51. The Atheist Next Door

Comment #156938 by mrjonno on April 8, 2008 at 12:15 pm

Its just weird watching that program as a Brit.
We share the same language as the US (mostly) but here 90% of citizens are atheist or agnostic/dont care where in the US 90% are seriously religious.

Just shows how culturely different we have become

52. Richard Dawkins: 'Growth in creationist beliefs a problem for schools'

Comment #156276 by mrjonno on April 7, 2008 at 8:21 am

Need to careful with Martin Niemoeller poem.

I have an extreme dislike for Islam (along with other religions) but it could easily become

First they came for the Muslims but I wasnt that sort of sky god worshiper

Then they came for the atheists .....

Some but not all of the hatred of Muslims in the UK is racism as opposed to its a shit religion etc

53. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #155935 by mrjonno on April 6, 2008 at 10:52 am

I think there is a big difference between admiring someone and worshiping them.

I admire Prof Dawkins for his contribution to science, the promotion of reason and fighting to ending the sacred place that someone people place religion in .

I do not however think the answer to life the universe and everything is Richard. He certainly isnt (nor would claim to be) a great artist, economist, physicist he hasnt even officially accepted the Flying Spaghetti Monster as his only pasta saviour.

Its religious people who think they have the 'absolute truth' not rational people.

54. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #155889 by mrjonno on April 6, 2008 at 8:47 am

Dr Who and Richard Dawkins on the same Saturday night there is a Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Throw in Captain Jack who is so cool its almost enough to turn a hetro man gay (well not quite)

Its nice to see Richard Dawkins doing something a little less 'dry'. I think he a great scientist ,book write and politican but its great he will be doing something a little less serious

55. Vote on freedom of expression marks the end of Universal Human Rights

Comment #153933 by mrjonno on April 2, 2008 at 8:27 am

Well any ideas should be open to criticism however speech that incites violence should and is restricted in any decent society.

Islam is a moronic ideology which is oppressive, intolerant sexist and generally shit ,no problems free speech

Muslims have no place in this country, where you see them kill them, here is the address of one, anyone up for doing him in tonight, incitement to violence, the person speaking this should be arrested.

Is it always a clear distinction, no but thats why we have juries (replace muslim, with jew, gay atheist etc)

56. Who wants to kill the elderly?

Comment #153732 by mrjonno on April 2, 2008 at 12:33 am

I think the difference between alcohol and religion is while both can be 'fun', serve a need etc only one claims to be good and to be respected.

No one seriously claims drinking a beer makes you a better person, no one says teaching the young to enjoy beer is vital for society etc (unless you are a pastafarian etc). In no country in the world is alcohol not seriously restricted in its use, no minors, restrictions that you can do while under the influence and where you can buy the stuff etc

57. Vote on freedom of expression marks the end of Universal Human Rights

Comment #153709 by mrjonno on April 1, 2008 at 10:10 pm

How can anyone love a country or a legal document is completely beyond me, sorry I reserve that for people anything else is just useful but hardly an emotional neccessity.

The cult of the individual is utterly evil, the I'm independent and have no links to others.
Not everything in life is about choice, you are born into a highly interlinked web of society and will die that way

58. In His Name We Pray, Ramen

Comment #151937 by mrjonno on March 29, 2008 at 5:20 pm

I find it highly offensive that articles like this confuse serious science and pasta based theology of pastafarism which complete artificial made by committee joke religions like christianity

59. Crossing the Divide

Comment #140094 by mrjonno on March 7, 2008 at 12:54 am

What is depressing about atheism?

The only purpose in life are the ones you create or find (ie you aren't given a crap made up one via a 2000 year old hate filled story book)

When you die thats it , and you will die! scary stuff

When your friends/relatives die you will not see them again, they are gone the end!

The only justice system is the one that a flawed society can create, ie the innocent will sometimes suffer and the guilty will go free

The universe is a cold amoral place and the morality and warmth in it are what human beings bring to it. That in itself is a scary thing

People are religious because its the easy answer, rationality may be liberating but it is hard, it takes effort. Far simpler to say 'god did it'.

Want to understand how the universe works spend a dozen life times studying different branches of science? or get told 'god did it'

60. Ad 'likely to offend gay people'

Comment #124355 by mrjonno on February 9, 2008 at 7:05 am

Well I feel a bit queezy about gay sex but thats my problem (I also feel queezy about eating prawns).

I really dont know why, I just do and I despise religion , sexism ,racism and all other isms.

