101. Christopher Hitchens on BookTV

Comment #68240 by BigJohn on September 6, 2007 at 1:29 pm

I was relieved to see that Mr. Hitchens was provided with libation about two-thirds of the way through the interview.

102. Christopher Hitchens on BookTV

Comment #68234 by BigJohn on September 6, 2007 at 12:58 pm

This program will be repeated on C-Span2 on Saturday, September 8th at 9::00AM Eastern time.
See http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=8532&SectionName=In%20Depth&PlayMedia=No for details.

103. India to charge writer Nasreen with 'hurting Muslim feelings'

Comment #67496 by BigJohn on September 3, 2007 at 3:38 pm

nancy2001

"The world would be so much better off without the Muslim religion."

Should read: The world would be so much better off without the Muslim religion.

104. Teresa, Bright and Dark

Comment #66490 by BigJohn on August 30, 2007 at 5:53 am

I smiled, then I laughed at the vehement recital of abortionist dogma that my offhand remark about a single phrase generated. Thanks to Robert Maynard, I needn't say more.

I am still trying to find an essay or clip of Mr. Hitchens expounding on abortion. I find that many times he says exactly what I think, only he says it so very much better than I could ever dream of doing.

105. Christopher Hitchens and Bill Donohue on Mother Teresa

Comment #66484 by BigJohn on August 30, 2007 at 5:38 am

Anyone ever noticed that the weaker their point the louder some people talk?

106. Teresa, Bright and Dark

Comment #66332 by BigJohn on August 29, 2007 at 5:52 pm

Of course Hitch is against abortion. Any logical, thinking person must be against abortion. It requires a strong dose of liberal dogma to find abortion acceptable. There are few legitimate reasons to kill a human being. Most are decided by society as a whole. Abortion is not. I can agree with abortion as a reason to kill a human only after long discussion and debate in reasonable, non-dogmatic terms.

I wish I knew Hitchens' reasoning behind his anti-abortion stance.

107. The Sacrifice of Reason

Comment #66313 by BigJohn on August 29, 2007 at 5:06 pm

" I likewise profess that in the Mass a true, proper and propitiatory sacrifice is offered to God on behalf of the living and the dead, and that the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially present in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist, and that there is a change of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into blood; and this change the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation. I also profess that the whole and entire Christ and a true sacrament is received under each separate species."

I remember being told by the nuns in school that some guy took a host home and hit it with a hammer and blood squirted out all over. That may influenced me to doubt a tiny bit even though I was only 7 or 8 years old. Well, I didn't laugh out loud anyway.

108. Another view

Comment #66229 by BigJohn on August 29, 2007 at 11:46 am

Oh, dear...quantum physics invoked again...how sad. But, I suppose that if one has nothing real to base his "science" on then he must resort to something that he doesn't understand in order to infer some kind of support.

109. A Daddy Longlegs Tells the Story of the Continents' Big Shifts

Comment #66225 by BigJohn on August 29, 2007 at 11:37 am

How does an invertebrate biologist support himself?

110. CNN Request for 'I-Reports' on religion

Comment #65273 by BigJohn on August 23, 2007 at 12:34 pm

You gotta be kiddin'. I went to the CNN site to post something, but I chickened out. The ask for too much info. If I posted what I want to say, I would be subjected to at least rocks being thrown at my house, if not a drive-by shooting. Don't pooh-pooh me for my reticence, either. An example of what goes on around here -- the only adult store in town has one storefront sized window left of the original four and most folks around here thinks atheists are a lot worse than porn. (Except, of course, when they are busy downloading it while the wife is out shopping.)

111. Scarlet Letter Campaign Update: A Victory

Comment #62579 by BigJohn on August 10, 2007 at 7:17 am

It is iffy that this site is a satire. There is certainly strong, non-satirical support for Brownback. Yet, much of the writing resembles that found on the Landover Baptist site. They also use the same vendor site as Landover -- cafepress. However, there is also a lot of Brownback stuff for sale on cafepress.

Based on what I see, satire or not, I think that this is simply a website supporting Sam Brownback.

112. God in the Military - The Pentagon and its Christian Embassy

Comment #61870 by BigJohn on August 7, 2007 at 8:13 am

Religion is an incurable cancer in the U.S. It has metastasized to all areas of the government and military. It is going to kill us. I suspect that death will come in 2008 when George W. Bush will not relinquish the Presidency by claiming that he was appointed by God. Who can stop him? No one. He has the backing of the Military. The majority of Congress is Christian and they will side with him, at the least to satisfy their constituency. The Supreme Court is powerless without enforcement, and besides, the majority there is Christian as well.

113. Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour

Comment #59222 by BigJohn on July 28, 2007 at 11:33 am

These people are obviously delusional, very close to the point of psychosis. In fact, several folks in this video were behaving in a psychotic manner. Maybe someone could write a book about this...oh, yeah, several folks have already done that :)

114. Sally on Sunday with Alister McGrath

Comment #52894 by BigJohn on June 28, 2007 at 12:31 pm

Shuggy, download the K-Lite Codec Pack. It contains Media Player Classic plus enough codecs to play almost everything, including Real stuff and Quicktime stuff. It is easy on the resources and has no ads or spy ware attached. It's free, too.

115. God Hates the World

Comment #51957 by BigJohn on June 25, 2007 at 4:28 pm

I'll stick with Pastor Deacon Fred at my church, Landover Baptist Church in Freehold, Iowa. The music's better.

116. The Future Forum Presents: Christopher Hitchens and Marvin Olasky

Comment #50528 by BigJohn on June 18, 2007 at 3:35 pm

My computer doesn't know how to show the video file. Oh, well, I guess I can just listen.

117. A Compass That Can Clash With Modern Life

Comment #49598 by BigJohn on June 12, 2007 at 1:59 pm

PaulJ, Papal infallibility is not a suggestion, it is the word of god. Whereas, "Technically, the fatwa is nonbinding and recipients are free to look elsewhere for a better ruling.".

All of the other comments I would like to make here are immature and sexual in nature and, so, I will regretfully refrain.

118. Baptists Warned About Islam, Atheism

Comment #49596 by BigJohn on June 12, 2007 at 1:53 pm

I am disgusted by the double standard of the religious. They insist that everyone must accept "under god", "in god we trust", the public display of the ten commandments everywhere, etc., etc., but if we who can think even suggest that we object to any of these things then we are evil for transgressing on their beliefs.

I am a virus!

119. Evolution: God as Genetic Engineer

Comment #49170 by BigJohn on June 10, 2007 at 7:24 pm

How can Lehigh University pretend to offer a course in Biochemistry with Behe teaching there? It seems to me that his biases would render the course questionable at best. But then I don't know anything about Biology so maybe it's possible to build a degree based on shaky Biochemistry.

120. Can we really learn to love people who aren't like us?

Comment #48818 by BigJohn on June 9, 2007 at 6:04 am

Will S says "It's a good article, but he still can't face the fact that atheism is a belief: the belief that there is no God."

FALSE! Will, atheism is not a belief!!! Please read this article http://richarddawkins.net/article,1243,n,n

In the comments on that article I say, "Why is this such a difficult concept for so many people? When I tell people that I am an atheist(a rare occasion here, deep in the Bible Belt)I generally get a response like this, 'Oh, so, you believe that there is no god.'. I explain that this is not a correct statement. I say I do not believe, I have no faith. But no one can understand the difference between belief and lack of belief. They are so inured with the idea that one must believe in something, anything, that they cannot absorb the concept of non-belief."

That's my story and I am sticking with it.

121. Atheism is the absence of belief

Comment #48408 by BigJohn on June 7, 2007 at 7:14 pm

" Atheism is the absence of belief."

Why is this such a difficult concept for so many people? When I tell people that I am an atheist(a rare occasion here, deep in the Bible Belt)I generally get a response like this, 'Oh, so, you believe that there is no god.'. I explain that this is not a correct statement. I say I do not believe, I have no faith. But no one can understand the difference between belief and lack of belief. They are so inured with the idea that one must believe in something, anything, that they cannot absorb the concept of non-belief.

122. In Saudi Arabia, a view from behind the veil

Comment #48406 by BigJohn on June 7, 2007 at 6:46 pm

In 1985, I spent two months in Jeddah. I was a middle aged, middle class, working, American, male. I never felt comfortable. I never felt really safe. Since most of the rules there make no sense, I was always worried about doing something wrong. I can't even imagine being a female in Saudi Arabia. If I were a female, I would not have gone to Saudi for any reason. This article reinforces my thought.

123. Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath

Comment #46429 by BigJohn on May 31, 2007 at 7:33 am

"We're sorry, but the provider of this video has not authorized Google to display this video in your location." Plus, a bunch of mysql warnings.

This is in the U.S., so, based on all of the other posts, it must not be available anywhere. It must have been taken down because this interview plus others are to be released on a DVD.

