1. Should Strident British Atheist Richard Dawkins Dictate Education Policy to US States? Barbara Forrest Apparently Thinks So

Comment #197048 by Bluff_King_Hal on June 21, 2008 at 1:32 am

Forrest's article clearly states:

"We want people all over the country to do this, as many as possible, since Louisiana will be only the beginning. YOUR State could be next."

This clearly indicates that she is addressing USAnians only, and of course, RD and this site are in no way associated with the appeal other than it being posted here.

In fact, since no source URL is given the impression it gives, perhaps inaccurately, is that the piece was written specifically for posting here, in which case, far from actively appealing to Brits, Forrest is actually making a common though minor discourtesy on the web to Brits and other non-USAnian readers of this site by writing as if we all her readers will be USAnian.

2. Charles Darwin: 'Is man an ape or an angel?'

Comment #197004 by Bluff_King_Hal on June 20, 2008 at 11:31 pm

I hate to say it guys, but the fact is, chimps DO look like Darwin!

3. Surviving an unholy school war

Comment #182314 by Bluff_King_Hal on May 19, 2008 at 4:41 pm

My Catholic upbringing wasnt as severe as this but still involved cruel beatings. Yes State schools used beatings too but probably not as often or as severely. I stayed in a Catholic student hostel and the hate just seemed to radiate off the incredibly screwed up nuns. The physical brutality and sexual perversity of that religion are incalculable.

4. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #166733 by Bluff_King_Hal on April 23, 2008 at 11:59 am

"If I go further and wear a kippa on my head and build an eruv around the part of London in which I live, is that an unacceptable excess?"

Wearing a kipper on one's head is definitely excessive, and unacceptable as the smell is likely to offend others. On the contrary, if the cat fits one should wear it.

(I know what a kippa is)

5. Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital

Comment #166669 by Bluff_King_Hal on April 23, 2008 at 11:24 am

As it happens,

They used to think this happened in Europe too. I first read it in a novel,and thought it made up, but found it is in the Papal Malleus Maleficarum -"Hammer against Witches". It was thought the stolen penis could be kept alive by feeding it corn.

Folks might remember something a few years ago called the "Toronto Blessing" - a service that spread elsewhere briefly, including the UK. Adherents thought that their fillings were being turned into gold - some even thought the transformation confirmed by medical records (they werent) others explained the lack of confirmation by the fillings turning back.

The human capacity to consume bullshit is truly staggering.Makes you wonder how the hell we ever survived let alone prospered. Homo Sapiens my ass!

6. Thy will be done

Comment #154199 by Bluff_King_Hal on April 2, 2008 at 9:06 pm

@12:

Good grief. Singing Xmas carols is not in the same league as actively *praying*. SImilarly theaching the Bible as simply a piece of literature that has influenced our culture is not the same way as teaching it as something that is in any way *true* or divinely inspired. Neither of these is active religious observance.

Also, Dawkins the man is not his Foundation. If you join up the dots, then the more imho the RDF fulfils its stated goals the more a religionless (in terms of active practice) society will result. IT wishes to promote Reasons and Science - religions faith is considered to be irrational and unscientific, and hence therefore ultimately it would have to go. Studying it as a cultural phenomonon is no more it continuing than studying criminology is itself a crime.

"The amount of Atheists, in my opinion, who want a completely secular society are a minority compared to those of us who are willing to live in a society with a measure of religious observation."

These are not disjoint sets - I, and I expect most agnostics/atheists, belong to *both* of them.

I am perefectly willing to allow people to have their irrational views and practices if they wish, I would nevertheless think it would be better if they didn't, and hence would like to see a world where they didn't. however, I confine myself to merely trying to promote rationality by persuasion, not suppressing irrationality by force.

AFAIK as I know absolutely nobody is advocating removing all traces of religious symbolism, so nieither the practicality or the wisdom of it is of any concern. Cathedrals would make splendid museums of religious culture.

What *is* however worth removing is active religious practices that impinge on people who dont want to participate in them, *especially* in the context of government - and it seems odd indicating this to an apparently atheist USAnian, to whom the separation of church and state is usually paramount.