I would assume gay people feel the same way about straight sex to, probably a lot of science in the whys of all this

61. Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

Comment #124306 by mrjonno on February 9, 2008 at 4:23 am

While the Archbishops comments were utterly moronic people do forget that 2 people can form a contract between each other using any methology they like as long as it does not contradict British Law

If two people wish to form a contract based on the Laws of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (well I rather you didnt) it is already legal. This whole thing is a storm in a teamcup, if individuals want to make civil arrangement based on pastafarianism, sharia law, how many times someone goes to a toilet each day etc well thats up to them.

The whole basis of society is the law only gets involved in a conflict between people in civil cases as a last resort. I suspec this is no different in any other Western country

62. Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'

Comment #121760 by mrjonno on February 4, 2008 at 5:10 am

Suspect this is as much political as religious. All the worlds major religions allow the breaking of just about all rules to save life.

For example it would be quite permit able for a jew/muslim to eat pork if there was no other food available and they were going to starve to death.

These people are just trying to get noticed

63. Pope says some science shatters human dignity

Comment #121183 by mrjonno on February 3, 2008 at 4:30 am

Couple of points

Science does not have the answers to everything however religion has the answer to nothing whatsoever

Second thing as much as I despise the catholic church it as least does accept science as real and tries to adapt (badly like 6 days = 15 billion years in bible speak) its tennants to match what we discover about the universe. More American centred versions of christanity deny science even exists ie evolution etc

64. U.S.: 'Demonic' militants sent women to bomb markets in Iraq

Comment #120831 by mrjonno on February 2, 2008 at 4:38 pm

Well all suicide bombers are mentally handicapped but in this case the unfortunate bombers were born this way as opposed to just being brain washed

65. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #118875 by mrjonno on January 31, 2008 at 5:30 am

Since when did the West go into Afghanistan for the benefit of the people living there, we went in there to put in a government more friendly to western interests. Its very arguable whether we have actually succeeded, NATO controls Kabul everyone else is just run by the usual warlords.

Democracy is meaningless unless it is secular, its meaningless when your vote is based on what your male relative tells you and his vote is based on what his tribe tells him

66. Ore. Court: Boy Has Say in Circumcision

Comment #117903 by mrjonno on January 30, 2008 at 12:19 am

Since when do we put healthy children under the knife for potential benefit in the future. At least in the UK we do not remove tonsils, appendix, breasts or any other organ unless something has gone wrong.

Yes adults may choose to have this done with but informed consent.

It's irrelevant if a procedure may or may not improve the chances of getting a disease in the future

67. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #117889 by mrjonno on January 29, 2008 at 11:27 pm

For anyone who is interested the 'Big Question' is a 'debate' program shown every Sunday morning (when most people are still in bed) on BBC1 in the UK. By law the BBC has to dedicate a few hours each week to religion. As so few people in the UK give a toss about religion and the viewing figures for christian stuff is pretty close to zero they show stuff like this

68. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #117482 by mrjonno on January 28, 2008 at 11:40 pm

In reference to point 37, the vast majority of Europeans are irreligious through not necessarily atheist.

However the amount of believe in bad science, alternative medicine, astrology and many other irrational concepts is strong

69. The real danger in Darwin is not evolution, but racism

Comment #115375 by mrjonno on January 24, 2008 at 5:36 am

Evolutions shows us where we came from and has given us the brain power to actually understand this (something we are unique in).

Where we go from here is actually up to us. Most human development in modern times is not actually biological but in ideas and technology.

There is a stupid religious idea that 'nature' must be good, its not its cold , unfeeling and totally amoral.

70. What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy

Comment #114377 by mrjonno on January 22, 2008 at 5:38 am

I'm not a great fan of constitutions because it takes away power from politicians (hoorah) however it doesnt give them to people it gives to them to judges.

Maybe its different in the US but in the UK if you had to name a group that was even less trusted than politicans it would be judges.

When you start throwing meaningless words like 'freedom' and 'rights' into law via constitutions you just given incredible power to unelected judges. These words are meaningless because they can mean just about anything depending on who interprets them

71. What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy

Comment #114340 by mrjonno on January 22, 2008 at 2:30 am

mrjonno - So what you are saying is:
(1) All morality is prevailing fashion
(2) Older morality than now is savage.

Do you not see the inconsistency here

72. What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy

Comment #114121 by mrjonno on January 21, 2008 at 11:57 am

What else is morality except prevailing fashion?
What is moral a 100 years ago is not acceptable today, what is acceptable today may well not be acceptable in a 100 years time.

Absolute morality simply does not exist, you can't get it from the bible, you can't get it from political versions (ie constitutions).

Was slavery a morally acceptable action?, to the people who practiced it of course it was.

