Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

Innovating for a Secular World

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  • Excommunication with the Catholic Church?

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    by Sam1989 posted: 19 Jun 2013 Category: Atheism 5

    I was baptised, therefore I am still officially a part of the catholic church statistics. From what I have read it seems near enough impossible to actually become officially excommunicated, I put emphasis on the...

  • Religion and Mental Health

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    by jpo2709 posted: 18 Jun 2013 Category: Religion 23

    Do not know if anyone has had any similar experience, but something that happened to me regarding religion might need more disscussion or investigation. It centres on my experience when i was...

  • Reproduction? Help me understand!

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    by ElBeto posted: 17 Jun 2013 Category: Science 21

    How is it that the first living organism had offspring? Wouldn't one expect, under undirected circumstances, that the first living organism that came into being accidently would eventually just die without having the foresight to reproduce? 

  • Annoying statement from my mother in law

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    by JanErikT posted: 16 Jun 2013 Category: Atheism 34

    Every time I am saying something a bit negative about religion or even just commenting on something religious, my mother in law (who is an agnostic, or at least she says so) says that "When...

  • AA and a higher power

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    by jacqui40 posted: 15 Jun 2013 Category: Religion 43

    I wonder if i could ask for some guidance / discussion regarding AA ( alcoholics anonymous). I have been a member of this fellowship for 9 years now and have battled with alcohol addiction for...

  • Evolution

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    by dinc12964 posted: 14 Jun 2013 Category: Science 172

    I shared (on Facebook) the post from RDFRS that said "Evolution is just a theory? Well, so is gravity and I don't see jumping out of buildings"  I received plenty of comments but was stumped by this one:...

  • Altruistic bees

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    by Roedy posted: 13 Jun 2013 Category: Science 12

    One one of the first discoveries about bees in the time of the ancient Greeks was that on any one flight, they confined themself to one particular species of plant. This is highly convenient for...

  • Mitochondrial Eve

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    by missbutton posted: 08 Jun 2013 Category: Science 25

    Could an evolutionary biologist out there settle an argument for me? The other party in this dispute says that Mitochondrial Eve keeps changing because of 'broken lines'.  My position is that everyone alive today has...

  • I am an Atheist with background of Hindu Religion.

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    by prabinsharma.timilsina posted: 08 Jun 2013 Category: Religion 8

    There are very few number of Atheist here in Nepal. Its only 51 people counted till date with refrence to atheistcensus.com. Well , i am proud of myself because i believe in myself rather then so...

  • sci/fi question with hopefully sci answers

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    by poseyjt posted: 05 Jun 2013 Category: Science 21

    I was thinking the other day about science fiction/science and our future as a human species.  Already so much is possible if we just put our faith in God, :p jk had to throw that...

  • is DNA a code?

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    by cynic252 posted: 04 Jun 2013 Category: Science 35

    I have been having a running debate with a friend about whether DNA is a code...I believe it isnt but I cont convince of the idea and wondered whether I am wrong.

  • Compartmentalization and Double Lives

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    by InYourFaceNewYorker posted: 04 Jun 2013 Category: Science 8

    By now I'm sure almost everyone has heard about the three women in Ohio who were missing for about ten years and then found alive in the house of a guy named Ariel Castro. Details...

  • Suggestions for books on mathematics?

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    by UncertaintyBlog posted: 01 Jun 2013 Category: Education 22

    Does anyone have any recommendations for good introductory mathematics books? I'm trying to find something analogous to Richard Feynman's famous lectures on physics, but for math. Haven't thought much about it since high school, but would...

  • Addressing door-to-door evangelism

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    by Jason Stripling posted: 29 May 2013 Category: Religion 55

    Does anyone know if there is a resource that could help me when challenging the door-to-door missionaries? It would be extremely helpful to be able to go and pull a folder with a print out of the...

  • Genetically modified food

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    by Kristine Sackett posted: 27 May 2013 Category: Science 38

    This is something I have become increasingly concerned about and I was wondering where I could find some solid sience on the subject.

