1. Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks

Comment #175617 by Steve Wrathall on May 5, 2008 at 5:44 pm

"...we need more criticism of Islam, not less. Let it come down in such torrents that not even the most deluded Islamist could conceive of containing it."
Are you listening people? What have YOU done today to contribute to this needed tsunami of islamo-criticism.

MY 2 cents worth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqM3W8IcgP4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9it9iUUn6Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwlj1Yc2_YQ

2. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #157224 by Steve Wrathall on April 8, 2008 at 6:18 pm

RICHARD DAWKINS: "...her personal opinion is of no interest on a factual matter where there is evidence"
STUPID WOMAN: "Richard, what do you think that means? (giggle giggle)"

What a moron. He has just described one of the most important concepts that has freed billions of minds from the fog of superstition over the last 500 years.

3. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #133171 by Steve Wrathall on February 25, 2008 at 6:41 pm

JemyM

>>There's a one word debunker here... "Sweden".

Not so fast. Sweden is in a demographic death spiral, like most modern welfarist states where the citizens think it's the government's job to wipe their khyber for them. Malmo will be majority muslim soon. And if Sweden were to become a US state, it would be poorer than Alabama.

4. Scientists want rewrite of Earth's time line

Comment #117694 by Steve Wrathall on January 29, 2008 at 11:53 am

There already is a Epoch that centres around man's presence. It's called the Holocene:
from wiki:
"...the more recent of the two epochs of the Quaternary Period, beginning at the end of the last Ice Age about 11,000 years ago and characterized by the development of human civilizations."

5. Sam Harris debate with Rabbi David Wolpe

Comment #108718 by Steve Wrathall on January 7, 2008 at 1:13 pm

Comment #108653 by IPV4
"this shows your lack of research in alternative energy and where were are today with them , as well as the efficiency that have been gained in just that last few years."

These cheap, reliable alternative energies have been promised "just around the corner" for decades. And yet in windy NZ for e.g., the spot price of electricity is still 6c/ kWh while wind power costs 11c/ kWh

See my Youtube videos (Username= stevewrathall) where I expand on this topic.

"If you do the research about electric cars and some of the companies that have the technologies that exist today,"
Some of us want to be able to travel more than 100 km without recharging. If you have this miracle technology in your back pocket, build it.

6. Blind Faiths

Comment #108703 by Steve Wrathall on January 7, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Comment #108638 by al-rawandi " It is interesting that the terrorists don't target Sweden, or Norway, or New Zealand..."

(CNN)Protesters burn consulate over cartoons - Feb 5, 2006 The violence came one day after protesters in neighboring Damascus, Syria, torched the Norwegian Embassy and the Danish Embassy..

7. Sam Harris debate with Rabbi David Wolpe

Comment #108411 by Steve Wrathall on January 6, 2008 at 7:32 pm

Comment #108393 by Roland_F
"The biggest greenhouse gas polluter is the USA"
No, China overtook them in 2006

"Is the biggest Oil producer Saudi Arabia (a fundamentalist Wahabism Monarchy/Theocracy) reliable ?"
Fossil fuels are more reliable than wind/solar/wave regardless of the politics of the dirt from which they're dug.

"Actually scientist's models predicting more than 4 degrees C as average when nothing is done, some models predicting 10 degrees"
This is a common sleight of hand: To allude to scientific consensus, and then imply that the most extremist warming predictions are part of that consensus. Your predictions of 4 deg C+ fly in the face of the NO global warming since 1998. These wild projections assume the climate is dominated by positive feedback. Over 3 billion years of life support shows the opposite is true.

8. Sam Harris debate with Rabbi David Wolpe

Comment #108316 by Steve Wrathall on January 6, 2008 at 1:25 pm

Harris makes a comment to the effect that we don't sacrifice children anymore in the hope that the weather will be changed.
Actually that's exactly what the Kyoto Treaty seeks to do: weaken economies and deny poor countries access to cheap, reliable energy in the belief that the weather 100 years from now will be 0.07 degrees C cooler.

9. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #106156 by Steve Wrathall on January 2, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Dhweaver: >>"That's not the scary part though. Man has created a new wind for the feather's course to be manipulated by. At least the old wind was proven to sustain life for 100+ million years."

Which shows that the natural world is dominated by stabilising natural feedback systems. This is the opposite of the environmetal dogma that Mo Earth is "fragile" and ready to be tipped into destruction by humans' selfish urge to live and breed on her in comfort.

10. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #104396 by Steve Wrathall on December 28, 2007 at 12:32 pm

"When we threaten the balance of things, we don't just put our material survival at risk..."
More evidence that our craving to believe in apocalyptism is probably evolutionarily hotwired.
So many religious "moderates", now too embarrassed to sell Revelations et.al., jump on the "climate alarmism" bandwagon. A brilliant fit as they have the same aversion to material wellbeing and love of human suffering as the deep green religios.

11. Voyager 2 probe reaches solar system boundary

Comment #98264 by Steve Wrathall on December 13, 2007 at 11:48 am

>> Diacanu "Oh wow, I thought it had left when it passed Pluto.
How long ago was that, 10, 15 years?"

Neither Voyager passed Pluto. Voyager 1 only passed Jupiter ('79) and saturn ('80),
While Voyager 2 passed Jupiter ('79), Saturn ('81), Uranus ('86) and Neptune ('89).
The First spacecraft to visit the now non-planet pluto will be New Horizons in '15 (launched ('06).

12. Controversial Anti-Muslim Dutch Film Adds to Already Simmering Tensions

Comment #97634 by Steve Wrathall on December 12, 2007 at 1:02 pm

>>al-Touraihi said. "... he never goes out for debates because I think he knows that he would lose voters."
No, because he is afraid for his life and doesn't want to end up like Fortyn and van Gogh.

13. Atheists' sign sparks controversy

Comment #96406 by Steve Wrathall on December 10, 2007 at 1:36 pm

>>"We believe that Christ is the reason for Christmas," said Chennelle.

Wrong sorry. The Earth's tilt is the reason for this Pagan solstice ritual, which was flogged by the Xtians.

>>Chennelle and Houser have been fighting back with prayer.

It's true!! Research shows that people who know they're being prayed for have higher rates of post-operative complications. Prayer is a nasty weapon. Prayer kills.

14. Nurses Told to Turn Muslims' Beds to Mecca

Comment #93998 by Steve Wrathall on December 4, 2007 at 2:44 pm

How about Muslims launching samples of meccan soil into orbit on a fleet of satellites. That way there'll always be sufficient samples of the holy city to catch the telepathic projections of the ummah whichever way they're facing.

15. Banishing the Green-Eyed Monster

Comment #92053 by Steve Wrathall on November 29, 2007 at 7:14 pm

"Bill Clinton was impeached not for sexual misconduct but for lying about it. But he was entitled to lie about his private life"

Sorry, wrong prof. When a judge asks you a question, no matter how embassassing, you tell the truth or your sorry ass does time. Makes no diff if your the prez (or shouldn't)

Always suspected RD was a swinger.

16. Dutch lawmaker planning film criticizing the Quran

Comment #91582 by Steve Wrathall on November 28, 2007 at 3:45 pm

US-Limey said "...we must heap such piles of shit on their faith they have no choice but to get used to it or piss off.

If we all do it, safety in numbers will be our best defence. They can't murder us all. That's one of the reasons I have settled on the avatar of the bomb on the head Mohammed. One day soon when I am brave enough I'll start posting my real name. I'm not ready yet - I want to be up front with my own cowardice there."

You've hit the nail(bomb) on the head. Criticising Islam in every way, and often, is the only way. To those who say it will only make them feel persecuted and lash out- bollocks!
One day the Africaaners woke up and realised the world hated their guts. Did they start blowing themselves up? No. They picked up the phone and said "Hey Nelson, let's talk deal"

In contrast, this weakness and dhimmitude only encourages them:
"the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated"
Bin Laden fatwa 1996

17. Turkey probes atheist's 'God' book

Comment #91562 by Steve Wrathall on November 28, 2007 at 2:48 pm

1 Perth Pl,
Palmerston North
(06)353 6619

Turkish Embassy,
Level 8,
5-17 Murphy St
PO Box 12-248
Thorndon,
Wellington
0-4-472 1292

29 November 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to express my dismay that the Turkish translator and publisher of Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion Erol Karaaslan, is being investigated for possible prosecution in your country for "inciting religious hatred" and "insulting religious values". The God Delusion is a brilliant work by one of today's most accomplished scientific thinkers. It argues passionately for freedom of conscience and freedom of belief.

I cannot stress how badly the harassment of Mr Karaaslan reflects on Turkey's international reputation.

