's. I want to see USA back on her feet not only because I have three sisters and mothers in USA (as legal citizens), I hate to see those desperately clinging to power use the horrible weapons of mass destruction to her own people or to some other countries. USA has a lot WMDs and still refuses to be scrutinized by neutral international bodies! The collapse of an economy and/or a country is going to be bloody and painful - for everyone.

Liz Heywood and her story

A guest contributor posted the following story at Friendly Atheist

The last day of my childhood was Saturday, November 22nd, 1975. I was thirteen years old.

I galloped my horse through the woods, then I rode my bike to a friend’s house and we ran together all afternoon. I’d had no injury, but that night my left knee swelled like a melon; by bedtime I could barely walk. In a matter of weeks, so much pus was draining from my knee and running down my leg that my parents put a cookie sheet underneath to catch it. Within a month I was bedridden — and stayed that way for almost a year. Another six months in a wheelchair left me a teenager with a fused, hideously deformed leg and emotionally crippled by post-traumatic stress disorder.

Yet I never saw a doctor. I never received any medical treatment. I was a third-generation Christian Scientist living in Lexington, Massachusetts, within twenty miles of the Mother Church in Boston. My parents treated the sudden infection in my knee the same way they treated every illness: by having a Christian Science practitioner pray. Christian Scientists believe that mortal life is unreal: they believe that understanding the spiritual universe created by God results in physical healing. All injuries and illnesses are treated this way — from paper cuts to cancer.

The year before, in 1974, federal regulations were enacted by the Nixon Administration that protected the rights of parents to choose religious treatment for their children even if it meant denying them urgently needed medical care. In 39 states and the District of Columbia, these exemptions are still in place even though in 1984 the Reagan Administration stopped mandating that states exempt parents from charges of religion-based medical neglect.

Years later, my bone disease was identified as osteomyelitis, a strep infection that can settle in a joint. While serious complications can develop, immediate treatment with antibiotics can result in a good outcome. But my family saw my swollen, stiff knee as a mortal illusion to be corrected through prayer. About five weeks from the onset, my leg began to drain an alarming amount of pus. My mother called a Christian Science practical nurse to help care for me — a nurse trained by the church in strictly non-medical methods and forbidden to diagnose disease or dispense medicine.

And I believed only prayer could help me: I never expected or even wanted medical treatment. I was bedridden for ten months in 1976. I lost weight. I couldn’t bear to have my mother hug me — the slightest motion was agony. I sensed I might die. Some nights, I was afraid I wouldn’t die. I was fourteen years old.

My school, friends and neighbors were aware I was seriously ill and being treated with prayer. At times I screamed in pain, but none of the neighbors investigated. Only the mother of my best friend was concerned enough to call a lawyer but was told it was unlikely that I could legally hospitalized. As a last-ditch effort, my friend’s mother sent an ambulance to our house. My mother told me afterward the driver said someone [was] having a baby.

This faith-based medical neglect hid me in plain sight behind the respectability of Christian Science, under the radar of politically correct religious tolerance. Even when they feared for my life, my parents seemed incapable of choosing medical help. By Christian Science policy, a practitioner may refuse to pray for clients who receive medical care, and my parents were terrified that hospitalizing me would lead to my death. Though I had a phone by my bed on those nights I cried, it never occurred to me to call anyone except the practitioner.

I outlasted the disease. My leg was scarred to the bone and my knee fused at an angle of about eighty degrees. But my school never asked for details when I finally lurched back to class on crutches after eighteen months, wrestling with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, claustrophobia, and panic attacks. Eventually I dropped out of high school.

Orthopedic specialists were unable to replace my fused knee. By the time I reached my forties, my foot and ankle had deteriorated until I could barely walk. Three years ago today, February 26th, 2007, I chose an above-knee amputation.

I remember clearly the agony and anguish I felt as a child. I remember that no adult stepped forward to end it. The law authorized my parents’ decision to leave me untreated, and the sanction of the law discouraged others from doing what is right. But refusing to act on the pain a child feels is criminal.

It is my sincere hope that my story will inspire the Obama Administration to realize that federal regulations must be amended. States that wish to receive federal funds must be required to remove these religious exemptions in their child abuse laws. My case is not unique: children today are in danger. Despite the abuse inflicted upon these children, most states are unable to pursue civil or criminal proceedings. The need to protect innocent children who are being hurt by these laws is urgent and immediate. When states aren’t required to document or classify cases of religion-based neglect — much less remove children from homes where this kind of abuse occurs — the consequences are completely unethical and morally unacceptable.



War on Christmas Daily show with Jon Stewart

A new record of insanity

Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas, cucumbers for sexual resemblance

The unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Senousa news, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.

And since men are not supposed to serve women, these food items are not likely to be available... sigh!

Australian sentenced to 500 lashes in Saudi Arabia.

Sharia law is in action again. Blasphemy is a no victim "crime" and it is only in barbaric countries that free speech is suppressed like this.



30 November 2011

re: Apologies and Forgiveness

Please read the original post before reading my comment below.





OK, you have read the post, go ahead continue reading...

My position of moral is that one should avoid making mistakes. When mistakes are made, one has to live with the consequences of the mistake. The right to forgive and move on is not with the wrong-doer even in face of a sincere apology. Whether the victim agrees to forgive is completely moral independent. That's the point I beg to differ with Alonzo Fyfe:
I believe all of the elements of a sincere apology have been met. From this, the only legitimate option is to accept that apology. Refusing to do so is unjust. Refusing to do so because one holds GelatoGuy personally responsible for a culture over which he has no control compounds the injustice.

