1. Senate bill allows display of Lord's Prayer, 10 Commandments

Comment #186584 by Jestyr on May 30, 2008 at 5:59 pm

How Smart do we think the religious right in America is? This is a serious question. The general feel on this board is that this is an attempt to sneak religious displays into public schools and buildings. Equally, the assumption is that this will quickly be overturned by the courts at either state or federal level.

What if the plan is deeper than that? Can anyone see the headline "Supreme Court Bans Lords Prayer" How about a story on how the extremist atheist movement demands a perfectly reasonable historical display JUST because it contains references to religion? If this law is overturned in court this is what they'll cry. They will convince many more that the evil atheist propaganda myth is true. Of course, I might be just to used to conspiracy theory...

2. My Response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #177415 by Jestyr on May 9, 2008 at 4:09 am

What amazes me is that anyone is surprised by the way preachers of any faith try to win debates. In there day to day job they make speeches designed to appeal directly to the emotions of their audience. They specifically want to bypass the logical and critical thinking parts of the brain. This is not just some cheap rhetorical trick, it is the cornerstone of their entire style. After all, what else have they got to fall back on.
Richard on the other hand is a scientist and a lecturer. Most of his speeches are designed to impart information in a clear and consistent way. Again, this isn't a rhetorical trick.
This is why debates between Scientists and Preachers always look so odd, they view the reason for debate and public speaking in completely different lights.

Just a thought.

3. Saudi Arabia Leader Calls for Interfaith Dialogue

Comment #150607 by Jestyr on March 27, 2008 at 7:00 am

So, here we have someone who is religious calling for the vanquishing of a point of view. Does this make him an extremist?

4. I suppose it's due ('Expelled' review)

Comment #147981 by Jestyr on March 21, 2008 at 5:50 pm

I've been looking around at other reviews for this travesty of a documentary. Unsurprisingly the majority of them are very positive. It's unsurprising of course because the film makers only let people that agreed with the subject matter into the film. Neat trick that. They did miss one guy before Richard though, have a look at this review.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2008/02/is-ben-stein-th.html

In particular check out the comment by Thomas Fagan. It's laugh out loud funny.

5. I don't believe in atheists

Comment #143990 by Jestyr on March 14, 2008 at 7:59 pm

The idea that suicide bombing is entirely faith based is a mistake. There is no religion (not even fundamental Islam) in the world that that actively encourages it's adherents to wake up on a morning and randomly blow themselves and others to pieces. Any religion that did so would soon find themselves rather short of followers. What Religion can do is act as an enabling device to create suicide bombers for a particular cause. It's much easier to blow your self up for whatever cause if you know that you will be looked on as a hero and your family will be taken care of. (For example, the Kamikaze pilots of Japan during WWII)
It is also true that Suicide bombing and other forms of terrorism are an effective threat in an asymmetric struggle. However, here we have to look at morality. The specific targeting of civilians is surely a greater worry than than the means used to cause the carnage. To do so would seem to require a great faith in something to justify such an action. Perhaps it is here that religion has a role to answer for?

6. Deadly Sins 101

Comment #143263 by Jestyr on March 13, 2008 at 7:11 pm

Hey all, here's a depressing thought for everyone (it's 2am here, the time for depressing thoughts). More sins. Will they be taken seriously by lots of people? Yes. Unfortunately they will. We apparently need people to tell us what to think and how to act. Look at Wednesdays budget, a beautiful example of an attempt to legislate morality through the tax system. Another example of outsourcing your thinking processes. I've been watching for a while now and that seems to be the trend. People afraid to think for themselves, people just content to parrot the latest received wisdom. Even here. Is it genetic? Are we programmed to go along with the majority, to follow the fashion, to disengage our critical responses? Or are we perhaps culturally brainwashed into this? Does it matter which? Ah well, that's depression enough for one morning... :)

7. God rest you merry atheist

Comment #100053 by Jestyr on December 18, 2007 at 6:44 am

Just heard Richard Dawkins on Radio 2 talking about this. The general theist comeback would seem to be that singing a carol or hymn constitutes an act of worship. This would seem to suggest that merely saying a few words is sufficient for worship, intention has no part in it.

In light of this I suggest a fun new game. Points are scored every-time you convince a theist to mention something from a religion not his own. You should then point out that this constitutes an act of worship. Getting christians to repeat the muslim call to prayer would be a fun start.

8. Fox: 'Atheist Outrage' over holiday 'Tree of Knowledge'

Comment #94621 by Jestyr on December 6, 2007 at 4:30 am

Is it just me or shouldn't the priest be kicking up a fuss about the menorah? Especially given that this is 'Christmas Time'?

9. Pupil defends teacher in Muhammad teddy furore

Comment #91728 by jestyr on November 29, 2007 at 5:14 am

Here's a piece from the telegraphs report
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/29/wsudan129.xml

"But senior clerics in Sudan insisted her actions were intentional blasphemy and part of a wider Western plot against Islam exemplified by "the writings of renegade Salman Rushdie and the blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad".

The Sudanese Assembly of the Ulemas, a semi-official body of top preachers, clerics and scholars, said: "What has happened was not haphazard or carried out of ignorance, but rather a calculated action and another ring in the circles of plotting against Islam.

"It is part of the campaign of the so-called war against terrorism and the intense media campaign against Islam"

says it all really

10. If Muslim doctors are intolerant, let them go

Comment #77672 by Jestyr on October 10, 2007 at 5:09 am

This is fantastic. I'm a bar man. All I have to do is convert and I'm on easy street....

11. Why Christians should take Richard Dawkins seriously

Comment #72298 by Jestyr on September 20, 2007 at 5:28 pm

Hmm, I almost liked this article. It seemed such a nice defence of a deist position, along the lines of God is something we can't understand or imagine but having him here is important. It's nice basic wooly thinking from people who want 'something up there' And skinner is right, it is hard to attack this god. Then he goes and ties it all down to moses and jesus in the bible, bringing it right back to the position that Dawkins, Hitchens et al have demolished again and again and again.
Nice try though

12. Oxford's Christian colleges 'are not suitable for school-leavers'

Comment #71605 by Jestyr on September 19, 2007 at 5:29 am

"Maybe we see the beginning of the end of religious affairs being taught in British schools."

I wouldn't be overly optimistic about this. Have a look at this article from the Economist about the rise in faith schools in Britain
http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9804798