1. Atheist offers to send letters post-Rapture

Comment #38914 by James Carroll on May 9, 2007 at 1:28 pm

Awesome idea. I should start my own branch of it where I live.

2. Christopher Hitchens and Al Sharpton: A Debate God Is Not Great

Comment #38548 by James Carroll on May 8, 2007 at 3:03 pm

Oh, I can't wait to hear this...

Funny, I just noticed. We have here a God-fearing liberal and an atheist conservative.

What is this world coming to? Lol.


LMFAO! "The old bitch got it anyways."


And I was disappointed. Sharpton needs to get his ears opened; Hitchens addressed clearly why a belief in God is not necessary as far as morals or origins of the Earth. There isn't any evidence for one. Hitchens said that!

Fucking Sharpton, he wasn't hearing anything.

3. Jordan opens children's museum

Comment #36955 by James Carroll on May 2, 2007 at 11:11 pm

http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13078

I wrote a editorial for a school English project regarding creativity/individuality vs. standardization/memorization; which has to do with the quote above that foxfire quoted. Any comments would be appreciated.


And yes, let us all hope that this place remains terror free and continues its scientific and creative learning style. Ten bucks says in a year their children will also be getting higher scores on international tests then our American ones...

4. Vote for the Time 100 - Are They Worthy?

Comment #34644 by James Carroll on April 24, 2007 at 6:49 pm

I'll sit here and vote 100 for Dawkins for hours if that's what it takes.

5. NEXT MONDAY: Bill O'Reilly interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #33657 by James Carroll on April 20, 2007 at 11:34 pm

Wait a second, when did O'Reilly talk about belief without evidence?

Was it on one of his shows, or where exactly?

6. Sam's Flea!

Comment #32660 by James Carroll on April 17, 2007 at 11:58 pm

My God, this guy is an idiot. Don't waste your money.

"Douglas Wilson has taken the operating assumptions of Sam Harris seriously and has shown what life would be like if the world were consistent with atheistic assumptions."

Let's see where I go by being consistent with atheistic "assumptions".

Ok, the first atheistic "assumption" (or lack thereof): Withhold belief in any gods.

So, from that we can easily see that atheists are people who withhold belief in any gods.

Well, that's it for today kids, hope you enjoyed my being consistent, right down to the end.


This whole thing is ridiculous.

7. Irish poll shows parents no longer want to force religion on to children

Comment #32288 by James Carroll on April 16, 2007 at 5:17 pm

Wow, very good news. Ireland has been riddled with religious fundamentalism for decades; but now it seems they are improving and making steps in the right direction.

Perhaps America can learn from this - though, of course, they won't.


Also, the article forgot to close italics. So yah, just thought I'd let you know about that.

8. On Desire

Comment #31156 by James Carroll on April 11, 2007 at 7:42 am

13. Comment #31129 by Yorker

I'd still probably do a fur coat if I was drunk enough (yes, it's illegal, I know). But when I have my senses about me I like beautiful women.

Of course, this makes finding someone who is beautiful and also attracted to me very hard, lol. It's not like people use the word "beautiful" very often to describe women - it's more of a special word.

9. On Desire

Comment #31036 by James Carroll on April 10, 2007 at 6:21 pm

8. Comment #31020 by Yorker

Nowadays, I much prefer intelligent women to "pretty" women -- they're ten-a-penny, but "beautiful" women in the fullest sense of the word, are a much rarer and valuable breed.


I'm 16 and I've felt that way for as long as I can remember. I don't use the word "hot" to describe women because I don't really look for hotness. A beautiful girl, in every sense of the word as you said, is what I look for. Usually eyes play a big part in it for me, along with whether or not the girl is smart and can carry on a conversation.

10. Hey Mom, I'm an Atheist

Comment #31034 by James Carroll on April 10, 2007 at 6:09 pm

Staged.

The whole thing seemed fake to me.

I realized it the moment the mother got in the child's face and then after she backed away he said "OK" in a weird sort of way.

It all seemed real until that point. Now I'm just not sure, but I think it was staged.

11. Atheist says he's victim of religious hate crime

Comment #29439 by James Carroll on April 3, 2007 at 12:14 am

Hate crimes are deeply flawed.

Judging someone by their race is wrong! So to make sure you understand that, whenever you hurt someone of another race because they are another race, the punishment for your crime will be more severe.

That'll teach those bastards not to make actions based on race!

Hypocrites. The same flaw with affirmative action. Doesn't make any sense.


Regardless though, this doesn't surprise me, but at the same time it's quite sick. Sad that people would attack someone for being an atheist.