PZ has the absolute right to refuse to accept an apology even if the apology was given sincerely. PZ was hurt and if PZ decided to live with the memory of such a hurt and refused to forgive, it is nothing immoral. Hurt was done - although the pain might have subsided.

Is culture to blame? May be and may be not. Culture is a co-creation by all the participants of the culture. The GelatoGuy may be gullible and may have fallen victim to the culture in which he was brought up. He could blame the culture AND then learnt to change the culture. But he did make a mistake and I commend him with the courage to apologize.

Forgiveness is the path for the victim to move on. The wrong-doer did the damage and has to face up with consequences - including consequences that some will not accept the apology.

While I encourage victims to forgive, but the assertion that not accepting a sincere apology is immoral is itself immoral.

23 November 2011

Was Linda Katechi sincere?



As the Chancellor of a University, was she naive enough to believe that police would not use inappropriate force? If yes, she did not deserve to be the Chancellor. If no, she did not deserve to be the Chancellor.

Hindsight is always prefect. But the moral call, which is the critical attribute of a leader, is not to commit wrong so that hindsight would be unnecessary. That's the leadership. Has Lida Katechi demonstrated sufficient leadership to remain as the chancellor of any university?



As the police retreat, was it clear who were on the moral high ground? The cowardice of the police was in plain sight. When it was a few students, they used excessive brutality. When they were out-numbered, they just retreated and could not stand up for what they were supposed to do in the first place.



cross posted to Random Walk in Learning

What can USA citizens do?

I left Hong Kong after witnessing what had happened at Tiananmen Square in 1989

Now this is happening to USA citizens [source]:

Has the government overstepped the rights of citizens? Is the brutality towards peaceful demonstrators justifiable? Are there government officials condemning the police violence [read this to understand what the pray really is.]? What has a free society become?

What we should be thankful for?

Compare this

with this very limited view


This distorted christian view is damaging the world.

GelatoGate

I have been following the saga of the bigoted gelato guy story unfolded remotely in the comfort of my home in Melbourne Australia.

Now that the flame has died down a little, let me throw in my observation.


Andy, the gelato's owner took down the sign only after putting it up for a short time (according to the apology issued by Andy) at the meantime the above photo went viral and his store's online rating crumpled. There are basically two camps on the atheist blogosphere - those did not accept the apology (PZ and JT) and those did (Jen and Hemant) as noted by Adam Lee

To me, an apology should be accompanied by a behavioral change to rectify the wrong. So my question is "Has the store owner demonstrated an understanding of what was the wrong and made an effort to rectify the wrong?" Another question is what is the motivation of the apology?

If the atheist community did not have the leverage of lowering his store online rating, would he issue the apology?

Of course, we can only guess at what actually was in his mind and we are not thought police. From his latest apology, Andy was also offering a 10% to customers in this week - oh, that said a lot of what was going on in his mind. To me, apology not accepted. His motivation is whitewashing and damage control. As JT Eberhard put it, he should have said something along the following lines.

Bigotry is unacceptable. Offense is not the same as breathing life into prejudice. Punishing somebody for disagreeing with you or thinking your beliefs are silly is immoral. Making a donation that will actually help make the world a better place rather than inviting us to patronize your business for an insignificant discount.

Another point I would like to raise is the immoral concept of the Christian forgiveness. The immoral teaching that one can forgive oneself and move on is absolutely wrong. The offended has the right to forgive and move on, but the offender doesn't have any right to forgive himself/herself. When a wrong is done, it is done. There is nothing that can be done to undo the wrong. Remorse is the first step to recovery and to become a better self. Understand what was wrong and make positive steps not to offend again. We can learn from mistakes only when we are still in school (an artificial environment created to tolerate mistake to happen without serious consequences). In life, mistake is mistake. One has to live with the consequences of any mistake. In this case, I cannot see any sign Andy would be doing to become better. He has not started the first step.

17 November 2011

Atheist Fundamentists

If there is a form of atheism which could be labelled as fundamental, I would be a card carrying member of such a group. The fact is that there is no such thing as fundamental atheists which some like to claim there is. By definition, atheism is the position that there is no sufficient evidence to support a belief that there is a god. Atheism does not have canonical texts which every atheist must study and adhere to. No, such text does not exist and there is no fundamentalist in this aspect.

As for assuming the position of the opposition in a debate, many do take the initial assumption that the opposition is a fundamentalist. If the opposition found such position is absurd and/or not his/her position, many are happy to adjust the assumption accordingly. Obviously arguing against a fundamentalist position is much easier - the level of absurdity are just low hanging fruits. The position of "sophisticated" liberal theist may be trickier. They typically use convoluted word trickery to avoid facing the absurdity head-on and most would have been practicing such mental gymnastic for sometime already.

In many of the debates I have watched, almost no theist managed to define god. That makes a fuzzy target to aim the argument. One way to nail them down is to make them acknowledge the god in question is the god described in the old testament.

The difficulty is those new-age theists who believe in a really fuzzy imagination and acknowledge that the bible may be wrong. Many of them are actually logic-illiterate - unable to reason with sound logic. Hitchens treatment to these are really entertaining.

