1. Evolution fray attracts top scientist

Comment #163014 by Socrates on April 17, 2008 at 8:20 pm

When people say things like "evolution has flaws", I wonder what they're thinking of. Maybe questions like, "Why aren't monkeys having human babies?"

2. 'Expelled' ripped off Harvard's 'Inner Life of the Cell' animation

Comment #161639 by Socrates on April 15, 2008 at 1:15 pm

You've got to be kidding me:

Editor's Note: Questions have been raised about the origination of some of the animation used in our movie EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed. Claims that we have used any animation in an unauthorized manner are simply false. Premise Media created the animation that illustrates cellular activity used in our film.- The Producers of "EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed"

3. 'Darwin chip' brings evolution into the classroom

Comment #160140 by Socrates on April 13, 2008 at 5:44 pm

That is a truly amazing piece of technology!

4. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150220 by Socrates on March 26, 2008 at 3:26 pm

A most happy birthday to you Richard!

And many more!

5. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #148719 by Socrates on March 23, 2008 at 4:31 pm

Can anyone think of ways we can you popularize the ideas that "Organized complexity cannot just spontaneously happen" and that "design can never be an ULTIMATE explanation for organized complexity", as explicitly and clearly expressed as possible?

6. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #148706 by Socrates on March 23, 2008 at 4:10 pm

Well-done Richard! Please never stop reminding people that "Organized complexity cannot just spontaneously happen" and that "design can never be an ULTIMATE explanation for organized complexity." Eventually, it's got to sink in. Can you think of any ways you popularize these ideas, as explicitly and clearly expressed as possible?

7. BREAK THE SCIENCE BARRIER - Available Now on DVD

Comment #136304 by Socrates on February 29, 2008 at 9:34 pm

I very much enjoyed this documentary. Hopefully Dawkins and company will make a 21st century film along the same lines.

8. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #131011 by Socrates on February 21, 2008 at 5:20 pm

can't type... threw up on keyboard

9. A match made on RichardDawkins.net?

Comment #128794 by Socrates on February 18, 2008 at 12:39 am

The loneliness and sadness of some atheists unsettles me. It's something I've never experienced.

10. Arrogance, dogma and why science - not faith - is the new enemy of reason

Comment #128791 by Socrates on February 18, 2008 at 12:15 am

PZ comments: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/08/what_a_strange_argument.php

11. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #126259 by Socrates on February 12, 2008 at 8:12 pm

Richard Dawkins:

Thank you, thank you, thank you a thousand times. You have enriched my life immensely, and I suspsect I'm not the only one.

12. Why Darwin matters

Comment #124977 by Socrates on February 10, 2008 at 2:49 pm

Lucid and eloquent. A wonderful, beautiful piece of writing that I'm saving in a special place.

13. The New Atheist Movement

Comment #123270 by Socrates on February 6, 2008 at 6:50 pm

Anyone who thinks that "Breaking the Spell" is an inflammatory or angry book hasn't read it.

14. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc. were atheists, and they were terrible! Answer that!

Comment #117443 by Socrates on January 28, 2008 at 8:27 pm

Benjamin O'Donnell wrote the ultimate rebuttal to this craziness (http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=6925):

"At this point, a committed theist might point to the history of 20th century Communism and say that there is something about atheism that leads to barbarism, immorality and dictatorship. He or she might even say that there is something about atheism that leads to the very dogmatism that I and the "new anti-dogmatists" decry. But any theist who said that would have to explain the inconvenient fact that some of the most civilised, liberal and prosperous nations in the world are "atheistic", in the sense that a majority of their populations do not believe in God.

Take Sweden, for example. When polled, more than 80 per cent of Swedes say they don't believe in God and more than 40 per cent explicitly identify themselves as atheists. Yet Sweden has some of the lowest homicide, poverty, teenaged pregnancy and STD rates in the world. It is a functioning liberal democracy with high levels of wealth, very little social unrest and a near 100 per cent literacy rate.

