1. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #152834 by Coelacanth on March 31, 2008 at 3:55 pm

Happy Birthday Richard. Please take good care of your health. I can't imagine what we would do without you!

May the great Ju-Ju at the bottom of the sea grant you many more years!

2. Richard Dawkins on The Alan Colmes Show

Comment #143961 by Coelacanth on March 14, 2008 at 6:19 pm

Response to Quine . . .

I think that Richard comes close to doing this in some other interview I heard. Instead of the Civil War he draws the analogy to the Roman Empire. Only a fool would suggest that there was never a Roman Empire in the face of all the archaeological eveidence we have.

3. Richard Dawkins on The Alan Colmes Show

Comment #143951 by Coelacanth on March 14, 2008 at 5:57 pm

Great show! I too recall the last Colmes interview with Dr. Dawkins (I think it was in the fall of '06). Anyone who listened to that show will certainly remember the nutcase who said that he would kill his neighbor if there was no god. The old lady who tried to rationalize faith and reason by saying that "god injected a soul somewhere along the way" is probably referring to Pope Pius XII's encyclial "Humani Generis" (1950) where he postulates this idiotic idea. I was raised catholic and even attended catholic seminary in the Vatican for six years. My own experience testifies that it is impossible for faith and reason to coinicide on any scientific question. Pope Pius XII's lame attempt to reconcile the two falls flat on its face. The same holds true for the late Pope John Paul II in his masterpiece of obscurification entitled "Fides et Ratio".

Colmes is a great interviewer and you have to feel sorry for him for being Sean Hannity's foil character on the blatantly biased Hannity and Colmes show. I hope Fox News pays him well for all the crap he has to put up with from Sean.

4. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #132370 by Coelacanth on February 24, 2008 at 4:39 pm

Can this ring theory also be applied to the various subspecies of Elaphe obsoleta that vary greatly in color as one moves north from the Florida Keys up to Canada? In south Florida the rat snake which goes by the name Elaphe obsoleta rossalleni is uniformly orange. At the opposite extreme up in Pennsylvania it is the "black rat snake" (Elpahe obsoleta obsoleta). In between (from Georgia up through the Carolinas) you find a broad spectrum of intermediate colorations, e.g. the yellow rat snake, gray rat snake, coastal rat snake, etc. etc. However, you will never find an Everglades rat snake and black rat snake sharing the same natural geography - unless of course one escapes from the cage of a careless herp collector.

5. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #132362 by Coelacanth on February 24, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Great article! Thank you for all the work you do, Richard. I am a frequent visitor to this website and always look forward to feasting in the banquet of information it provides.

Are you familiar with any of the research that studies the co-evolution of the Californian Red-Sided Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis) and the posionous species of newt upon which it feeds? The authors of the study discover some intersting connections between the snakes red markings and the poisonous newts it preys upon. After watching "The Salamander's Tale," I googled a bit and came across the following article: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0006-3568(199912)49:12<945:HTTAET>2.0.CO;2-3

Keep up the great work!

Tony (Augusta, GA)

6. The Group Delusion

Comment #110626 by Coelacanth on January 11, 2008 at 4:05 pm

Professor Dawkins,

Thank you for your writings, this web site, and for elevating my appreciation of science and reason. As a resident of the bible belt it is not always easy (or safe) to express my views on faith and religion. Like many out here, I suspect, I just go through the motions of ritual and tradition just to blend in. Your wonderful work, however, occasionally moves me to "push the envelope" (so to speak) and challenge others to examine the weakness of their claims.

I think it was in "The Blind Watchmaker" that you suggested that pre-Darwinian thinkers could not be "intellectually-fulfilled" atheists. With that in mind I was wondering if you are familiar with Umberto Eco's epistolary exchange with Cardinal Martini??? Eco makes a rock solid case for Atheism without appealing to science and evolution. Here is the link to Amazon for his argument: http://www.amazon.com/Belief-Nonbelief-Umberto-Eco/dp/1559704977

I would be curious to hear your take on his argument.

Best wishes and keep up the great work. You are right on the mark when you suggest that there are many more atheists out here (even in the bible belt) than most people realize. I am one of them!

Southeast, GA
USA

7. The Group Delusion

Comment #110165 by Coelacanth on January 10, 2008 at 3:01 pm

Right on Richard! I couldn't agree more.

8. The Group Delusion

Comment #110131 by Coelacanth on January 10, 2008 at 2:27 pm

I wonder how many faith-heads will use this article to support their attack on reason and the fatuous claim that "even scientist can't agree on anything"

Iregardless of the finer nuances of semantics in this article E.O. Wilson remains a major diety in my own pantheon of Reason. I have read Consilience at least a dozen times . . . a brilliant mastpiece!

By the way . . . has anyone caught wind of the growing controversy surrounding Joy Behar's remarks about The Church's saints and their need for anti-psychotics??? That clueless Fr. Johnathen has already chimed in and I'm sure it won't be too long before The Catholic League's president , Bill Donahue, starts whining. We'll see . . .

9. Richard Dawkins on 'Have Your Say'

Comment #105112 by Coelacanth on December 30, 2007 at 3:28 pm

Response to #41 above . . .