As for the accusation of "evangelistic" nature of some more out-spoken atheists, I would say this. I, as an example, felt the pain of the failure of education to educate modern citizens and enable them to get rid of the shackle of religious bondage. I am applaud to the continuous abuse parents subject their children by indoctrinating young minds with myths (myths are OK, but it is NOT OK to say myths are true.), superstition and threaten them with hell. That is unacceptable. A child is NOT a property of the parent. A child is a human being - may still be dependent at the moment, but nevertheless is a human being with the right to make up his/her mind about what kind of stupid ideas s/he wants to believe in WHEN s/he is OLD ENOUGH to decide. Baptizing a child or allowing children into church should be crimes punishable by law.

Here is the response of Daniel Dennett on William Lane Craig (a typical apologetic liberal theist, I suppose). Mine is here.

Religion is not only a crutch for many people, it's also what crippled them in the first place.

[source]

Q&A - Holding the Pope to Account for Catholic Child Abuse


16 November 2011

Torture and American Mind-set

I am an Australian and I do not follow American election news closely. So I will take the following quote from Atheist Ethicist as accurate:

Two Republican candidates for President - Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann - said in a recent debate that they do not consider waterboarding to be torture and would return to the practice of waterboarding prisoners if they were President.

Two Republican candidates said that they opposed waterboarding - Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman.

A number of people raised objections to waterboarding and torture following the debate, almost all of which can be put into two categories:

Category 1 - It makes America look bad.

Category 2 - It doesn't work. [Alonzo Fyfe]

Fyfe correctly pointed out that these were "stupid reasons to oppose torture." As he explained adeptly, a simple application of moral golden rule (do not do what you would not want other to yourself) would have come to the conclusion that torture of prisoners are not acceptable. These political "leaders" would be happy to send other's children to battlefield but not theirs. When other's were tortured, they do not care. The lack moral stance of the leadership of USA is an indication of the inevitable fall of this nation. Mere military strength can only get a nation this far. Roman Empire collapsed because it ran out of captives to enslave. For USA to be relevant in the future, a quick turn-around is needed, but I cannot see any coming anytime soon. This is not good.

15 November 2011

Get rich scheme

If you want to get rich, starting a church in USA is easy and quick.

The New Tithe from Justin Wilson on Vimeo.

12 November 2011

Catholics are very TOLERATE.

Compared with the response from Muslims, it is so much more civilized.

Honestly, "I fail to see the problem with ants on some magic action figure." [quote from DoctorE]

11 November 2011

Morgan Freeman's faith

The voice of moral justice and reason

To Hitch

To a great man with courage and conviction, reason and logic. Cheers, Mr. Hitchens.

09 November 2011

A FUNERAL FOR DEAD GODS

Obedient Wives Club

A typical corruption of moral values by religious stupidity

06 November 2011

Amazing Christian Muslim debate

Dave Hunt Vs Shabir Ally

Whose version of fairtale is truer?

05 November 2011

Cosmological argument

William Lane Craig argues that we have good reason to believe that the universe had a temporal beginning, and that the Big Bang theory shows this. What that means is that the Big Bang theory, which in popular culture is presumed to be an atheistic theory, is actually embarrassing for atheism, since it agrees with the Bible that there WAS a beginning. [source]

Let's put aside whether Craig would agree to the above (I think he would), the problems with the argument are:

1. Layman's understanding of Big Bang Theory should be that at the Big Bang, it was a singularity. That is we have no physical means to know what was before the Big Bang. Stephen Hawkings have recently established that Big Bang will spontaneous appear under the law of Quantum Physics. Universe is not caused. Ignoring the latest understanding and cherry picking of Science to support a view is a logical fallacy.

2. The bible may be right at one thing - the universe has a beginning. That does not imply the rest of the bible is also correct. Take the sequence of creation as an example. The bible is complete wrong. To judge a claim to be right or wrong, we depend on evidence to support that claim. A lucky guess is just a lucky guess. Nothing special.

Craig maintains what whatever begins to exist, must have a cause of its existence, and since the universe began to exist, the universe has to have something other than itself cause it to exist. On the other hand, God, according to the definition, never began to exist, so he needs no cause of his existence.

1. The claim that "what whatever begins to exist, must have a cause of its existence" needs evidence and proof. To prove this statement is wrong, I only need ONE counter example. Here it is. From Quantum mechanics, we know that radioactive exists. The instance at which a radioactive nuclei decays cannot be predicted. We can only have statistical laws about radioactive decay. This is an example of event without a cause. If this event has a cause, we would understand precisely the moment when the cause is satisfied and would trigger the decay. Heisenberg uncertainty principle implies that it is impossible to know the cause and hence the event is strictly uncaused. Of course, the second counter example would be the appearance of our universe.

2. By definition god does not need a cause is another example which I could use to disprove the claim that "whatever begins to exist, must have a cause of its existence". God, if exists, has existed. There is no obvious reason, except by the trickery of words, to define it as needing no cause. The fact is that we do not know whether god exists because of a cause. This would need to the recursive situation of a god' creator and ad infinite. This is an obvious logical impossibility. Either god exists without a cause OR god does not exist. This argument does not exclude the possibility that the god in our definition does not exist.

"You Atheists Have No Hope. What Keeps You Alive?"



My question to the Christians. Since god is waiting for you, why don't you kill yourself and meet it earlier?