Was burning heretics alive a good thing, of course it was to those purifying god's world

73. What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy

Comment #114045 by mrjonno on January 21, 2008 at 9:12 am

Are you really, seriously suggesting that the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were "savages" whose opinions have less moral authority than that of, say, Bill Clinton?


Actually I would go further than that , choose a random 100 people from any 1st world country (I choose 1st world to mean one with a functioning education system) and I would guess 90% of them would have more moral authority

They would agree that racism , slavery sexism and persecution of someone due to their sexuality was wrong. They would say that all people regardless of the above should have a say in how their society was run. This makes they way ahead (in fact centuries ahead) of people in the 18th century).

Its not that some people were not 'great' for their time but the important word was time

74. What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy

Comment #114027 by mrjonno on January 21, 2008 at 8:29 am

Well I'm British so obviously I don't like revolutions.

While you say a constitution can be changed the number of times I've heard from American atheists that 'this isnt what the founding father meant' you are moving into worship.

I couldn't care less about the moral views of people who have been dead for 200 years. Quite simply everyone from that age compared to modern times was a savage. Sure some were less savage than others but a moral authority today definitely not.

And what does 'the principles on which society is organised' actually mean. I suspect even that changes with time

75. What Religion's Blind Stranglehold on America Is Doing to Our Democracy

Comment #113953 by mrjonno on January 21, 2008 at 4:39 am

People who worship secular documents are as bad as those who worship religious ones.

The views of long dead people just are not important in modern society

76. Britain cannot put its faith in religiously divided schools

Comment #113809 by mrjonno on January 20, 2008 at 4:38 pm

Need a Pastafarian school

All kids and teachers in pirate costume
School bar (sure its illegal under 18 but its religious so its ok)
Teaching piratism and global warming in science lessons. Unintelligent design and the noodle basis of gravity

Also a 4 day week
This school sounds good now, show me a kid who wouldnt want to go to that. There certainly would be no truancy

77. The New Theology

Comment #113156 by mrjonno on January 18, 2008 at 5:33 pm

If you define 'god' as nature or the universe then obviously 'he' exists, but that certainly isnt the god of any major world religion and is basically redefining words

78. Ben Stein Bribing Schools to See His Anti-Evolution Movie 'Expelled'

Comment #112759 by mrjonno on January 18, 2008 at 4:01 am

Is this creationism thing mainly an American faith head thing.

As far as I know the 2 main christian religions in the world , Catholic church and Church of England both fully accept evolution (of course god 'invented' evolution). They must make up 99% of christians worldwide surely?

79. New attempt to end blasphemy law

Comment #110745 by mrjonno on January 12, 2008 at 9:03 am

If god wants to sue for libel he should turn up in court like everyone else!

80. Boy dies of leukemia after refusing treatment for religious reasons

Comment #92238 by mrjonno on November 30, 2007 at 5:50 am

This really is quite a complicated ethical issue.

If the kid wanted to live but the parents wouldn't let him have a blood transfusion it would be a legal no brainer, no parent can stop a child receiving life saving treatment.

However this isn't the situtation, the child is considered to be legally sane and the parents want him to have the operation. So you would basically be allowing parents to force people who have operations against their will which would be a very dangerous precedent to set.

Problem is the law allows a person to be considered sane and believe in religion. As much as i despise religion I wouldnt want everyone who believes in a sky fairy to be lose all rights (someone might turn around and say if you dont believe in a sky fairy you are nuts!)

81. Turkey probes atheist's 'God' book

Comment #91392 by mrjonno on November 28, 2007 at 8:02 am

This will be the big question for Turkey and EU membership, ban Europe's biggest selling book and its game over for their EU plans.

I actually support Turkey joining the EU , but are more concerned about the role of the military than religion there

82. My life under a fatwa

Comment #91390 by mrjonno on November 28, 2007 at 7:58 am

Few points

The US is far more likely to become a theocracy long before Europe does.

Electoral systems make a big difference too. The UK and US have the 'first past the post system'. Effectively if you get 40-50% of the vote you get 100% of the political power , if you get 0-40% you get zero political power. With proportional representation (which you get in the rest of Europe) every vote counts (which is more democratic in some ways but has the disadvantage it allows small extreme parties to grow)

When it comes down to it a far right police state scares me a million times more than a few muslim nutters who at worst will blow up a train or building

83. Islam and the modern world don't mix

Comment #91324 by mrjonno on November 28, 2007 at 3:46 am

Honour killings : You don't need religion for this, organised crime/gangsters have been killing over this for years. Majority of 'black on black' killings in the uk are due to 'disrespect'

I went to a meeting once with a very respected educated Muslim scholar. He said if someone insulted your wife, your family your children would that not make you angry and want to fight back.