The presence of parayers in Congress, and God on coins and in pledges is actvely used by the theists to claim that there is no separation of church and state in the US and hence as a wedge to try to drive through more egregious violations which I expect you *would* object to.

Here in the UK we have an established church whose influence is being slowly dismantled, only to be replaced by much more lethal strains of virus, Christian fundamentalism from the West and Islamic fundamentalism from the East. I never ever thought I'd see Creationism taught in a British school or a Bishop calling for the introduction of sharia law, but we've had both.

At present the infections are controllable. But if we dont apply the antivirals aggressively right now they will kill the host.

7. Thy will be done

Comment #154168 by Bluff_King_Hal on April 2, 2008 at 7:39 pm

@#1:

"We're never going to stop public prayer in situations like this and doing it only gives Theists more ammunition when they claim that our ultimate goal is the complete removal of religion from society."

While not explicitly stated, my impression is that the complete removal of religion from society *is* the ultimate goal of the Richard Dawkins Foundation.Ccertainly something devoutly to be wished. By persuasion however, not force.

Fwiw I cant help womdering if the linking of atheism and science is all that good an idea - it will tend to drive religious people away from science into myths and superstition.

Scriptural literalism, especially of creation myths and prohpecy, are the main enemies to be fought tooth and nail.

8. They prayed to cast Satan from my body

Comment #145518 by Bluff_King_Hal on March 17, 2008 at 5:05 pm

It was good to see this as it fomrs the perfecdt counterpoint to an Op-Ed that basically advocated Christian Demonology to superced psychiatry. I've fwded it to the list I saw the latter on. I though the latter might make a good submission here. Anyone able to tell me how to sumbit articles for publication?

9. Contribute to science directly by volunteering some of your computer's processing power!

Comment #142582 by Bluff_King_Hal on March 12, 2008 at 7:42 pm

"43. Comment #142043 by saxquiz on March 11, 2008 at 6:46 pm

Running SETI is pretty much a waste. People should run things that actually add to human knowledge. "

I wondered about this. It's an odd thing because up until now, and quite possibly forever, it tells us pretty well nothing. But imagine if it actually found something. Grief, would that add to our knowledge! Imagine yours being the puter that actually found that signal...

A lot of research could be like this. We could use a lot of energy researching fusion power and never get it to work, but if we did we'd never have to worry about energy sources.

Mind you we already have a massive fusion reactor there for nothing, so perhaps we ought to just concentrate on making the best use of that.

10. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141577 by Bluff_King_Hal on March 10, 2008 at 5:50 pm

bentleyd writes:

"Labor unions which demand more wages than the jobs are worth in the open market tend to put the companies out of business, (Detroit), and/or drive up consumer prices causing an inflationary spiral. Government mandated minimum wages also interfere with the free market. Many small businesses must cut jobs or go out of business to comply. Not to mention it's just plain socialism."

Interesting that you write a perfectly rational argument for your position, and then kick in your own sandcastle by making an entirely irrational appeal to nomenclature, that something is 'plain socialism'. Yes it may be associated with socialism, but merely identifying something as socialist doesnt (or shouldnt) discredit it per se if you haven already established that all aspects of socialism are at fault, which you havent. The fact that you added this Coda suggests that you would be of this opinion even if you couldnt furnish rational arguments in its defence. That doesnt invalidate those arguments of course, which imho are pretty good ones.

11. Contribute to science directly by volunteering some of your computer's processing power!

Comment #140889 by Bluff_King_Hal on March 9, 2008 at 3:49 am

It's great to be part of this.

I had an atheist friend who sadly died quite young from cancer. She used to participate in the SETI program on her puter. She's gone now but I like to think she'd be pleased that I chose to follow her footsteps and participate in BOINC. My thing is Climate Change and I've chosen that, while being a little wary of the caveat above. It poses an ethical problem for this humanitarian. Climate Change or medical programs? Wish I had a bigger puter!

12. Contribute to science directly by volunteering some of your computer's processing power!

Comment #140879 by Bluff_King_Hal on March 9, 2008 at 1:26 am

5. Comment #139713 by bentleyd

A tad humor challenged. Fwiw, US Rightists seem at least as preoccupied with the idea of being spied on as Leftists, and that includes the libertarians.