04 November 2011

Thought crime

The following is from the Banana man - dumb as usual
In a hate crime, one is punished not just for committing a specific crime against someone, but for his supposed thoughts toward that person. If a man beat up a heterosexual, for example, he would deserve one sentence. But beating up a homosexual, if it could be proved that he once expressed a negative attitude toward homosexuals, would get him a substantially increased sentence. Also, students who mention wishing for the death of a teacher or fellow student are taken seriously and punished. They could merely mention it on Facebook or in texting, for instance, and immediately be in trouble—because it shows the intent of the heart, even if they are not actively planning it.

What have been listed in the above are actions. No one knows anything about anyone's private thoughts. Once that thought has gone out, it is no longer just a thought and one has to be responsible for what has gone out of his/her head. The issue is not only "thought crime" which are not detectable, it is also about "crime without victims". Pointing out the stupidity of someone's is not a crime as long as that stupidity can be demonstrated. For example, it is really stupid to believe that a loving god would need to sacrifice itself to itself to forgive itself from creating human eating a forbidden fruit before that human knew what is good and what is bad. I hold that thought for a long time. No one would know. As I put it down, I have to face the consequence of the above words - which I am prepared to defend why I really think that is a stupid belief.

Islam is a TOLERATE religion

Deepak Chopra - follow up



Deepak Chopra and Bill O'Reilly

What a combination!

03 November 2011

A Priest mocks creationism

Famous Atheist

I went to a church concert

I knew what was going to happen last Saturday, but I went along to support one of our friends who was singing. The most impressive point to me is the amount of immoral messages that were mixed into the lyric, the whole shit about Jesus dying for our sin etc. One of the song is about eternal life and of course it must be via blind faith in Jesus that anyone can have eternal life. Not that I want to live forever, but if there is any chance of extending our healthy life span, it won't come from religion, it will come from Science.

The cells in our body divide time and again. During such division, the copies may be corrupted by radiation or the chemicals that are in our bodies. Cells have several strategies: repair the damage, give up the ghost (the new cell) or stop dividing. Those cells which stopped dividing are called senescence. Recently, scientists have discovered by removing senescence cells in mice, these mice have an extended healthy life span - not longer life span! [source]

I don't have faith in science. I trust only evidence. This is early work and its application to human are tens of years away. But as human knowledge progress, the use of religion is getting less and less. Seriously, has religion passed its used-by date? I certainly think so.

02 November 2011

Extraordinary things require extraordinary evidence

If you are to learn only one thing today, learn this: Extraordinary things require extraordinary evidence



Please ask yourself this. If you meet someone today who claimed that he has just risen from death, what kind of evidence would you require to believe in his claim?

Miracles for Sale

Faith-healing couple sentenced to more than six years in prison



While I have full sympathy to children whose parents needed to go to jail, the message should be clear to all parents. Voodoos, or prayers, do not cure diseases. Letting imaginary guy in the sky into one's life is delusional and have bad consequences. It is a shame that the Public Prosecutor did not think he should also target the church - which is the real culprit in cases like this.

01 November 2011

Just war theory

Victor Reppert suggests that the "just war theory" was invented by Christian,
Has anybody noticed that, before Christianity, nobody ever dreamed that there were some things you couldn't do to noncombatants and defeated nations. If you conquered in battle, then the people belonged to you to kill, rape, or enslave as you saw fit. What the ban on, say, the Amalekites does is remove the last two options.

As I pointed out in one of the discussions, the just war theory was invented by Christians. Not secular humanists.

This may be true in his corner of the world, the Chinese has been promoting winning without war. When an inevitable war was fight and won, the winning side should not kill or hurt the people conquered. [The Art of War, Sun Zi, 2nd century BC] This idea originated from Confucius and Lao Zi 4th century BC.

Advocating genocide, in any measure at any time and place, is barbaric and the bible has plenty such examples. No wonder when the Christian discovered new world, the indigenous were mass murdered. The few remaining indigenous people Australia and America are examples. In Africa, they capture the black as slaves.

Bible morality

I know using bible to be the foundation of moral is immoral, but just in case you are not sure, have a look:

29 October 2011

Is The Bible Still Relevant Today?






I hope it were Christopher Hitchens instead of Richard Dawkins attending this BBC One debate. Dawkins is just too polite and gently that he has not gotten the message across strongly.

If you want to claim the decency of modern western civilization as coming from the bible, you cannot discount the same cultural teachings were the basis of genocides that European conquerors inflicted on lesser advanced cultures everywhere they went.

Atheist Calls Religious People 'Idiots' On British Debate



Pointing out a fact (that religious people are idiots) is not silly nor rude. This society has given those claiming to have the truth an unfair privileged position which they do not deserve. Blind faith is blind, dangerous and totally unproductive. We should get rid of the dogma that these people holding unsupported belief as somehow clever or intelligent. The fact is that they are not. Their logic does not work!

After posting this, will I get the same kind of comments directed to Kate Smurthwaite

28 October 2011

Christianity is immoral

Where does moral come from?

The bible contains good things and bad things. The fact that you do not follow many of the commands in the bible, the fact that you can cherry-pick means that there is something outside of the bible to guide you. That's your moral, a result of your upbringing, social influence and possibly your reading of works from great minds.

Are atheists morally inferior to believers? Certainly not. In fact, many atheists can think though this question of moral and come to a concrete conclusion on how we should behave. Statistically, the USA prison system is under-represented by atheists indicates that atheists are in generally more law-abiding.