This really made understand how little the islamic mind understands the west. If someone insults your wife it does NOT allow you to respond with violence. Your only legal options are to insult them back or to walk away.

84. Getting Overheated

Comment #91112 by mrjonno on November 27, 2007 at 9:10 am

The problem is the number of people in this world who can really give a valuable opinion on climate change number in a few hundreds and would guess the number who read these boards is probably significantly less than 1.

The Internet has bred this idea that everyone can be an 'expert', that science is a democracy and if you want to understand a subject just spend a few minutes googlying. I value Richard Dawkins opinions regarding zoology and evolution but if he was to offer his on climate change they would be about as valid as mine (ie almost none).

There are 2 possibilities

1) Global warming is a big problem caused by people . This is the view of the majority of scientists

2) It's all a big conspiracy by the UN/all the scientists are wrong (this is one option as most people lump this together)

The point is 'debating' this is utterly pointless, you might as well debate what colour my underwear is

85. 'Muhammad' teddy teacher arrested

Comment #91081 by mrjonno on November 27, 2007 at 7:01 am

'I suppose the sense of humour in the Middle East is vastly different to you guys in the West but what is so funny or tempting about masturbating over a holy book or "Muhammad bending Jesus over"?'

No it wouldn't be very funny , but the point is the Western world has developed taking the piss/being offensive of everything to a very fine art and if it really wanted to offend could do a far better job.


I will treat Islam like other silly religions when I see an Islamic Life of Brian which even many christian priests find funny

86. 'Muhammad' teddy teacher arrested

Comment #91068 by mrjonno on November 27, 2007 at 6:30 am

Naming a teddy bear mohammed isn't offensive

Getting a koran, bible and other fairy horror stories. Then having a w*nk over them, uploading the process to Youtube and then use the still picture as a new national flag.

Now that would be offensive!

87. Tony Blair: Mention God and you're a 'nutter'

Comment #90420 by mrjonno on November 25, 2007 at 4:37 am

Believing in god is a character flaw however all human beings have these whether theist or atheist.

Yes I think any politican who believes in god is wrong however if the political opposition is even more wrong they may be the least worse choice.

I don't think I could vote for anyone who was openly trying to convert people to his favourite sky fairy however if he kept it to himself and his other flaws well less than his rivals I might vote for him

88. Religious scholars mull Flying Spaghetti Monster

Comment #88519 by mrjonno on November 17, 2007 at 9:42 am

Please do not confuse serious science/theology like pastalogy with made up by roman committee joke religions like christianity

the FSM is fact, he told me down the temple after much grog.

Many many pastafarians have suffered greatly for their believes, usually involving a serious hangover

Give a man a bowl of pasta and he will eat for a day
Teach him to fish and he will have to go down the supermarket to buy another bowl

89. Youtube hater, I respect your right to free speech.

Comment #70917 by mrjonno on September 17, 2007 at 8:37 am

I and Prof Dawkins are both British. We come from a country where religion is an issue and has a bad influence on society however its not the dominant issue and can be dealt with mostly at an academic level. Nice and intellectually, quite debates, subtle lobbying.

None of this applies to Sapient USA, where religion is oppressive , infects society , breaks up families and even leads to war. It's hardly surprisingly his tactics are different, loud vulgar and in your face and in some ways amateurish. But since when has being an amateur a bad thing.

There is room for both

90. Do you have to read up on leprechology before disbelieving in them?

Comment #70906 by mrjonno on September 17, 2007 at 8:04 am

Regarding Newton being 'ignorant'

It really comes done to how you define the word,

Newton when he died knew less about physics than any 18 year old today with an A level in the subject (or the equivalent in the US). He was enlightened for his time but ignorant compared to ours.

This also applies in non-scientific subjects , for example ethics/morality, most 18 year olds today are more moral/ethical than the finest politicians of the 18th century (in particuarly the US founding fathers)

91. The Rise of Atheist America

Comment #69272 by mrjonno on September 10, 2007 at 9:21 am

'What did the framers intend', is a frightening question.

Do Americans (or anyone else) actually value the morals and ethics of someone who has been dead for 200 years. 99.99% of modern human beings will have higher ethics/morals than anyone who lived 200 years ago. Even most christians have higher values than the slave traders of the 18th century.

Basically people of the 19th century were savages compared to people of our enlightened age (which isnt to say there isnt room for improvement)

92. Why I Believe Anti-Evangelism Is Wrong

Comment #58263 by mrjonno on July 24, 2007 at 7:19 am

All the main religions in the world have at their core

1) Convert everyone to their tooth fairy
2) Kill everyone they cannot convert

Sure most religious people ignore 2 but a fair % take 1 seriously.

