1. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #269182 by Xplodyncow on October 22, 2008 at 5:52 pm

I’m all for this campaign, and I don’t mind if the slogans won’t find a place in the literary canon. Each of us is bombarded with thousands of messages daily, all competing for just a moment of our precious time. The whole point of a slogan is to snag people’s attention—and with luck, get them to stop and think.

For the next ad, what if a thought-provoking question were posed instead' Something like, “If god answers prayers, then why did [some valid number] children die of starvation last year'” Not that, exactly, but I hope you get the point.

2. Creationists declare war over the brain

Comment #269168 by Xplodyncow on October 22, 2008 at 5:26 pm

Oh, good, "non-material neuroscience." I hope this means that the Discovery Institute will underwrite my scientifical investigation into non-Christian Christianity.

3. Vicar supports Life of Brian ban

Comment #222711 by Xplodyncow on July 31, 2008 at 6:49 pm

"Making fun of Jesus Christ, whom I love more than my wife, in a film is going to offend me."

4. Antony Flew reviews the Index of The God Delusion

Comment #215373 by Xplodyncow on July 21, 2008 at 6:13 pm

I've merely skimmed the article and the comments thus far, so I'm sorry if my post is redundant and/or ignorant.

I worked at Prometheus Books in late 2004/early 2005 when the publisher was in the midst of reissuing Flew's _God & Philosophy_. Since it was mostly a reprint of previously published material, with Flew writing a new introduction, you'd think getting the book out would have been a snap. But no. I distinctly recall the editor-in-chief stepping out of his office to tell the production manager that the book would be delayed further: "Flew changed his mind! ... Again!"

Since I wasn't the in-house editor of the book, I don't know whether we were going with Flew's original introduction or whether we put in his new introduction at his insistence, but his "conversion" seemed sudden. Also convenient.

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

Comment #197050 by Xplodyncow on June 21, 2008 at 1:37 am

The Discovery Institute, staunch defender of God, desperately urges Americans to oppose the opposition to the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA), which hopes to restore blind faith and quash questioning. Newsflash for the Discovery Institute--we're not in the Middle Ages anymore.

The institute claims that so-called Darwinism is a secret ploy to overthrow "God," a vague reference to a vague creator-dictator that lives vaguely over there. By employing startling tactics such as "developing and testing hypotheses," "critical thinking," and "existing," the Darwinists and their ilk offer God's followers their most formidable opponent to date. Despite biblical evidence that God is all-powerful and all-awesome, without the Discovery Institute's unflagging determination, God just might lose his chokehold on the human race.

The LSEA promises to break students of their annoying habit of living in reality. Under the guise of academic freedom, the bill purports to "teach the controversy."

"The bill is about allowing teachers to present scientific evidence that supports Darwin's theory," said the institute, "as well as some that challenges it. In your face, Darwinists!"

But what really enrages the institute is that people from other countries have opinions on things.

"We're not a British colony anymore," the institute said in a posting on its website. "We're a colony for God. It says so in the Constitution. So there."

Next on the institute's agenda? A challenge to the germ theory of disease.

6. Yoko Ono sues over use of John Lennon videos

Comment #187870 by Xplodyncow on June 2, 2008 at 11:30 pm

Perhaps the only victory for "Expelled"?


Yoko Ono loses bid to bar use of "Imagine" in film

http://www.reuters.com/article/musicNews/idUSN0231537020080603