Good man does good thing and evil man does evil thing. For a good man to do evil thing, it takes religion.

27 October 2011

Dear Apologetic...

Dear Apologetic,

I like to discuss with you why I think your apologetic position about the bible is untenable.

The bible is either
A. literally true,
B. metaphorical, or
C. partly literal true and partly metaphorical.

You obviously do not take position A because of the various contradictions in the bible to our best observed facts.

If your position is that the bible is metaphorical, then you have to also take the position that god in the bible is also metaphorical and hence you are just an atheist like me - who do not believe in the existence of the bible god.

The interesting part is of course the position that some parts of the bible is true and some is metaphorical and you believe that god exists - that's the true part at least. Think about this: How can *anyone* distinguish between metaphorical parts and truths in the bible? The bible itself does not expressively say which part is metaphorical and which part is not. We need an *external* agent (meaning evidence outside the bible) to determine which part is true and then the rest is metaphorical.

Now show me, using evidence besides the bible and derivative works from the bible that the bible god exists. Over the past 2 centuries, no one has even been able to do so, else we would not still be discussing this thing.

Without any evidence to show that the bible god exists, what would be the most *simple* conclusion one can draw?

Yours,

An atheist

Religion is a cancer

Religious killed children

See the report at youTube.

Avoid at all cost to books like this:
To Train Up A Child

25 October 2011

Let me assume that god exists

There are some arguments put forth by the theists that god exists. See e.g. here Let's assume that god exists, now HOW do you know that "that god" is YOUR god. Specifically, how can you show that the bible authors have special privileges to access god and the words as recorded in the bible is a fair and true description of god.

On the contrary, if the bible is truly a faithful record of god, then it should contain no error, no ambiguity, no falsehood and immense insight which human-kind will find enlightening and amazed. The sad fact is that the bible is littered with error, falsehood and nothing is enlightening or amazing. The bible is more a compilation of deluded men trying to stitch together a story which may sound reasonable. The historical background of the bible writers (that a special class of parasites on the Jews people) and their inter fighting to amass power and influence is everywhere. The current version is a poor attempt of stitching together several contradicting versions in an attempt to please the majority. The tactics depended on the illiteracy of the common people at the time. Common people could not read the book nor remembered every details of the book. So contradiction in plain sight could be ignored.

For any person to have a mental capability to think and to believe in the incoherent stories, this is an illustration of the failure of current education system.

21 October 2011

Crimes commited by the Churches

RC Church have committed many crimes throughout its history of existence - crusades, inquisitions, torture in the past. More recent crimes includes hiding child molesting priests from justice, stole babies (both in Australia and Spain)

PsiCop asks
And how long will it take the Catholic Church to admit its criminality, apologize for it, and make amends?

Unfortunately, unless we, common sane, people unite together and drag the monster out to face justice, it will never admit anything wrong as long as it is able to do so. Meanwhile, if we continue to let insanity rule, we shall see more crimes being committed.

If I am a boss...

If I am a boss looking for someone to do some manual tasks, I would not mind how s/he thinks, what and what not s/he believes in as long as s/he is physically capable of doing the tasks.

If I am a boss looking for someone to do some tasks which involve logic, evidence-based reasoning, I do not care if the applicant is physically disabled as long as s/he is capable of thinking logically based on evidence. A religious applicant automatically disqualified him/herself by believing in an imaginary friend who looks after everything.

If I am a voter and there are candidates who want to be leaders making many decision for me, a candidate publicly announces his/her religion affiliation has just disqualified to get my vote. If s/he truly believes in an imaginary friend in the sky, s/he is mentally not capable of leading the country. If s/he does not truly believes in god, but pronounces that s/he is to "buy" vote from the religious, then s/he is not honest and I cannot trust his/her ability to make decision unbiased.

15 October 2011

Finally, justice may prevail

For the first time in the US, an actual member of the Roman Catholic hierarchy has been indicted for his role in a priestly-pedophilia scandal. - source

The Catholic Church and the priests working in communities outside of Vatican are not outside of the law of the countries in which they commit any crime.

Bishop Finn is accused of neglecting to report abuse that occurred as recently as last year — almost 10 years since the nation’s Catholic bishops passed a charter pledging to report suspected abusers to law enforcement authorities.

Full force of the law should be applied to those committed horrible crimes, especially against innocent children.

13 October 2011

Qi

Watch this video, do you agree with the existence of Qi?

America's 5 Favorite Ways to Ignore Jesus

11 October 2011

Religion to coexist?

This is a christian propaganda. See if you can find out what's wrong with it.


Answer: (highlight the following white space to see.)

Christians have traditionally killed many non-christians - check your history re; crusades and inquisition. So saying the Christian poses not threat to the others is completely rubbish.

Religions bound people into cages with arbitrarily doctrines based on poor imaginations of people many years ago. Human is ONE species and we are mutually interdependent. We coexist regardless of religion. We kill each other when religion becomes the dividing line. We do not need religions to coexist. We need no religion to coexist.

What kind of atheist am I?

Austin Cline described the work of George H. Smith about the term critical atheism.

Explicit atheist sees no reason whatsoever for believing in a supernatural being because of the failure of theism to provide sufficient evidence of it.

Strong Atheist would say "The existence of a god is impossible" after examining the absurd or contradictory concept of god. Just like a "square-circle" does not exit. God is a logical impossibility.