12. Growing Up in the Universe: 2-Disc DVD Set

Comment #29274 by James Carroll on April 2, 2007 at 12:06 pm

YouTube has this entire DVD, it is called "Waking Up In the Universe", so we should get them to take it down or something. It can't be legal.

Moving past that however, the lectures are amazing. I've seen all of them and it enhanced my understanding of evolution ten-fold.

We should start a campaign to get these sent to every member of Congress.

Anyone willing?

13. Richard Dawkins at The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival

Comment #28089 by James Carroll on March 27, 2007 at 10:50 pm

Yep, all this McGrath guy does is dance around the questions.

He seems afraid to claim something with confidence because he will be made to look like a fool. Just look at the one thing he said with complete confidence in his debate against Prof. Atkins, which I can't remember exactly, but it showed how insecure he was and that religion was a crutch to him, and Prof. Atkins pointed it out brilliantly.

Other then that in his debate against Prof. Atkins, and in this debate against Prof. Dawkins, all he does is say, "it seems to me that", and "i feel that", or "I think that".

And he says these things in the way he says them, and doesn't really make any points, just kind of rambles about nothing, or if he does make a point it's something obvious that all can agree with, with which he hopes to convince a few easily-convinced people to say to themselves, "Wow, I agree with that! This guy's smart!"

The truth is he avoids saying anything of meaning because deep down he knows he'll be shown to be as ignorant as he really is if he says anything confidently and objectively. So instead he beats around the bush constantly and talks in nice, subjective language, as if everything was just his opinion and others could disagree with it if they wanted.

These things work for the weak people's emotions of course; which is exactly what religion hopes to root itself in.

Overall I've seen two of Mr. McGrath's debates and I have to say that if this is the best the theists can offer then they are up shit creek without a paddle.

14. Neil Peart cites The God Delusion in new album's liner notes

Comment #28027 by James Carroll on March 27, 2007 at 4:10 pm

Rush is awesome and Neil Peart is a genius.

It is no wonder that Rush is "the thinking man's band."

15. Happy 66th Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #27643 by James Carroll on March 25, 2007 at 11:42 pm

I sent a message, but it is worth it to thank you twice Mr. Dawkins for all that you have done and wish you a happy birthday.

You will continue to be a great inspiration to me and many others for years and years to come.

16. The many forms of fundamentalism

Comment #27447 by James Carroll on March 24, 2007 at 5:19 pm

Yah, my columns are always in the Globe.

Lol.

17. The Moral Necessity of Atheism

Comment #27440 by James Carroll on March 24, 2007 at 3:17 pm

yeahok:

Stay clear of politics!? As Ghandi once said "If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics today encircle us like the coils of a snake from which one cannot get out no matter how one tries. I wish to wrestle with the snake."

Or as Ralph Nader once said, ""To the youth of America, I say, beware of being trivialized by the commercial culture that tempts you daily. I hear you saying often that you're not turned on by politics. The lessons of history are clear and portentous. If you do not turn onto politics, politics will turn on you."

Staying clear of politics is exactly the opposite of what everyone needs to do.


I shall probably listen to Hitchens video later. Have only heard his one speech on free speech which I thought was amazing; so I expect no less from this.

18. Debate between Alister McGrath and Peter Atkins

Comment #27038 by James Carroll on March 23, 2007 at 1:56 am

Professor Atkins is amazing, and he was phenomenal in the debate. He made many great points and had a counterpoint to everything that Mr. McGrath said.

My confidence in my own atheism has risen ten-fold after listening to Mr. Peter Atkins talk.

Thanks for posting this, and thanks Professor Atkins for brilliantly defending atheism. It's a pleasure to listen to.

19. A 'Sad First' in the History of the Congress

Comment #25743 by James Carroll on March 15, 2007 at 12:38 am

frankzappa: "we can rejoice in the fact that this idiocy comes from a "seniors" organization and its membership will soon expire so that we can move on."

Lol, very true indeed. I imagine they are all so senile that their belief in God has only strengthened with age.

And nice name too; Frank Zappa kicks ass.

20. A 'Sad First' in the History of the Congress

Comment #25722 by James Carroll on March 14, 2007 at 8:19 pm

Ha ha, this is great news.

I shall have to write an e-mail to Pete Stark showing my support, as others have done in the original news article posted on this site.

The next step is to get "Under God" removed from the pledge of allegiance. I'm tired of listening to that crap every day at high school.

But I am in quite a good mood at the moment. To see the Christians respond in such a way as this makes me laugh, and it makes me all the more glad for Pete Stark "coming out", so to speak.

Should get interesting the next few days; we'll see if Congress does anything and makes fools of themselves like they did back in 2004 after the 9th District Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled "Under God" unconstitutional.