I urge the Turkish state to speedily repeal all such laws which privilege religious ideas, and shield them from the kind of open debate that we apply to other areas of discourse.

Yours Sincerely
Steve wrathall

18. My life under a fatwa

Comment #91204 by Steve Wrathall on November 27, 2007 at 3:28 pm

Watts_Pete said "civilizations flourish from barbarism and become progressive and liberal. Women are emancipated, free to choose who by and whether and when to have children, and often choose not to - and the civilization is overrun by the barbarians. Luckily ours should last me out."
You've hit the secular paradox on its head. Free to choose means free to demographically die out, while ideologies that enslave women exponentially grow. This problem is exacerbated by the environmentalist ideology which instills a self-loathing guilt about the carbon footprint of every baby we bring into the world.

19. Sunday School for Atheists

Comment #90801 by Steve Wrathall on November 26, 2007 at 11:59 am

Why not a Flying Spaghetti Monster Sunday School?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_M37EWQGCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7KWgaoZAc8

20. Exorcism death shocks archdeacon

Comment #87938 by Steve Wrathall on November 13, 2007 at 5:59 pm

There is another thread I started on this sad event at:

http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=28497

Irate_Atheist said:
>>"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
- Denis Diderot

>>Quick - has anyone got a king handy?

If anyone's seen the latest National Geographic, I nominate the Tongan king.

21. Dr Bari: Government stoking Muslim tension

Comment #87292 by Steve Wrathall on November 11, 2007 at 5:07 pm

[quote]Sir Salman Rushdie should never have been knighted, he says. "He caused a huge amount of distress and discordance with his book, it should have been pulped."[/quote]
Those who want to pulp books will one day pulp people.

22. The greatest debate

Comment #80695 by Steve Wrathall on October 22, 2007 at 4:40 pm

>>Australia's Atheist Foundation president David Nicholls wrote to The Australian last year saying Christianity, Islam and Judaism were the "metaphorical oil lubricating the situation" in the Middle East. "These, all unevidenced and relying solely on infant indoctrination, need recognition as a threat, not just to the region but also to the whole of humanity,' he wrote. "The planet has enough real problems with a looming energy crisis, global warming, overpopulation and failing eco-systems."

Sliding in the obligatory environmental scare stories cheapen Mr Nicholls' valid criticisms of religions. These prophecies of doom are no more real than were Paul Ehrlich's predictions of 100s of millions dying of famine in the 1970s or the Club of Rome in 1972 saying that oil would run out by 1992. Nothing like these happened. Instead science has bought about a cornucopia, with once famine-ridden regions becoming net food exporters. The biggest threat after religion is the retreat from fossil fuels which underpin our economies.

23. Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize

Comment #79010 by Steve Wrathall on October 15, 2007 at 9:37 pm

How ironic that RD should rightly decry the subverting of science by the Templeton Foundation, and then praise the equally science-subverting Al Gore. Four polar bears die in a storm, and al extrapolates to their being threatened by extinction= not a trivial error. And there are many more in his so-called documentary.

24. Muslims tell Christians: 'Make peace with us or survival of world is at stake'

Comment #78096 by Steve Wrathall on October 11, 2007 at 7:35 pm

"to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions" ???
OK how about for starters, muslims adopt the following "common essentials" shared by almost all the rest of humanity (not just christos):
- complete freedom to leave your religion (incl islam)
- freedom to proselytise towards, away from, upwards or sideways WRT any belief system.
- complete equality of human rights incl infidels in majority moslem countries.
- unequivocal renunciation of terrorism, jihad, dhimmitude, and division of the world into dar al islam and dar al harb
- equality b/w male and female

Come back to us when you've sorted that, eh.

25. How China Got Religion

Comment #77996 by Steve Wrathall on October 11, 2007 at 12:27 pm

It's said that moderate religion provides the cover for extreme religion. But maybe "culture" does as well. Maybe worldwide homogenisation of culture is the price we'll all have to eventually pay for world peace. Speak English, use metric, spend dollars, respect only reason and evidence. Yup, works for me.

26. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: abandoned to fanatics

Comment #77552 by Steve Wrathall on October 9, 2007 at 4:22 pm

Suggestions that AHA should have to pay for her own protection are contemptible. Protecting people's rights is the most fundamental duty of government, especially as they have claimed a monopoly on the use of force, and deprive us of the right to protect ourselves.
Similarly pathetic is the attempt to slur her through labelling her employer, AEI, "Christian fundamentalist". They are a think-tank devoted to excellence in public policy. Heavily supported by atheist Bill Gates' Microsoft.
But even if they do include XXian fundis, when was the last time such people mutilated genitals, stoned adulterers, or flew planes into buildings?
As a rationalist I do not subscribe to the asinine doctrine of cultural relativism, where all religion ase equally bad, and sometimes we have to make common cause with the less vile to combat the truly putrid.

27. A New Debate

Comment #75798 by Steve Wrathall on October 3, 2007 at 4:49 pm

dvespertilio wrote:
"Excuse me, but E. O Wilson is one of the most respected environmental scientists alive..."

Invalid argument of authority.
Plus the quote : [Through industrial pollution, the destruction of our rain forests, over-fishing, over-hunting and so on, we can destroy just about all life on earth] is Chapman's, not Wilson's. Check the article.

"We are facing, indeed, are already in, an environmental crisis of epoch proportions."

I think you mean Epic, as in Hollywood Blockbuster

"the Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan or Iran get a hold of nuclear weapons, we will have an environmental crisis that will be a whole lot worse, very, very quickly. Wouldn't rational people be calling for world wide nuclear disarmament about right now. And, gee whiz, THEY HAVE BEEN FOR SOME TIME. "

You half admit that the problem is not nuclear weapons, but who has them. The solution is therefore not world wide nuclear disarmament, but stopping thug regimes getting them. Instead we pay protection money to the North Koreans in return for promises not to build them. And they build them anyway!! Did the world learn nothing from the appeasement of Hilter: Sacrifice real security in return for an odious dictatorship's empty promises. And now we're letting Iran play exactly the same game.

28. A New Debate

Comment #75792 by Steve Wrathall on October 3, 2007 at 4:26 pm

Captain Underpants wrote:
"Having religious loonies butting in here is bad enough without having to contend with global warming denialists as well."

So let me get this straight. The IPCC predicts +2 deg C in a century. Nonetheless its respectable to take seriously Al Gore's 20 deg C rise (what would be required to melt Antarctica)

Then why does believing in a 0 deg C or negligible rise (World has cooled since '98) make me a whacked out "denier". Isn't zero many standard deviations closer to 2 than 20?

29. A New Debate

Comment #75549 by Steve Wrathall on October 3, 2007 at 1:35 am

"Through industrial pollution, the destruction of our rain forests, over-fishing, over-hunting and so on, we can destroy just about all life on earth."

This statement is as daft as anything the 3 creationist presedential hopefuls could come up with. No-one has ever come up with a scientifically credible mechanism wherby these could cause the destruction of " just about all life on earth." Managable regional problems, yes.

The deep green religion it represents is a greater threat to rationalism than theism. Creationism has been successfully excluded from all modern state curricula in developed nations. The most extreme environmentalist propaganda (e.g. Al Gore's sci-fi horror movie) permeates education, including teacher education.

30. Logical Path from Religious Beliefs to Evil Deeds

Comment #75394 by Steve Wrathall on October 2, 2007 at 1:59 pm

Good to see RD, after outlining the Taliban/9-11/7-7 atrocities, NOT then throwing in the obligatory PC swipe to Christo/ Judao/ Hindu etc fundies. Its time to admit that not all religions are equally bad and that Islam is winning the "religions behaving badly" sweepstakes by a wide margin.

31. Radical Christians in Iraq

Comment #71843 by Steve Wrathall on September 19, 2007 at 6:43 pm

As a classical liberal, I have to uphold their right to risk their lives urging Iraqis to trade one pile of nonsense for another.

32. Foreword for the UK edition of 'Letter to a Christian Nation'

Comment #43500 by Steve Wrathall on May 21, 2007 at 7:30 pm

Has it been translated into any other languages? Ditto with God Delusion, Breaking the spell &c

33. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #42162 by Steve Wrathall on May 17, 2007 at 6:20 pm

I think his dig at Bush doesn't do the atheist cause any good. There is as much unscientifif flannel on the left of the political spectrum as well, particularly within the anti-technology, sky-is-falling green movement.

34. Jerry Falwell's Hit Parade

Comment #42052 by Steve Wrathall on May 17, 2007 at 2:30 pm

What an a-hole. Mind you, what he said about muhammed is factually true.