Noncognitive atheist whose position is that until "god" is well defined, there is no discussion possible. An example would be to discuss the existence of "unie" before someone defines what is "unie".

I think I am a strong atheist, at least to the religions related to the Abrahamic god. After reading the bible, I have concluded that the god in the bible was a monster and luckily it does not exist.

Iranian actress sentencd for a role she played in a film



The film in question is My Tehran for Sale. The story line (from IMDB):
Marzieh is a young female actress living in Tehran. The authorities ban her theatre work and, like all young people in Iran, she is forced to lead a secret life in order to express herself artistically. At an underground rave, she meets Iranian born Saman, now an Australian citizen, who offers her a way out of her country and the possibility of living without fear.

When religion trumps reason...

They say their religious sense of modesty is offended by the sight of the girls and their families passing their homes on their way to school, even though the families themselves are also from an orthodox community. BBC

See the video here.

10 October 2011

It is not barbaric to cut off someone's hand surgically



If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. - Matthew 5:29 - 30

Are we going to see surgically removing eyes from the Bible-believing Christians?


Bonus: Woman's stoning

Pascal Wager

Quotes

The Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles command, what rogues teach, and young children are made to learn by heart. - Voltaire

I believe in the religion of reason - the gospel of this world; in the development of the mind, in the accumulation of intellectual wealth, to the end that man may free himself from superstitious fear, to the end that he may take advantage of the forces of nature to feed and clothe the world. - Robert. G. Ingersoll

05 October 2011

Did Jesus die for Klingons too?

If 100 YEAR STARSHIP program is a part of the Star Trek story, it would be most appropriate for a professor Weidemann to append to the fiction another fiction.

"the death of Christ, some 2,000 years ago, was designed to save all creation.

However, the whole of creation, as defined by scientists, includes 125billion galaxies with hundreds of billions of stars in each galaxy.

That means that if intelligent life exists on other planets, then Jesus or God would have to have visited them too, and sacrificed himself equally for Martian-kind as well as mankind.

The alternative, posits Weidemann, is that Jesus chose earthlings as the single race to save and abandoned every other life form in the galaxy."

Believers are getting more and more creative when science discovers more and more about the myths which are not substantiated by evidence.

04 October 2011

Compare this and the last one

Compare the argument put forward in the first 1 minute with this which I reported in the last post. [This is the slippy sloop argument fallacy]

03 October 2011

Why women should not drive - according to a Saudi Arabic man

From BBC

"It's not good for some girl to show her body, wear very short skirts. This is not about Saudi Arabia, it's about Islam. We've got a generation who were raised watching Gossip Girls and other [similar] series. They only want to be like that, dress like that, drive like that. It's not about need.

...

"I believe it will hurt our community. I understand the US traditions and I respect them so other people, outsiders, need to understand our traditions and respect them."

Oh yeah, Islam traditions are demanding respect because it is not worth respecting.

“For God, nothing is impossible,” Ozorowski said.

“For God, nothing is impossible,” Ozorowski said.

Oh, yeah, in one's stupid imagination, nothing is impossible too.

30 September 2011

Religion is like a penis


It is fine to have one.
It is fine to be proud of it.
But please don't whip it out in public and start waving it around.
And PLEASE don't try to shove it down my children's throats.

28 September 2011

13-Year-Old Saudi Girl Sentenced to 90 Lashes and Jail For Bringing a Cell Phone to School

Click on the title to see the youTube video.

That's how Islam treats women!

Saudi woman sentenced to lashes for driving

Just after the announcement of allowing women to vote and be elected, here comes the reality.

27 September 2011

Voting rights for Saudi women



But will their women's votes count as half of men's?

08 September 2011

The Certainty Trap

Christians have created a little trap for people of reason. It is a way they can attack us for whatever answer we give. It is an interesting new rhetoric that I am starting to hear them use more and more. I will call it “The Certainty Trap.”

Yes, this is quite a common tactic. Staks suggests

This is where we have to take the time to explain the difference between absolute certainty and reasonable certainty.

I have tried this approach. Christians are not able to understand the difference between "absolute certainty" and "reasonable certainty". My approach is to ask them write down the characteristics of their god on a piece of paper. Ask them again to make sure the characteristics of their god is their final version. Almost 10 out of 10, things like their god is all loving, kind, all knowing etc. Once it is on paper, then I would ask them to turn to their bible and use their bible to point out the characteristics on that piece of paper were all wrong. Usually, I cannot finish the list before they give up. That's kind of cool!

In Superstition We Trust

By Pat Condell


I would almost agree with everything, except that by the time an atheist in USA can actually be elected as their president in couple of hundred years, USA will NOT be the most powerful on Earth.

Happiness made simple



Personally, I think the first Ad.

Preacher anger



I am proud that common sense of common people is here to protest these preachers. The best way to handle these preachers is to completely ignore them.

05 September 2011

Symphony of Science - A Wave of Reason

Which is more offensive? Which is more deserving of a Christian’s disgust and damnation?

An artist puts a penis on a poster of Jesus and on a symbol of the Christian cross. A priest puts a penis inside the mouth and vagina of a 17-year-old girl.


In the first case, the "conservative Catholics...were furious. They wanted heads to roll — at least Mideo’s [the artist] — and heads to resign — whoever was in charge of displaying Mideo’s blasphemy."