21. US Congressman Holds No God-Belief

Comment #25394 by James Carroll on March 12, 2007 at 10:46 pm

justme: You can be both a Unitarian and an atheist.

Ah, I wasn't fully aware of the beliefs that Unitarians hold; I thought it was just a belief in some sort of God, just not the trinity or the divinity of Jesus.

Thank you for that then.

22. US Congressman Holds No God-Belief

Comment #25387 by James Carroll on March 12, 2007 at 9:09 pm

Wait, it says he acknowledges his non-theism, yet he's actually a unitarian, so he does believe in a God.

It's not like he's an atheist or anything. I mean, not to downplay the thing, because to say you're a non-theist is still pretty "ballsy", but he also, in the same interview, identified himself as a unitarian, which means he believes in God.

Unless he says he doesn't believe in God, then it's no major achievement.

Sorry if I'm breaking any of your hopes here, but the man is a unitarian, not an atheist.

So we still have some time to wait...

23. Beyond Stones & Bones

Comment #25282 by James Carroll on March 11, 2007 at 4:40 pm

Yes, this is not new at all.

The "tree of life" as many call it, is exactly this supposed "revolution" of thought. We all came from a common ancestor but eventually branched out, and some branches were shorter then others.

Not much of a revolution really; people have known this for quite a while.

24. Understanding Genetics - Daniel Dennett Interview

Comment #25173 by James Carroll on March 10, 2007 at 4:25 pm

Very interesting stuff from Mr. Dennett; I enjoyed it a lot.

And the idea of "sifting" through ideas is old indeed, but attaching the word "Sifting" to it might help it catch on.

Interesting...

25. U.S. Mint goof creates 'Godless dollars'

Comment #24820 by James Carroll on March 8, 2007 at 6:24 pm

Sounds like a miracle - dare I say... divine intervention?

Lol, the coins weren't a mistake, they were simply the first coins that have been made correctly in a long time; that's all.

26. Atheists Take On Religion

Comment #24127 by James Carroll on March 5, 2007 at 12:05 am

robives:

It's very possible to not have a religion but believe in a god or gods.

And that seemed like another attempt by a news organization to make atheism on the whole sound bad by calling it "fundamentalist" or "extremist" when it very clearly isn't.

Ugh, when are we going to hear a true unbias report about atheism in America?

27. Daggers Drawn

Comment #23782 by James Carroll on March 2, 2007 at 5:31 pm

It is no matter if someone's religious beliefs lead them to good, its that their reason for doing good is not in itself good.

We don't base morals on the results of our actions, we base them on our intentions. Someone could intend to do good, but end up accidentally doing bad, and so we don't condemn that person per se, we recognize that they are a good person because they meant to do good even though the outcome was bad.

The same is with religion. Sure, you donate to charity, or as mentioned in the debate, you opposed Hitler, but so did many other people. The fact is that they all opposed because of good reasons to oppose, while you opposed because of religion. That says that you base your decisions completely off the bible and therefore you will make wrong decisions based off the bible as well.

It is not necessarily the matter of what the outcome is of basing one's decisions off of religious text, it is that religious text itself is not a good belief system to base your decisions off of.

It doesn't matter that religious people do good because their bible said to do so, the problem is that you shouldn't be basing your decisions on any religious text.

Again, the outcome of your actions may be just, but the way you got to the outcome is what is lacking. And the path you took is flawed so deeply that it will lead to wrong or illogical decisions regarding other things.

So the argument that people who are following the Bible do good so therefore the Bible is good does not work.

28. The Certainty Bias

Comment #23202 by James Carroll on February 26, 2007 at 6:32 pm

This is rather obvious I believe.

Hitler never said, "I think the Jews are a lesser race, maybe. Though, I'm not really sure... uhh... well, what the hell, just go home everybody."

Lol, he said with absolute certainty, "The Jews are a lesser race and we must eliminate them all!"

That's one of the many things that made Hitler such a powerful speaker. You have to have certainty and belief in what you say, otherwise why would other people believe it?

If your path is rhetoric and your goal is to convince, then you must have conviction and certainty in all that you say.

Probably one of the main reasons that people aren't too fond of science and are more fond of religion. Religion says, "This is true" while science leaves much open for debate and speculation.

It is science's openness and flexibility that I imagine leaves many people even more convinced by religious dogma; but it is of course that same openness and flexibility of science that makes it as valuable and as wonderful a thing as it is. More people of faith need to understand that.

29. Interview with Chris Hedges

Comment #22029 by James Carroll on February 12, 2007 at 12:30 pm

Maybe Colbert is a Catholic just to make his character a little more believable...

Ha, I have no clue. It doesn't make sense to me either.

But regardless, he's a funny man, and this was a good segment. Hedges did a great job of talking about this.