Hey friends,

This Wednesday night, 6/11 our prospective guest is Philip R. Davies, a Hebrew Bible scholar and member of the prestigious Copenhagen school, who will discuss some of the many reasons why the Hebrew Bible is fiction as opposed to history, and explain a bit of the minimalist position. 

All quests and inquiries for these two guests may be posted in this thread, and the best will be asked on air.  Remember the show starts promptly at 8pm EST in stickam, which can be accessed from this link. 

[UPDATE] Because of time zone restrictions, this show will have to be taped early and played for the room later that evening, normal time.  Philip is 5 hours ahead of me, and that means that calling him at 8pm EST is 1am for him.  Because of my respect for him, I have agreed to record the show ahead of time.  I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but still promise a great show!  Looking forward to seeing you all there.

NOTE: This is why it is important to get your questions in NOW.  Ask all your questions in this thread!  Only two more days until show time!

Here we go again, hope you are finding these links interesting.

Religious tolerance not the answer?

An op ed on teaching religion in schools.

A response to Peter Bowden’s “God, Atheism, and Human Needs”

Kelly O’Connor

Jan. 24, 2008

The idea that human beings universally need some form of mythological belief has been one of the mainstays of the defenders of faith for centuries. They claim that even if god doesn’t exist or religion causes violence and hatred, it’s acceptable because it makes some people feel better about the harsh realities of life. This is a multi-pronged deceptive ploy used to abdicate themselves from any responsibility for those actions and to keep people thinking that their assertion is correct.

Hello all once again, Number 5 was eaten by my evil computer, so I am just jumping ahead to no.6

It makes sense if you have bothered to keep track.

More news regarding the blocking of an atheist website in turkey.

A short update about this story.

Link

A change in direction for France?

It would seem France’s latest prime minister wants to see some change happen regarding France as a secular republic.

This post, written by Sara Robinson, originally appeared on Orcinus

I've been saying for a while now that the religious right in America finally and firmly jumped the shark over the past few years. But now that that big ol' shark's behind them, there's another bunch of critters looming ahead that may prove to be even more damning. It's that whole big flock of chickens that are finally coming home to roost.

I don't know how long they thought they were going to go on that way, all self-righteous and judgmental, blaming homosexuals and feminists for everything from 9/11 to the price of gas, ignoring the interests of the poor in favor of those of big business, and dismissing any kind of environmental stewardship as nothing more than a way to waste time until the Rapture comes. Clearly, the didn't see anything at all wrong with elevating the most spiteful and amoral among them as their national spokespeople, and rewarding them in direct proportion to the heat of their rhetoric. No, these folks were on fire (we're still not sure if it was Jesus or heartburn), and they weren't afraid to let their bilious light shine on the TV, in the streets, all the way to the White House. They did their best to set it high above the rest of the culture, where none of the rest of us could miss it if we wanted to.

Hello all,

I have returned, my computer has been fixed and I can start bothering you all with these posts once again.

I have several days worth of links I’ll be adding asap.

As always, if anyone has any comments, plz let me know. I appreciate feedback.

I would like to make one point clear; I don’t agree with everything that every author quoted here has to say about the world. I like contrasting opinions from many different sources. Just FYI.

I intend to start mentioning why I read what I do and how I interpret it after I clear this backlog.

Join me for the next few weeks as I'll be taking over the RRS's on friday night ! The shows are at 8-9:30 est (5-6:30 pst). I'll be discussing a variety of topics ranging from "The importance of diversity in atheism" to "Solipsism and why I don't care." The show will be live and you'll be able to submit questions to me in the chat room.  Or post them here in this thread if you like.  

You'll be able to see the show live by visiting http://stickam.com/profile/sapient.

• Friday Jan 25 --8pm est, 5 pm pst
• Fri Feb 1 --8pm est, 5 pm pst
• Fri Feb 8 --8pm est, 5 pm pst
• Fri Feb 15  --8pm est, 5 pm pst

So come join me this Friday, as I put on my dusty show host hat once more!

check out the atheist message board that built the RRS here http://www.atheistnetwork.com

Hello all once again,

My computer died and spent 5 days in the hospital, but I have it back now and will be posting my news blog once again shortly.

Just FYI.

Can you believe that these people actually have rehab centers set up for this so-called disorder? It's not supported by any evidence, and lots of doctors oppose it as a diagnosis. Besides, all of the supporters of this "disorder" are probably just pissed off that they grew up with Atari instead of XBox. So what if a person never leaves their home or allows their relationships to fail because they need to get to the next skill level in WoW? I won't believe that this a problem until there is REAL SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE--like inclusion in the DSM. If it's not there tomorrow--I'll just tell everybody that you are a liar for pretending that such a thing exists.

Here's a quote that shows that somebody just made this up all on his own, and now they even have people convinced that you need rehab for internet addiction!