1. Conversation between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #217041 by Madonna's Stardust on July 23, 2008 at 8:31 pm

On the subject of the virgin birth, I had a friend from high school who claimed that she conceived her son by sharing a bath with her husband. (Which I suppose is possible.....) Apparently she was also conceived that way.......

A co-worker suggested that maybe this was how Jesus was born.....

Personally, I just think that some people (throughout time) are reluctant to admit that they (or others) actually had sex.........

2. CBC News: Sunday - Richard Dawkins

Comment #100128 by Madonna's Stardust on December 18, 2007 at 9:19 am

My favourite RD line in this is "You're not going to bring out Hitler and Stalin again are you?"

3. God rest you merry atheist

Comment #100102 by Madonna's Stardust on December 18, 2007 at 8:40 am

Christianity should be a "harmless myth." I grew up celebrating a "cultural Christmas." I enjoyed singing carols as a child and because I was not brought up in anyway religious I did not understand the religious meaning of the concepts of sin (I thought is was something to do with Santa's naughty and nice list!) and Christ as the saviour as mentioned in a lot of carols. I still enjoy carols, but try to stick to the secular and the more benign ones.

I even have a miniture crib scene on my Christmas tree. This is along with the Father Christmas on the top of it, various cartoon character ornaments (from Charlie Brown to the Cat in the Hat to Looney Tunes). Speaking of gods (or demi-gods) I also have ornaments of Disney's Hercules and Megara and Pegasus. My tree is a celebration of the magic and the myth of the season. Maybe one of these days I shall add a pink unicorn (to accompany the two gold unicorns I already have) and the flying spaghetti monster!

4. Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian

Comment #99802 by Madonna's Stardust on December 17, 2007 at 3:01 pm

I love Christmas because for me, it is a time for the family to get together and share good times - more so now that we are spread all over Canada.

I think that Christians often forget that winter solstice celebrations pre-date Christianity, they are in denial of the festival's pagan past! Let's face it, people that celebrate the birth of Christ as the return of "the son" at this time of year are really celebrating the return of the sun.

In the Northern Hemisphere, I would say that Yule has always been an important part of the year for us and our ancestors, because without it it is such a dark time of the year. Imagine how primitive people must have felt as the days got shorter and the nights got longer - they must have felt like the earth was dying and they had to have some way of "bringing the sun back", which is precisely what the solstice celebrations are all about.

5. Jumbo shrimp, creationist astronomy

Comment #98832 by Madonna's Stardust on December 14, 2007 at 2:25 pm

In regards to the creationists picking apart scientific theory, I'm still waiting for them to provide some solid evidence (other than what was written by man in a dusty old book) that a creator created the universe.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.........

I think that it is so presumptous of religious believers to think that everything can be explained so easily (universe created by god, heaven and hell concepts, black and white etc.)

6. Surviving 'Jesus Camp'

Comment #94726 by Madonna's Stardust on December 6, 2007 at 10:53 am

Listening to the movie clips on You Tube right now. (I'm at work so can't really watch them properly.)

*Shudder* - that just about sums up my reaction to the child abuse, hatred and indoctrination portrayed in this fascinating documentary.

Kind of reminds me of horror stories about satanic cults - perhaps the film should be remade substituting the word satan for god and vice versa. These people should give thought to what they are REALLY worshiping here......

Creepy stuff.....