For the second case, what the priest [Fr. Raul Cabonce of St. Anne Parish in Tubay, Agusan del Norte.] "got was a transfer to a different diocese, far away from his former servant and sexual object, safe and comfy in a Bishop’s palace." SO THAT HE CAN CONTINUE TO RAPE OTHERS...

Which is more offensive? Which is more deserving of a Christian’s disgust and damnation?

Sharia Law - "She's buried chest high"


sharia law

she's buried chest high
her arms can't stop the stones that fly
or wipe the tears that have already dried
for a crime she so persistently denied
she's buried chest deep
the moderates asleep
no matter how hard she weeps
worth half of a man, her testimony's cheap
Allah subhana wa taala has come up with such a fair rule
dictators of history couldn't be so cruel
told by mohammed sallahu 3alhe wa salam
teaching us allah's divine referendum
what becomes of those who have a sip of rum
drinks to forget or wants to be numb
or those who play the game of chance
poker buddies escaping the religious trance
allah's prescribed in his merciful script
their flesh be ripped their blood be dripped
at the tip of a muslims whip

she's buried chest high
her arms can't stop the stones that fly
or wipe the tears that have already dried
for a crime she so persistently denied
and this is allah's eternal reply
1400 years of backwards law
a tragic flaw of the primitive claw
the tribe of homosexuals
koum lot as they say
sharia is clear on how they should pay
the price for their gay display
life doesn't matter which way
abu baker got them with a tumbling wall
ali muhammad's cousin and son in law
had people burned for their sexual call
an entire village children and all

she's buried chest deep
the moderates asleep
no matter how hard she weeps
worth half of a manher testimony's cheap
apostates remember those who have bled
to speak the word Muslims leave unsaid
killed for the sake of those mislead
submit now or be left dead
allah subhana wa ta3ala has come up with such a fair rule
the devil himself couldn't be so cruel

she's buried chest high half way deep
while the moderates are still fast asleep
while the world stands silent
her testimony's cheap.
stones thrown by religious sheep.
witches were burned long ago
til the flame of freedom began to glow
and we learned to say the word 'no'
no know that your laws are unjust
not worthy of respect only disgust
beheading those with a knifes thrust
oh but in Allah we blindly trust

she's buried head high
in a heap of stones.
no more crying no more moans
all that's left is skin and bones
Allah has come up with such a fair call
the true justice of sharia law

by nessrriinn.

Ex Muslim Wafa Sultan exposes Muhammad and Islam

Age of Reason vs Islam

04 September 2011

Christopher Hitchens ridicules Biblical Miracles!

Miracle, by definition is the suspension of natural laws to favour someone. When you see a miracle with your own eyes, think about this. Is it more likely that you have been mistaken? or the miracle did happened? When it is reported by non eye-witness, what should be your level of skepticism towards such a report? To help you think about this, watch this. or this Now, this is sawing a girl is half a miracle?

03 September 2011

Catholic Inquisition and Torture

Here is another video of the horror done by the Catholic Church in the name of a god. Berean Beacon - Catholic Inquisition Torture (2007).wmv

The Atheists National Registry of Child-abusing Christians



In response to the above demonic call from a "pastor", I urge atheists to set up a list of child-abusing Christians.

What does god look like?




Free speech and from religious influence

I wrote about this (teacher's name was Jerry Buell) previously.

My position was that the board has over stepped the line when a private face book post was the reason for suspension. I also posited that no one should bring his/her private belief into a classroom. Friendly Atheist got hold of a syllabus from Buell. Man, he should be banned from any teaching at any school for as long as he still subjects his students to his private belief.

01 September 2011

Spanish Inquisition, the Brutal Truth

When it was ruled by the Church, people suffered. The same would hold true today. Religion is a form of control. It is a drug of the mind. The weak embraces religion to their own peril.

Here is a document of the same title.

30 August 2011

Torture during Catholic Inquisition

I have watched only part of one of the videos in the following package. It is too awful. How can anyone human inflict that kind of pain onto another innocent human? It is the most evil thing ever done and it was in the name of religion.

Link of the videos.

Gay marriage

The fall of USA - 3

Is it inevitable that USA will fall?

Education is the key to productivity of the future. How teenagers spend their time while at school is indicative of how they perceive and receive education. Out of the 2 million minutes available to teenagers in USA, India and China, how they spend their time?

Here is a documentary on this. 2 Million Minutes

The fall of USA - 2



When the potential political leader of a nation is SO SO delusional, that's a sign of the fall of the nation.

Epic creationist fails of our time #3



What can I say?

The cross was a torture instrument at the barbaric times. The alleged Jesus was not the only one who was condemned to die on this horrible torture instrument. The cross IS a man-made object. Dude!

29 August 2011

Open Challenge to All Atheists: Can you Disprove God?



The fallacy of the request is pushing the burden of proof to the unbelievers. I can prove YOUR god's non-existence. Define your god and I shall do the disproving.

At the meanwhile, can you disprove the existence of a china teapot orbiting around the Sun between Mars and Earth?

Here is a good response to the above video.


What Do Atheists Do in Crisis [FOX 8-26-2011]



If prayers were really helpful, believers should not need to prepare. You prepare because you know prayers are not going to work. The lightning rods on top of churches tell us a thing - god cannot protect its own church, science can.

The fall of USA



When 78% of the public believes in a barbaric god, such a society would not be able to advance further - a result of the failed education system to teach their future citizens to think based on evidence.