  • New Athiest

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    by kiwichick posted: 25 May 2013 Category: Religion 90

    Hi All I am an Ex-Mormon, Over the past few months I have been feeling quite depressed. A few weeks ago I gave in my resignation to leave the Mormon Church, who...

  • Abiogenesis , multiple times?

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    by degeus posted: 23 May 2013 Category: Science 24

    Hi there, Somebody asked me why Abiogenesis happened only once. My response was that it may very well have happened multiple times but that the Earth's atmosphere transitioned from...

  • Consciousness and Life

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    by Cairsley posted: 22 May 2013 Category: Science 74

    Having read Consciousness Explained by Daniel C. Dennett, I am very grateful to the author of this excellent book for setting out what amounts to a promising basis for furthering the understanding of consciousness, which...

  • Atheist Teen

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    by Aubriel_J posted: 20 May 2013 Category: Religion 58

    My name is Abby and I'm an atheist. I happen to live in a very small, very religious town where I am somewhat notorious for my views. My family and I have been horribly harassed...

  • Raising Atheist Children

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    by direred posted: 19 May 2013 Category: Atheism 49

    Fellow atheist parents, Do you or how do you speak about religion or lack thereof around your children? Do you encourage atheism directly in your household or do you encourage the little...

  • Definition of pseudoscience

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    by ieva posted: 19 May 2013 Category: Science 29

    Could somebody suggest a definition of pseudoscience? Because, for example, it should not be difficult to explain why homeopathy is a pseudoscience. Just a few basic facts, but they take time. And this approach is...

  • Atheist in Politics

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    by varunvarmaj posted: 16 May 2013 Category: Atheism 36

    I have lived in the US for a couple of years before returning back to my country India. While in US I was really suprised to see that none of the leading politicians are atheist...

  • Is every type of religion bad?

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    by sirious posted: 16 May 2013 Category: Religion 106

    Hey guys, I'm pretty new here. I apologize in advance for my lack of grammar (I'm Swedish...) I have a question for you, that I would be very glad if you could help me with....

  • Historical fact vs Faith Reasoning

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    by karatematt posted: 10 May 2013 Category: Religion 140

    Presupposing the historical veracity of the Christ figure as a teacher, a religious leader, an iconoclast, and (most importantly) a human man, what evidence acutally exists for assuming the supernatural miracles ascribed to this one man based...

  • The Amazing HIV virus

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    by Roedy posted: 10 May 2013 Category: Science 22

    I have had HIV since 1985. Every few years my personal strain of HIV develops an immunity to the drugs that I am taking, and I have to flip to a new cocktail of 3...

  • Is free will an illusion?

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    by alistair.scott.71 posted: 06 May 2013 Category: Science 217

    For this topic I came up with the following thought experiment: Imagine we were able to clone the early universe, an absolutely perfect clone, right down to the exact position of all its particles...

  • Lifelong atheist: How to live without despair?

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    by Merrick posted: 05 May 2013 Category: Atheism 90

    I'm in my 30s, and have been an atheist since I remember thinking about these issues. I suppose it is because my parents did not expose me to religion prior to the age or reason?...

  • Gender evolution

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    by Schwarzbach posted: 04 May 2013 Category: Education 27

    I have great respect for Richard Dawkins read a number of his books and some of Darwins. I am wondering if someone could answer this question?1.)How did gender evolve at the beginning of life on...

  • The Possible Evolution of the DNA Molecule

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    by LightSeeker posted: 03 May 2013 Category: Science 6

    My understanding is that all living things on earth contain the DNA molecule. As Dr. Dawkins has so eloquently revealed over the course of his studies, one can trace the evolution of...

  • When "Respectable" Supernatural Beliefs Come Home to Roost

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    by Jumped Up Chimpanzee posted: 01 May 2013 Category: Religion 46

    Earlier this week, Richard Dawkins questioned whether a journalist could be taken seriously for believing in supernatural entities (specifically a winged horse capable of commuting between Heaven and Earth).   ...

  • The Contest: Creation and Evolution

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    by Stephen of Wimbledon posted: 30 Apr 2013 Category: Science 60

    I was intrigued by Joseph Mastropaolo's suggested contest, which he charaterizes as a way of "improving the quality of arguments between creationists and evolutionists".  His characterization, of course, immediately begins to set out the agenda...