124. Catholic Church Reconsiders Limbo

Comment #46188 by BigJohn on May 30, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Very funny. I shall treat my Swiffer with great deference from now on.

125. Christopher Hitchens Is a Treasure

Comment #46178 by BigJohn on May 30, 2007 at 1:32 pm

"all the basic ideals of the Enlightenment – such as fraternity, not to say, liberty and equality — derive from Christianity, not from Greece or Rome."

O.K., but without Christianity we wouldn't have needed the Enlightenment.

126. The New Atheists loathe religion far too much to plausibly challenge it

Comment #38259 by BigJohn on May 7, 2007 at 10:41 am

Suppose you have a house. This house has a room in into which you cannot go. You have no idea what could be in this room. One day a neighbor begins to harass you about this room. He accuses you of wasting space in your lovely house. He tells you that you are stupid to have an unused room. At first, this makes you angry. Who is this guy to tell you what to do with your house! It is your house and you can have a strange, unopened, room if you want! But, his haranguing eventually makes you think. Thinking arouses your curiosity about this strange room. Once your curiosity is piqued, you agonize about going into this special place to see what is there. Maybe there is something valuable in there. Before long you feel that you absolutely must see what the room contains. So, finally, you open the room, go in, and look around. Alas, you find it empty. It is nothing special. It is just an empty room. But, now, you can occupy your new room, raise the shades, fill the room with light. Your house is whole. No longer must you avoid the strange, dark parts of it.

127. Kadra attacked in public

Comment #32209 by BigJohn on April 16, 2007 at 7:33 am

justme: "While not as barbaric as female circumcision, the same could be said of male circumcision."

Hear, hear! Circumcision of children is child abuse regardless of gender. It is a religious crime perpetrated for no scientific medical reason. Any thinking person who permits their child to be circumcised should be filled with shame.

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

Comment #26067 by BigJohn on March 16, 2007 at 12:31 pm

...but they want to establish a right for liberals to bash Christians and berate God around the clock.

But, it's OK for them to bash and berate atheists around the clock. They have been doing it for centuries now. Come on xtians try to be reasonably fair...for a change...once in a while.

129. US Congressman Holds No God-Belief

Comment #25383 by BigJohn on March 12, 2007 at 7:50 pm

Rep. Pete Stark has been a congressman since 1973. That's about 34 years. I expect he is safe in making this move, but it is nonetheless brave. I hope his bravery will encourage others, who may be a little safer than most, to come out. Once the flow is started, who knows, it may become a flood. One can only hope.

130. Top Scientists Warn of Water Shortages and Disease Linked to Global Warming

Comment #25359 by BigJohn on March 12, 2007 at 1:55 pm

"it still must be edited by government officials."

What!!??!!

Is this science or politics?

Sorry, that was a very silly question.

131. Panel discussion on atheism where no atheists are included

Comment #22211 by BigJohn on February 13, 2007 at 1:35 pm

As I heard it, the balloon brained girl, ol' what's her name...oh, yeah, Karen Hunter, and the blintz brained broad, Debbie Schlussel, were saying that atheists should not do what christians do every day. Just goes to show you that they think that what's good for the Goose is NOT good for the Gander. Yummm, paté.

132. [Warning: Graphic] Children's foreheads slashed in Muslim saint's name

Comment #20064 by BigJohn on January 31, 2007 at 8:02 am

This slashing is not as bad as circumcision. The only result of slashing is a scar. Circumcision actually removes a functional portion of the body. Both are the result of religious beliefs and, so, have no real benefits.

What I find interesting is that everyone here sounds so shocked and appalled by the slashing and only one person, Ohnhai(#2), even mentions the more painful and disfiguring circumcision.

133. The Nodder

Comment #16761 by BigJohn on January 8, 2007 at 1:53 pm

Come, come, now, Stephen, after drinking a bottle of Champagne before lunch you can hardly blame Professor Dawkins for your plight.

134. How Old is the Grand Canyon? Park Service Won't Say

Comment #15362 by BigJohn on December 30, 2006 at 6:03 pm

Biblebeltheretic, aww, come on. It was Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, Babe, whut created the Grand Canyon. Everbuddy knows that.

135. Dawkins' delusion is that science can determine the existence of God

Comment #4355 by Bigjohn on November 3, 2006 at 1:57 pm

"...presents a model of God which possesses the depth and integrity of, well, Santa Claus."

Of course not, there is no more depth to god than there is to Santa Claus.