And while Sweden is the extreme, the figures show that liberal democracies with low levels of theistic belief tend to be have high levels of societal health, and vice versa. Even in the heavily religious United States of America, the less religious a State is, the lower its rates of things like homicide, STD infection and teenage pregnancy tend to be. (See P Zuckerman, "Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns" in M Martin (ed), Cambridge Companion to Atheism (Cambridge University Press, UK, 2006), summarised here and here)

Clearly, a widespread disbelief in God is not incompatible with a healthy, happy, prosperous and civilised society. (Note I do not claim that atheism has caused these wonderful societies to be so wonderful. I cite these facts merely to show that atheism is compatible with social harmony.)

So, what is the difference between the slaughterhouses built by the Godless Communists of Russia and China and the civilised liberal polities built by the Godless progressives of Western Europe and elsewhere? The obvious answer is that Western European countries are liberal democracies committed to science and empiricism and reason, and freedom of speech and debate; whereas Soviet Russia and Red China clearly were not. It was not its atheism per se, but the illiberalism, the undemocratic nature, the dogmatism of Communism that made it the architect of so much 20th century horror."

15. Darwin Day (Feb 12th) E-Cards

Comment #114220 by Socrates on January 21, 2008 at 3:14 pm

gdhughes: done and done.

I set one up ages ago: http://hs.facebook.com/event.php?eid=5453992873

See also:
http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2231839961
http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2405755484

You'll also find other events for local celebrations.

16. CBC News: Sunday - Richard Dawkins

Comment #113818 by Socrates on January 20, 2008 at 4:52 pm

What the hell is wrong with that interview?

17. New Findings Confirm Darwin's Theory: Evolution Not Random

Comment #113518 by Socrates on January 19, 2008 at 9:46 pm

This article is just so bizarre...

I don't understand why Science Daily would post something like this.

18. George Scales, War Hero and Generous Friend of RDFRS

Comment #111483 by Socrates on January 14, 2008 at 6:43 pm

George,

You remind me of my personal heroes -- for example, the wonderful man that is my grandfather.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Trent Eady
Ontario, Canada

19. Richard Dawkins on The Late Edition with Marcus Brigstocke

Comment #110122 by Socrates on January 10, 2008 at 2:12 pm

As for the end... WTF?!

20. For the Love of Christ

Comment #101710 by Socrates on December 20, 2007 at 7:52 pm

Justin Fatica is a fatuous, cowardly bigot whose head is emptier than his meaningless Jesus speak.

Instead of kindness and intellectual honesty, he has aggression and gusto. As Voltaire said, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Fatica is a man who is passionately fighting to brainwash kids so that they can repeat this cycle of absurd belief and atrocious conduct. If he has any sanity or any morality that hasn't been fully deranged, you can't see it from behind his muscles.

"Christian soldiers armed with virtue- hearts afire with blind obsession, cannot see the difference 'twixt compassion and oppression." -Sabbat

21. THE FOUR HORSEMEN - Available Now on DVD!

Comment #98893 by Socrates on December 14, 2007 at 8:53 pm

Wow... so I wasn't the only one who thought up the idea of the Four Horsemen having a conference. I suppose it's an obvious idea to have atheism's biggest advocates in a room together having an unconstrained conversation.

Oh my goodness- I had to pinch myself after I opened the newsletter about the Four Horsemen discussion I had to pinch myself. This is when the Richard Dawkins Foundation moves from being pretty cool to being kick-ass.

22. Girl, 16, dies after hijab dispute with father

Comment #97863 by Socrates on December 12, 2007 at 6:22 pm

Photoshopped for Aqsa Parvez: http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9301/imagineredonecm9.jpg

23. Riding with Rocinante: 'It's me or the crucifix'

Comment #94789 by Socrates on December 6, 2007 at 2:39 pm

I wish Judge Tosti the best in this noble political battle!

24. Double-checking Dawkins

Comment #93316 by Socrates on December 2, 2007 at 4:40 pm

Oh my... I had to think about this one for a minute. I thought someone was planning to physically tackle Richard Dawkins... which begs the question: what's a *double*-check?

25. Banishing the Green-Eyed Monster

Comment #92963 by Socrates on December 1, 2007 at 8:43 pm

A wonderful article! I agree entirely.

26. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #92332 by Socrates on November 30, 2007 at 9:58 am

eXcommunicate- Looks like TVO, based on the graphic (see http://www.tvo.org/).

