Infidelities: Collection No.3
Outward displays of belief in God have become a proxy for trustworthiness in the US. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP Issues of personal faith can be a source of respectful debate and discussion. Since faith is often not based on evidence, however, it is hard to imagine how various deep philosophical or religious disagreements can be objectively laid to rest. As a result, skeptics like myself struggle to understand or anticipate the vehement anger that can be generated by the mere suggestion that perhaps there may be no God, or even that such a suggestion is not meant to offend. Last week, police in Rhode Island had to be called to suppress an angry crowd at a school board meeting, and a 16-year-old atheist had to take time off school after being threatened and targeted by an online hate campaign.
The faithful must learn to respect those who question their beliefs
'As Nietzsche points out, we are nothing but clever animals who think they have invented knowledge.' Photograph: Jens Meyer/Associated Press It was pretty well exactly at this time last year, in the middle of writing the sixth of my columns on Marx for Comment is free that I had to take a quick break and go and get the results of an MRI scan from the doctor.
On being an atheist diagnosed with MS | Peter Thompson | Comment is free
The Top 10 Intelligent Designs (or Creation Myths) Several parents won a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania school district in 2005 that had added the controversial theory of "intelligent design" to its curriculum. Unlike the theory of evolution which is taught at most schools as a fact-based science, "intelligent design" -- as argued by the plaintiffs -- was nothing more than a philosophy predicated on the Judeo-Christian belief that the logical sequences found in nature are not random happenings or surprising mutations, but deftly managed events created by a greater omniscient and omnipresent intelligence with a specific plan. In short, the work of God. A federal judge thought otherwise. But therein lies the rub: Which god?
The Top 10 Intelligent Designs (or Creation Myths)
Before John Lennon imagined "living life in peace," he conjured "no heaven … / no hell below us …/ and no religion too." No religion: What was Lennon summoning? For starters, a world without "divine" messengers, like Osama bin Laden, sparking violence. A world where mistakes, like the avoidable loss of life in Hurricane Katrina, would be rectified rather than chalked up to "God's will."
Science and religion: God didn't make man; man made gods - latimes.com
Does God Exist? A debate between best-selling authors Rabbi David Wolpe and Sam Harris.
Simply Ballet For Women and Men #13SD1DBW By: Brett Weidlich Dates: Apr 15-Jun 10 (no class May 27) Time: Monday 1:30-2:30pm Tuition: $104 This course is a unique and simplified Ballet Barre specially designed for adult beginner dance students.Interesting comments!
Mind & Brain :: Features :: May 3, 2012 :: :: Email :: Print See Inside Who is better off: the religious or atheists?
By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 06:15 GMT, 21 April 2012 | UPDATED: 06:57 GMT, 21 April 2012 Scientists have speculated for years that the human brain features a 'God spot,' one distinct area of the brain responsible for spirituality.
There is no God-spot new research claims but instead spirituality exists across the whole brain
Just from the standpoint of someone who prefers not to be lied to, the dishonesty in the creation of this religion is flabbergasting. But there is no end of excuses and justifications for it. Well, that's all good and fine, but back to the bible itself. On the very first page the errors commence and they don't stop until the very end of the book. It is one fluid mistake after another. This is ultimate proof that the bible was not divinely inspired but was written by men with the knowledge and understanding of the time.
The Bible: A Solid Foundation for Atheistic Belief
How to detect lies - body language, reactions, speech patterns
Interesting Info -> Lying Index -> How to Detect Lies Become a Human Lie Detector (Part 1) Warning: sometimes ignorance is bliss.
From Minister To Atheist: A Story Of Losing Faith
Teresa MacBain walks her dog, Gracie, at a park near her Tallahassee, Fla., home. After a lifetime in the church, MacBain came out as an atheist at an American Atheists' convention in Bethesda, Md. Colin Hackley for NPR This is the first in a series of stories on losing faith. Teresa MacBain has a secret, one she's terrified to reveal.A World Without Rainbows?: by Wayne Anderson
by Wayne Anderson The following article is from Free Inquiry magazine , Volume 21, Number 3. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. Genesis, chapter 9, verses 12–13 One of the difficulties in adopting a literal interpretation of the Bible is that you can wander off into some pretty strange territory.The Evolution of God Robert Wright Little, Brown: 576 pp. $25.99
Jack Miles | 'The Evolution of God' by Robert Wright and 'The Case for God' by Karen Armstrong
50 things I've learned in 50 years, a partial list in no particular order
1. It’s better to sing off key than not to sing at all. 2. Promptness shows respect.Kurt Gray, Liane Young, and Adam Waytz argue [ pdf ] that our belief that other people have minds is at the heart of our morality: In 1945, Pablo Picasso distilled the essence of a bull. In a series of fifteen drawings, he took the full <img alt="6a00d83452050c69e20162fdd8d19d970d" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451c45669e201675ecce7da970b" src="http://sullydish.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/6a00d83451c45669e201675ecce7da970b-320wi.jpg?w=580" style="width: 315px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;" title="6a00d83452050c69e20162fdd8d19d970d" /> complexity of the animal and reduced it to a dozen lines (Figure 1).
Morality Is Other People
After this leg of our evolutionary journey runs it course many of us are buried deep in the earth. Why? Well, maybe to get to heaven faster.