1. An Open Letter to Richard Dawkins

Comment #96819 by kizumoto on December 11, 2007 at 12:57 am

Although the role of the Church in the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition is regularly exaggerated by simplistic readings of history, in his public prayer of atonement John Paul II focused only on the Church's role in this fanaticism. During that 350 year period of history, it is estimated that 5,000- 10,000 people were put to death in the name of orthodoxy.

2. AAI 07

Comment #82590 by kizumoto on October 26, 2007 at 8:35 pm

About Eddy Tabash's comment.
Are there really so many financially successful Americans who are eager to see religion lose its powerful grip on the averge Americans, but not at the cost of ensuring them access to health insurance, to well-financed public schools, and expectations of a decent living wage. Reminds me of a cartoon I saw in the sixties. (Perhaps the New Yorker)

An outdoor cafe in an Italian city: a man in black suit to his friend as they sit sipping their coffee and watching communists parading on the street, "I would do anything to stop them, short of paying my taxes of course".

3. FFRF 07 Conference Footage

Comment #82308 by kizumoto on October 26, 2007 at 3:14 am

Yeah the songs.
Dan Barker loves to write and sing those not so funny songs making fun of religion.
Forgive him! His organization has done so much for the Church-state separation cause, he deserves his little eccentricity.
And he brought Hitchens to speak, fully aware that his audience would attac; the speaker on his position on Iraq, and that unpleasant things would be said. That's gutsy. He was willling to risk the cordial atmosphere for a genuine argument over an important issue. Forums like this should not be mutual admiration societies; leave that for mega-churches.
Same applies to Sam Harris and his critics at the other conference.

4. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #76668 by kizumoto on October 6, 2007 at 4:03 pm

Maybe I will start listening to Air America again. I used to listen, and remember that the only one with a sense of humour was Al Franken. Now there is two. Lionel's voice isn't that nasal, and so what if it is? I would have to hear a little more of him to give him marks, but he, as I said, has a sense of humour, and doesn't take himself as serously as say, Rush L.

5. Alex the Parrot

Comment #69753 by kizumoto on September 12, 2007 at 2:52 pm

Reminds me of a story told by a Canadian writer. He bought a parrot in Mexico (as I recall), but after a few years, he had to get rid of it. He took it to an aviary at a local zoo. As he was leaving the cage, the parrot said a word to him that it had never said before. "Daddy", that was the word the writers sons (then pre-teens) called him. But a few months later, he visited the aviary and the parrot paid no attention to him.

6. The importance of doubt

Comment #66471 by kizumoto on August 30, 2007 at 4:29 am

I got as far as, "Stalin attempted, in vain, to eliminate religionists by working them to death or hanging them. Hitler starved and gassed them".
I thought Stalin tried to eliminate anone who he imagined threatened his power, many of whom were communists.
And Hitler mainly gassed Jews of all kinds; not just the religious ones."
I will never know if the rest of the article was equally dumb.

7. Town Hall Seattle: God Is Not Great

Comment #57321 by kizumoto on July 18, 2007 at 11:39 pm

If anyone has any way to communicate with Christopher Hitchens, please tell him to drop the story about the Hirohito's son, the Japanese Crown Prince, now Emperor. it will harm his credibility.
He states that Hitohito's son went to Oxford in the thirties.
However he was born in 1933 and did not go to Oxford. In fact I just checked his bio and discovered he never studied in the UK.
Hirohito's grandson, the present Crown Prince studied at Oxford beginning in 1983: river transport on the River Thames. This was long after the Imperial family had officially denied the notion that the Emporer is a God, so such a conversation could not have taken place regarding treatment of Hirohito's grandson.
In short, the story about the Crown Prince at Oxford is not true.

8. The infinite wisdom of Richard Dawkins

Comment #51703 by kizumoto on June 24, 2007 at 7:29 am

Thanks to John Allemang, for giving Richard Dawkins a chance to rebuff Preston's column.
And by the way, one of the 31 translations mentioned above appeared on the bookshelves this week here in Japan, where I live. It might be well timed for Japan. A couple of months ago, a book-length evangelical tract called Power for Living was being heavily promoted on Japanese TV.
I was a little taken aback by the reference to RD as, "An endless promoter of himself ". It seems to me he endlessly promotes his ideas; which is great.

9. In the name of the Father

Comment #51443 by kizumoto on June 23, 2007 at 1:21 am

Sorry, in my previous message, I tried to use blockguote for the first time, and forgot the / mark in the second one, so the quote and my comment are reversed.

10. In the name of the Father

Comment #51441 by kizumoto on June 23, 2007 at 1:19 am

The view of distinguished sociologists such as David Martin is that in the modern world wars are usually caused by factors other than religion, but that because religion is such a crucial marker of identity, it can be used by unscrupulous people to exacerbate conflict.

And religion has always been more than willing to be used in this way. I often wonder why the atheist writers do not point out more often than they do that while many wars were not fought over religious issues, organized religion, being in the pocket of the powerful, did little to stop them.

11. The courage of their convictions

Comment #50997 by kizumoto on June 21, 2007 at 1:15 am

I just did a search to learn more about Maryam Namazie.
There are many clips of her speeches, interviews, and so on on YouTube.
She is a great speaker: pulls no punches.

12. The Conversion of the Casual Evolutionist - You can't spell love without evolve

Comment #44188 by kizumoto on May 23, 2007 at 3:06 pm

Reading the messages, I detect confusion over the writer's reason for writing ths article. A look at the web site and some of his earlier articles on that site suggests he is trying to ridicule evolution while displaying his wit to the other site members. It is a Catholic site and he is one of its main participants.

13. Lou Dobbs w/ Hitchens on Al Sharpton's Bigoted Remark

Comment #39539 by kizumoto on May 11, 2007 at 4:54 am

Its good to see believers going at each other openly. It exposes the phoniness of ecuminicsm. In public they shake hands and talk about how much they have in common, then in their Sunday Schools, madrasses, and wherever they indoctrinate their children, they teach that the "others" are unsaved or infidels.

14. Sam Harris in conversation with Oliver McTernan

Comment #38781 by kizumoto on May 9, 2007 at 7:17 am

IQHQ can't warm to Sam Harris.
So what? Neither can I. Frankly I cannot warm to Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens, although I admire them greatly for their various achievements and their courage and skill in expressing their views on religion.

By the way, I can warm to and would like to get to know Daniel Dennett and E.O. Wilson, but will probably not.

We do not have to feel warm fuzzy feelings about these eloquent spokesmen for rationality.

15. An ecumenical contempt for religion

Comment #38401 by kizumoto on May 8, 2007 at 2:27 am

Hitchens most frequently refers to his hatred of Saddam as his reason for supporting the invasion of Iraq. But in a public debate I streamed recently (I think a CSpan event) he said something to the effect.
"What better reason is there to go to war than over oil?" He said it several times, stridently (of course).
He is openly declaring that extending American power over the oil resources of the region is another legitimizing reason for the war. That is not a religious belief either

16. An ecumenical contempt for religion

Comment #38379 by kizumoto on May 7, 2007 at 11:25 pm

Vit Wagner commented:
"Putin was wearing a crucifix from his grandmother," Hitchens says. "I have a feeling that crucifix was around his neck only for that one day. I'd bet my house I'm right on that."

Hitchens might be wrong about that. I recently read a report that Putin has become a genuine believing Orthodox Christian.
Cannot refer to the article, but it might be true.