27 August 2011

Faith Healing debunked

Please watch the whole video. This is a scam and should be exposed.

Anti-Gay Teacher Suspended



I totally agree that the school has stepped over the line, any citizen should have the right to free speech. However if and only if the teacher is spreading his private view to his students in school and/or classroom then he should be prosecuted.

25 August 2011

Father Bernard Lynch - Secular Europe Campaign



It is good that someone from the Catholic church can stand up and acknowledges the abuse the church has inflicted upon common people. Religion is a form of control. However, I think Lynch failed to acknowledge that the abuses are still on going and his church is still taking every possibility routes to protect the abusers - and that is a shame!

24 August 2011

Bible contradictions


Bible Dilemma, The - M.L. Gutierrez.epub
Bible Contradictions - Greg Vanden Berge.epub

God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales - Penn Jillette



If god (however you perceive him/her/it) told you to kill your child—would you do it?
If your answer is no, in my booklet you’re an atheist. There is doubt in your mind. Love and morality are more important to you than your faith.
If your answer is yes, please reconsider.

Another quote:
One attack I’ve heard theists make against atheists is, “So, you atheists think you know everything? You think you’re smart enough to know everything? You think science can figure out everything? There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt . . .” That quote is from my good friend Mr. Straw Man, but it’s an idea we hear all the time: atheists are arrogant and don’t think they need god, because they’ve got it all figured out. I think people who make that accusation are confusing style with content. I’m a loud, aggressive, strident, outspoken atheist, and I’m an asshole—but what I’m claiming is not in any way arrogant. It couldn’t be more humble. It’s just “I don’t know.”
...
Where is the humility in being a theist? There is none. What would it mean for me to believe in god? It would mean that I know. Not just that I might happen to know about Kerouac, Thailand, liquid nitrogen, and vector calculus identities, but that I know that there is an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent power in the universe that I can’t prove to you, but that I know because I have faith. I know because I say I know.

God No Signs You Might Already Be An Atheist.epub

Randi's USD1M challenge

After all these years, it is interesting that James Randi's ONE million dollars are still here to be claimed.


23 August 2011

Circumcision



Those taking part in this madness should be prosecuted. Those advocating this madness should be prosecuted too.

21 August 2011

Why god cannot protect its own church?



Answer: because god does not exist!

East Texans pray for rain

When was the last time prayer worked?

20 August 2011

Universal Insignificance

Who is more humble, an atheist who understands how insignificant we are in the Universe or those Christians who think this whole universe was created for human? Do you want a better understanding? Spend 30 minutes and watch this video.

Why I am Not aChristian

Here are two essays written by two different people on the same subject. Both are short (about 15 pages each). Enjoy.
Why I Am Not a Christian (2006)- Richard Carrier.pdf
Why I am Not a Christian - Bertrand Russell.pdf

19 August 2011

Sexual abuse by people of god, is that news?


From the preface:
It demonstrates without a shadow of doubt that the sexual abuse of minors by priests is not a recent or a local phenomenon. Nor is the current crisis of clergy abuse just another pot-hole along the bumpy road in this history of the Catholic Church.

More books on this subject listed below (from Amazon or download free from fileserve):




Parkinson - Breaking the Long Silence; Reports of Child Sexual Abuse in the Anglican Church of Australia (2010).pdf
Lampinen & Sexton-Radek (eds.) - Protecting Children from Violence; Evidence Based Interventions (2010).pdf
Hamilton - Justice Denied; What America Must Do to Protect its Children (2008).pdf
Higgins & Swain - Disability and Child Sexual Abuse (2010).pdf
Smith (ed.) - Child Sexual Abuse; Issues and Challenges (2008).pdf
Ryan - Juvenile Sexual Offending; Causes, Consequences, and Correction (2010).pdf
Friedman & Boumil - Betrayal of Trust; Sex and Power in Professional Relationships (1995).pdf
Goode - Understanding and Addressing Adult Sexual Attraction to Children; A Study of Paedophiles in Contemporary Society (2010).pdf
Davidson & Gottschalk (eds.) - Internet Child Abuse; Current Research and Policy (2011).pdf
Turton - Child Abuse, Gender and Society (2008).pdf
Sax - Predators and Child Molesters; What Every Parent Needs to Know to Keep Kids Safe (2009).pdf
Sexual Assault Prevention and Response in the Armed Forces (2005).pdf
Stevens - Inside the Minds of Sexual Offenders; Predatory Rapists, Pedophiles, and Criminal Profiles (2001).pdf
Sanderson - Counselling Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, 3rd ed. (2006).pdf
Bolen - Child Sexual Abuse; Its Scope and Our Failure (2002).pdf
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse; A National Resource Directory and Handbook (2000).pdf
The Final Report of the Panel to Review Sexual Misconduct Allegations at the U.S. Air Force Academy (2004).pdf
Winick & La Fond (eds.) - Protecting Society from Sexually Dangerous Offenders; Law, Justice, and Therapy (2003).pdf
Oversight Hearing on Sexual Harassment within the Federal Law Enforcement Agencies (1994).pdf
Neumann - Sexual Crime; A Reference Handbook (2010).pdf
Doyle - Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes; The Catholic Church's 2000-year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse (2006).pdf
Bolen - Child Sexual Abuse; Its Scope and Our Failure (2002).pdf