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The Australian Christian Lobby are lying again. This time they are mischaracterising the Atheist Foundation of Australia’s “No Religion” campaign by stating (emphasis mine): “While the census data is rightly used to assist the government to plan for services and infrastructure, other groups, including some atheists, are seeking to push their agendas by encouraging people [...]
The excellent British broadcaster BBC 4 recently aired a fascinating program called “The Medieval Mind” which explores the philosophy, theology, and predominate thinking of the dark ages. The first episode deals with knowledge and revealed numerous intriguing insights into how the medieval mind determined epistemological truths. Monks, priests, and other godly people were in possession [...]
I flagged this video a few days ago, but only watched it this evening. It’s is not often we see ex-muslims speaking out against the “religion of peace”. What these people have done is extraordinary and brave given the fundamentalists attraction to extreme violence.
I want a god whose ultimate goals which do not necessitate the creation of mysterious suffering and death. I want a god who doesn’t violate causation by causing things to begin to exist from nothing in the absence of time. I want a god who does not give us “free will” then punishes us for [...]
“Atheism 2.0” is a 20 minute TED presentation by Alain de Botton in which he proposes a new approach to evangelising atheism. Alain suggests (apparently without evidence) that we have “secularised badly” and we should sift through the rituals, traditions, and behaviours of religion to identify and adopt their efficient mechanisms. “I have come here [...]
Atheists are often told by believers to read the Bible and it will all become clear. Trouble is, many of us have tried that and it doesn’t seem to have helped. Take these verses for example: This does not sound like a great night out to me. “But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master [...]
The Australian Federal Government has revealed its budget for the coming financial year, and it seems to contain some surprises. The Education Minister Peter Garrett said attracting and retaining “Highly qualified people in the teaching was a top priority”. This makes me wonder why he has decided to pour another $222 million pushing Chaplains into 3,700 [...]
This is a segment from a debate between Sam Harris debate and Rabbi David Wolpe at the American Jewish University. Sam Harris defends both atheists AND Christians from tyrants of the past like Stalin and Hitler. The full discussion can be found here.
From Intelligence Squared: In this, our first ever iq2 Short, Ann Widdecombe and Stephen Fry lock horns over the motion ‘The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world’. The animation is adapted from a debate we staged in 2009 which also included Christopher Hitchens and John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of [...]