Irish Atheists Publish 25 Well-Known Blasphemous Quotes To Test Ridiculous New Blasphemy Law
January 1st, a brand new blasphemy law takes into effect in Ireland, in which it’s now criminal with fines up to 25.000 euros for:
publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, [...]
Debate Between The Catholic Church And Christopher Hitchens & Stephen Fry
An absolutely interesting video debate on the topic: “Is the Catholic church a force for good in the world?”. Needless to say, Hitchens and Fry deliciously and absolutely crush their opponents.
Things To Look Forward To In 2009
While every government is busy buying up bad dept and obsolete car companies and every company is busy firing people (out of a cannon, into the sun), it may be hard to see what there is to look forward to in 2009. But there is stuff. Good stuff. Here’s my top 7.
January 20th, in just [...]
You’ve Been Left Behind
Come the Rapture, the true believers will ascend to the heavens and us godless creatures will be left behind. If you believe that, you might want to apply for the services of You’ve Been Left Behind. The service, which is subscription based, lets the true believers store personal messages to the friends they do not [...]
I Want To Believe
There’s a new member of the No Poster Family. It’s called I Want To Believe, and it’s a remake of one of my one of my all time favourite posters.
Some of you will recognize the theme of the poster from the TV series, The X-Files, where it graced Mulders office-wall. That poster, in turn, was—for [...]
Statistical Inquiries Into The Efficacy Of Prayer
Interesting stuff: Francis Galton studied the efficacy of prayer a while back. Apparently, priests (whom must pray a lot), statistically do not live longer than those who do not converse with the air. Taking the stairs, on the other hand, does make a difference. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? No it doesn’t.
The Golden Compass Mini-Review
Reviews are spoilerfree but beware of comments.
There are many parallel universes, all connected by the mythical golden substance: dust. In one such universe, souls are separate from humans and walk beside them as animals. In this world, Lyra is given a Golden Compass, a device that can unveil truth and the true nature of things as they really are. Their power [...]
Atheism Is Not A Faith
Morning coffee not yet entirely digested, I flipped through the news. Brain set to autopilot, I somehow found myself participating in a competition for tickets to the new movie: The Golden Compass, a fantasy adventure starring Nicole Kidman. To win tickets, I had to answer the following question (loosely translated):
To which faith does The Golden [...]
Selected Quotes on Religion
Via Reddit, my new favourite alternative to Digg I found this delecious selection of snacksized quotes. Here are a few:
If you can conceive of morality without god, why can you not conceive of society without government? – Peter Saint-André
When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the [...]
The Euthyphro Dilemma
Reading up on discussions on atheism (the lack of belief in god), I stumbled upon this interesting question, called the Euthyphro dilemma:
Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?
Wikipedia “translates” this into something more readable:
Is what is moral commanded by God [...]