Sorry that this has taken a few days to put up. My computer has had problems and I have been busy. Anyways, read on.

Islam in British schools.

This blogger is defiantly right-wing, but he talks about an interesting subject.

Link

When Fundamentalists advertise with posters.

I love it when these guys do this crap, it shows how crazy they are.

Link

Archbishop: Catholics Should Be Allowed to Discriminate with Government Funding

Humans and animals seem to be getting a free ride of respect in our society. I simply don’t understand why people constantly overlook our earth loving friends the potato. Why don’t we give the potato the credit, and respect it deserves? In the following paragraphs I intend to single-handedly eliminate vegetarianism as well as hopefully dramatically increase the amount of respect the average person has for our spuddly friends from a not so distant planet.

This great respect comes at a good time for the potato as well since 2008 has officially been named “International Year of the Potato”. As the world starts to eat these fabulous spuds in greater quantity we should take a humble position and respect the great sacrifice that these noble spuds are making for the well being of the human race.

If I suggested to you that you should take a knife and stab an animal in the reproductive organs, rip it out of its home, slice the skin off of it, dice up the remains, and then toss it into a pot of boiling water all to lead up to finale where you grind the remains of it into a mush…you would likely throw up on my nice new shirt and then refuse to pay the dry cleaning cost.

Kelly O'Connor
Feb. 7, 2008

Not all Christians are supercilious, of course. Many are content to live and let live, and some even grant that science (despite its lack of supernatural entities) does some good. But Christianity as an organized, evangelizing movement has been on the offensive lately. Witness the new wave of evangelicals and their leaders such as Rick Warren, Lee Strobel, and William Lane Craig with their aggressive stance against scientific materialism and their bestselling books attempting to refute science. So, assuming you're an atheist, what do you say to the theist who asks, "You don't (chuckle) believe in a god (snicker)?"

Anybody familiar with the original article will see that the preceding paragraph is the same paragraph as the opening to "How to Respond to a Supercilious Atheist" by Alan Roebuck. By changing a few words, the same attack can be launched right back at him, and the rest of the article isn't much better. It appears to be a primer in projection. After all, when in doubt, just accuse them of being just like you.

Tom Cruise and the "Jesus Meme"

By Rook Hawkins


In a recent wave of the viral media expose, Tom Cruise and the now infamous Scientology Indoctrination video (you should definitely watch the video before reading the rest of this), which has been systematically been removed from the net where ever the Scientologists have found them. What is the most interesting part of the video is not the maniacal laughter and psychotic expressions Cruise gives throughout the video, it is the way Cruise is portrayed by the film directors of the video itself.

Recently, I have been having an exchange in my other Wordpress blog concerning my post on Josephus (which you can find here and here). So far the exchange has been pretty friendly, despite the disagreements. I thought it would benefit everyone to read the exchange. I'll also add some additional comments on at the end.

I recently sent out a bulletin through RRSChicago refering to a funny skit by atheist comedian Jamie Kilstein the skit, and Jamies Blog containing the video, used the words: "little angry, pinch-faced Christian" in the description so I used it in the bulletin. I received the e-mail below from an atheist in response and had to shake my head as the past few months of discussions of how diverse atheist thought-processes are came rushing at me:

Her E-mail:

"As Atheists we have to work harder to fit into society. Fanatical Christians are accepted easier.... I want to be part of a positive group.. not one in a pissing contest with Christians. "little angry, pinch-faced Christian"

My E-mail response:

"Actually we aren't in a pissing match , we are searching for a way to communicate our views with theists that push their faith / belief into society; Schools, government, neighborhoods... Chamber of commerce meetings.

And yet more news once again. At the bottom of today's blog, there is a link to a google video of an interview of Noam Chomsky about the media today. I agree with many of his points, this should give you an idea of where I am coming from.

All those who hate Chomsky need not worry, the interviewer is rather aggressive, he's not from American TV btw, and he's from the BBC. J

Hitler and atheists.

Anyone who has argued with a theist will usually experience a real life version of godwin's law, they always bring up Hitler. This authour does a good job of refuting it.

Josephus: What's the Deal?

By Rook Hawkins

Far too often apologists and evangelicals bring up Josephus as a source for a historical Jesus. This is a continuing error among scholars, and it is fueled by secular scholars who are either persuaded by pseudo-scientific evaluations of the texts, or for reasons dealing only in their presuppositions, such as those discussed above. The Testimonium Flavianum is generally brought up by both apologists and historical Jesus questers more than any other document. Although other supposed mentions of Jesus exist, the subject, so as to not seem as if an Argument from Silence is the only means at which one can attain the position held in this book, will be limited to the Testimonium due to its importance and scope of usage. For this reason, included here in this section is a specific refutation towards the use of this passage, as will be provided ample evidence for its entire dismissal as an interpolation.

QUESTION:

This question is in two parts: (1) What languages are the oldest copies of the books of the Bible found in, and (2) what language is it believed to be originally written in? I would also like to know why many different books of the bible were written in different languages originally.

ANSWER:

02/04/08

Well, despite the gazillion articles that I could be responding to right now, I've decided to update everybody on some general info and address some of the feedback I've gotten.

First of all, the focus on "print" media has shifted slightly, and I have been addressing a lot more of the online publications than not. I guess there's not that much difference these days anyway, since the majority of people get their news and information online. Obviously, D'Souza keeps popping up. I swear that guy is either just republishing excerpts from his book in his blog, or he's glued to his keyboard. Some of my most popular posts, though, were ones that didn't address a single target, but instead an issue or a compilation of similar stories.

The most popular post on my blog so far has been "Still Don't Think Theism is a Mental Disorder." Behind that would be the "News Story from Belgium..." story on the Islamic man who wouldn't allow a male anesthesiologist to treat his wife who needed an emergency cesarean section. As much fun as it is to beat up on Dinesh and Pope Ratzi, I guess variety is a benefit.