Steve, be assured that I have friends who are gay and apologize if my comment was out of character. His sexual orientation is certainly irrelevant to his views and responses to Dawkins.

In regards to your question above, his soap box rantings and rehersal have nothing to do with him being gay. I was merely confirming #12's obeservation, above. Fr. Johnathen projects a personality that is traditionally consistent with the homosexual culture, i.e. slight lisp, femanine gesticulations . . . might I also mention the Roman Collar?

10. Richard Dawkins on 'Have Your Say'

Comment #105091 by Coelacanth on December 30, 2007 at 2:40 pm

"The gay priest from FoxNews is condescending and attempts to discredit RD, did anyone else pick up on that one?"

Definately gay . . . you can tell he really rehersed his soap-box rant. Recall how he started out: "You know as I was walking by the pope's window earlier . . . blah blah blah"

Before I became an atheist I was once a seminarian studying for the priesthood in Rome. I have seen Fr. Johnathen's kind.

11. Richard Dawkins on 'Have Your Say'

Comment #105080 by Coelacanth on December 30, 2007 at 2:13 pm

Did anyone else get the impression that the female muslim reporter in Istanbul is perhaps an unbeliever? Her question to Dawkins was so lame and non-proking "Do you think that your book may be offensive to some believers?"

12. Christmas with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #102150 by Coelacanth on December 21, 2007 at 7:17 pm

Yeah old stuff . . . but I do get a high out of reading it especially this jewel of a quote:

"One definite way to prove that we are half a chromosome away from being chimpanzees is to look at our religious practices."

So true.

13. Excerpt from 'The Portable Atheist'

Comment #87645 by Coelacanth on November 12, 2007 at 4:54 pm

I love how he lumps Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin in the same camp as Bin Laden: "bare, narrow, constipated, and fearful." Very well said!

14. Al Gore on Reason

Comment #44939 by Coelacanth on May 25, 2007 at 3:54 pm

"Mind Rebel" tarnishes the image of rationalism and atheism. He reinforces the stereotype that atheists are just frustrated and angry at god.

Will someone please show "Mind Rebel" to the kiddie table?

15. Al Gore on Reason

Comment #44934 by Coelacanth on May 25, 2007 at 3:46 pm

I agree with Carnitine (# 4 above) . . . I don't think he's stupid enough to be a creationist. Remember, he is a politician and pandering is his art.

It reminds me of the republican debate a few weeks back when the question was posed to senator McCain about his belief in Evolution. McCain answered in the affirmative but quickly qualified his response by saying he also recognizes the "hand of god" at work in the world. Again, I think McCain (and probably many other leaders) are closet atheists or agnostics.

Dawkins is right on the mark when he discusses this in TGD.

16. Al Gore on Reason

Comment #44907 by Coelacanth on May 25, 2007 at 2:39 pm

Does anyone know anything about Gore's religious beliefs or lack thereof? He seems too intellegient to fall for the god delusion.

17. God help us all - The No. 2 book on Amazon right now is a

Comment #44904 by Coelacanth on May 25, 2007 at 2:25 pm

"Islamofacism" . . .

Yes, I am also sick of that line - especially when I hear it uttered by Bill O'Reily and his ilk.

18. E.O. Wilson and Daniel Dennett

Comment #44903 by Coelacanth on May 25, 2007 at 2:21 pm

If I were not an atheist I would probably worship E.O. Wilson as a God. After Dawkins' writings, Consilience is one of the most influential books I have ever read, especially the chapter on the origins of religion and ethics. Thank you for posting this!

19. Hitchens on Falwell, Part 2

Comment #43508 by Coelacanth on May 21, 2007 at 9:08 pm

I only wish I had Hitchen's quick-witted and biting come-backs . . . You can tell that Hannity was intimidated. I would love to see Hitchens go head to head with O'Reily. It's not only what he says but how he says it that makes him so formidable.

20. Al Sharpton and Christopher Hitchens

Comment #40199 by Coelacanth on May 13, 2007 at 7:03 pm

My favorite part is when Hitchens responds to that guy's question about stating what an incredibly stupid question it is. That was great. His subsequent metaphor about religion being a "toy" is even better!!!

21. Does God Exist? The Nightline Face-Off

Comment #40197 by Coelacanth on May 13, 2007 at 6:58 pm

I agree with Dawkins that evolutionists should not debate creationists. Although the RSS trampled Kirk and Comfort, I fear that they reinforced the "faith-head" sterotype that all atheists are just frustrated with life and angry at god. Brian and Kelly look and sound too much like angry and rebellious teenagers-- especially Kelly with her tatooed arm and that comment about preferring to burn in hell than believe in god.

22. Religion & Culture Panel

Comment #36292 by Coelacanth on April 30, 2007 at 8:49 pm

Great eloquence on Hitchen's part! His point blank question to the other panelist (about God as author of the universe and his straight-faced quip on Aquinas flying around the nave of Notre Dame) are still resonating in my head.

What's the deal with the "crack-pot fascist?" I am kind of curious as to what he was wanting to ask . . .