27. For the glory of God

Comment #88425 by Socrates on November 16, 2007 at 2:45 pm

I wrote this brief letter to the Ottawa Citizen in response:

Re: For the glory of God, Nov. 15 (page A17).

Thank goodness we Canadians have a lucid and candid writer like Dan Gardner to write about religion. In the Muslim world, what Westerns would classify as "fundamentalists" are the overwhelming majority.

According to a Pew Global poll conducted this year, 39% of Muslims in Mali see suicide bombings as either sometimes or often justified. In Nigeria, it's 42%. In the Palestinian territories, it's 70%. With the increasing availability of nuclear weapons technology, Islam presents us with a global emergency. I'm sure God would find nothing more glorious than a mushroom cloud.

28. 'Growing Up in the Universe' now available free online

Comment #88289 by Socrates on November 15, 2007 at 7:31 pm

You can also find the videos on YouTube: http://www.unpronounceable.com/dawkins/

29. God's Hostages

Comment #87160 by Socrates on November 11, 2007 at 11:13 am

I've made a YouTube video of the same name as this article: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT3yY1AYgMo

30. Richard Dawkins at AAI 07

Comment #85420 by Socrates on November 5, 2007 at 8:17 pm

A very interesting speech from Professor Dawkins. What we need now is action, action, action! :) We people of reason need to unashamedly make some noise.

31. Face to faith

Comment #84983 by Socrates on November 4, 2007 at 12:08 pm

Where there's lack of knowledge, there's invented knowledge.

When we don't understand a thunderstorm, we don't simply embrace mystery. We blame it on an old lady and torture her to death.

32. The Problem with Atheism

Comment #76371 by Socrates on October 5, 2007 at 4:19 pm

Superb article! I totally agree!

33. New Rules: A Religious Test

Comment #73337 by Socrates on September 24, 2007 at 7:14 pm

Mr. Maher, you have a new fan.

34. MORE GOOD NEWS for US taxpayers

Comment #72168 by Socrates on September 20, 2007 at 1:24 pm

I would also like to see an RDF branch in Canada. It is sorely needed since our government publicly funds Catholic schools -- my local Catholic high school had a "pro-life" march last year! In Ontario, we also have faith schools that teach creationism. Right now there is a political debate about whether we should fund non-Catholic schools outside the public school system.

Also, I'm sad to report, virtually no one in my school understands evolution and a few science-sheltered kids believe the story of Genesis -- and think melting ice caps are not a problem because God said he wouldn't send another flood!

35. Good News: Both our Foundations are now Officially Recognized as Charities

Comment #70256 by Socrates on September 14, 2007 at 3:35 pm

WOOT! Finally. I'm adding the Richard Dawkins Foundation to my list of favourite charities, along with UNICEF and Free the Children.

Is it too much to hope that this could change the world? We'll soon see.

36. The Fleas Are Multiplying!

Comment #68966 by Socrates on September 9, 2007 at 10:08 am

I think a book that simply systematically replies to another book would be really, really dull. Writing a book that deals primarily with another book is quite "flea-ish".

As for the titles: I think it's a bad move to use "Richard Dawkins" or "The God Delusion" in the title. The best title seems to be "The God Solution" (but a plain brown cover? :P). Of course, none of this says anything about the books.

I don't know what to think of "The Reason Driven Life" (http://www.amazon.com/Reason-Driven-Life-What-Earth/dp/1591024765).

37. Those fanatical atheists

Comment #39292 by Socrates on May 10, 2007 at 9:18 am

I read this article when it was in print -- it's great!

38. In Loving Memory of William Luke Ashton: July 10th 1989 - Dec 25th 2006

Comment #33885 by Socrates on April 22, 2007 at 12:48 pm

I'd like to dedicate my donation of $50 CAN to Luke's memory.

A deep sadness is stirred in me upon hearing his story and seeing his picture.

39. [Warning: Graphic] Children's foreheads slashed in Muslim saint's name

Comment #22659 by Socrates on February 20, 2007 at 10:09 am

"If you accept that the Muslim (Shi'ite) faith is correct and true, then this behaviour is acceptable." -Squiddity

So is 9/11.