Religion is by its very nature confrontational and cannot keep itself to itself

Religion will die as political force or humanity will destroy itself

93. Science of the Soul? 'I Think, Therefore I Am' Is Losing Force

Comment #53026 by mrjonno on June 29, 2007 at 3:22 am

But the driver in this case would also be physical, the car could still move even if totally broken down (it could be pushed)

Point is strong evidence awaressness is physical no evidence whatsoever that it is anything else




can see a flaw. If you watch a demolition derby, you'll see that as the cars progress and become more battered and dented, they slow down, the lights don't work properly etc. Could you argue therefore that there is nothing more than nuts and bolts there, and that when the car is too damaged to be able to continue, there is nothing left at all? The driver is still there. Would it be any different if it was the smaller and frankly less entertaining remote-controlled demolition derby? This is not an argument that shows there is a soul, but I think it is a counter-argument to yours. Your argument doesn't show that we don't have a non-physical aspect to us.

94. Science of the Soul? 'I Think, Therefore I Am' Is Losing Force

Comment #52790 by mrjonno on June 28, 2007 at 4:59 am

Awareness/consciousness deterioriates when the brain suffers injury or illness (fact?)

From this I postulate awareness/consciousness/soul? is a purely physical thing and when the brain ceases to exist so do you.

Is there anything wrong in that line of thinking , scientfic or religious comments welcome

95. Lou Dobbs w/ Hitchens on Al Sharpton's Bigoted Remark

Comment #39551 by mrjonno on May 11, 2007 at 5:39 am

think that Hitchens is making a mistake by saying that you can't prove or disprove the tenants of a religion. While you may have difficulty disproving a very generic deist God, religions make very specific claims - which can be tested.

I would have to disagree with this to prove the existance of god is almost as impossible as to prove his non-existant. Considering the size of the universe its highly likely (but not certain) that there are far more technologically advanced life outthere who would effectively have 'god-like' powers. How do you differentiate between advanced science and god?

96. Christians and Atheists to Debate Existence of God in First-Ever 'NIGHTLINE FACE OFF'

Comment #37356 by mrjonno on May 4, 2007 at 7:18 am

I'm in the RRS and yes they are young and yes they are an at your throat organisation. They also recognise there is a need for various different ways to promote rationalism and their's is just one

Both have broadcast experience (through obviously not on the same scale) and know their stuff inside out.

The RRS even includes an bible history phd (someone who has actually read the bible in the languages it was written in).

Obviously no one can win a debate when only one side is using logical and the other will use 'faith'.

In the war against religion there is room for Richard Dawkins and room for his noodlyness the flying spaghetti monster. One if for university lectures the other is for down the pub (not sure which is which through)

97. Now Muslims Get Their Own Laws In Britian

Comment #36738 by mrjonno on May 2, 2007 at 5:56 am

Usual sensational trash

British society and in fact most western ones (bar possibly the US) encourage civil disputes between individuals to be resolved without resorting to the full legal system. It's generaly cheaper, less painful for all involved.

If both sides agree to abide by its decisions it is perfectly legal as long as the procedure and decisions do not go against the law of the land.

A divorce settlement (but not the divorce) can be settled outside court but child maintainance cannot be (we have specific laws regarding this)

98. Huge rally for Turkish secularism

Comment #36097 by mrjonno on April 30, 2007 at 7:32 am

No, I think that a country can contain a majority of good people, but be manipulated by a bad few in control of government. Even in a democracy, if the government is poorly structured, a few "bad people" can control a majority of "good people" by dividing and conquering.

99. Huge rally for Turkish secularism

Comment #36054 by mrjonno on April 30, 2007 at 4:27 am

There is no such thing as bad goverment only bad people who support them (whether in a democracy or dictatorship).

I don't know which way Turkey will go buts its absurd that the issues there can be dealt with from the top ie the army for any length of time.

From what I've seen of Turkey its heavily divided into the 'Western' parts which are pretty much like any other secular democracy (but a different background religion and architecture) and the poorer parts where people get married of at 12 and where most cannot read or write

100. In the beginning

Comment #34461 by mrjonno on April 24, 2007 at 6:23 am

Mutations are random, natural selection most definitely is not. Why is this so difficult for people to get?


Because that statement requires a lot of intellectual thought. I am well educated with a Physics degree and currently are reading 'The Selfish Gene at the moment With effort and some thought I am getting a basic grasp of it but you think you're average muppet is going to do this , of course not 'God did it', so much simpler (and absurd)