  • How To Introduce Your Atheist Partner To Evangelical Parents

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    by The Unicorn Delusion posted: 26 Apr 2013 Category: Atheism 9

    So, I found this video on howcast, and it made me laugh. I though some of you guys may enjoy it, so here:http://www.howcast.com/videos/9347-How-to-Introduce-Your-Atheist-Partner-to-Your-Evangelical-Parents So... Discuss meeting your partners religious parents, I guess?

  • I'm New!

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    by Austin Purdy posted: 24 Apr 2013 Category: Atheism 22

    I hope that I'm allowed to post this, for this isn't really a debate or an argument (I'm unsure exactly what to post on this site), but I just wanted to say that I'm a...

  • Master thesis: Popular Science in Social Media

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    by larstee posted: 24 Apr 2013 Category: Science 10

    Hello everybody, My name is Lars and I’m a student at the University of Darmstadt in Germany. I’m currently preparing myself for my forthcoming Master thesis with the potential working title “Popular Science...

  • Religious Exemption Example In QLD News

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    by Dawnrazor posted: 24 Apr 2013 Category: Politics 17

    Hi all, Long time reader first time poster. I've just seen this situation play out in Australia and I'm frankly a bit annoyed by it, and unsure where to take this. I...

  • Irreducibly Complex

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    by karatematt posted: 23 Apr 2013 Category: Religion 14

    I basically just need some quick references to some works on the NOT SO irreducibly complex bacterial flagellum. 

  • Isn't our culture tainted by religion?

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    by benoniboy posted: 23 Apr 2013 Category: Politics 22

    So what if hypothetically, in the best of all possible worlds, belief in the nonsense of religion would disappear? Say the Roman juggernaut would shut down; the Pope, cardinals and priests would all get real...

  • Debate stumped

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    by GilliReason posted: 22 Apr 2013 Category: Science 43

    Hello fellow reasoners. I was hoping you could help chip away at my ignorance. I found myself stumped the other day while having a friendly debate with a religious person about evolution. They were clearly...

  • Utilising Religious Practices

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    by utopia posted: 20 Apr 2013 Category: Atheism 41

    Recently I've begun practising meditation for about 40 minutes a day, as often as I can anyway. My interest in religious experience and spirituality was cut short when I was quite young, as I realised...

  • Rebirth and past life experiences

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    by Logical Thinker posted: 19 Apr 2013 Category: Pseudoscience 61

    Hey everyone..!!! I'm an atheist brought up in an atheistic Buddhist environment. Everything I learned in my religion or better call it a philosophy, were more like logical stuff and everything was about reasoning, and nothing to...

  • Religious fanaticism into schools on a false premise

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    by StuM posted: 19 Apr 2013 Category: Education 9

    The Australasian school in which I work has offered to host a presentation by Academy Conferences http://www.academyconferences.com/ that will be attended by some of my school's students and others from around the city.  This is...

  • promoting science

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    by siwel.trebor@bighpond.com posted: 18 Apr 2013 Category: Science 35

    I just saw the RD representative on our show Planet America here in Australia  I am fighting mad.  I do not believe in religion but would never stop anyone from having a personal belief in god.  This does...

  • A question of succession

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    by MrJB posted: 18 Apr 2013 Category: Education 54

    Maybe succession isn't the right word, and maybe this sounds like a silly question, but I've been wondering where the younger spokesmen are for the subjects that men like Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher...

  • Why identify as atheist and not nihilist?

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    by Happy Nihilist posted: 17 Apr 2013 Category: Atheism 49

    What would you say is the distinguishing criteria to draw the line between atheist and nihilist? I consider myself an existential nihilist and yet when I read much of the arguments made by self-labelled atheists...

  • Godspeed to your godless shoes

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    by nongorilla1 posted: 17 Apr 2013 Category: Atheism 12

    I tripped over a funny story about an online-shoeshop in Germany whose deliveries to US customers takes much longer with their label on the box than without it. The name of the label...