Boko Haram at it again. Sheesh. Fundamentalism. BBC: Northern Nigeria is under emergency rule, but attacks have intensified Suspected Islamist…
Category Religion and Society
Just thought this list of atheists in film and television, from wikipedia, was interesting: Douglas Adams (1952–2001): British radio and television…
The end is Nye!
Sorry, made that joke last time, but now it seems better suited.
So last night was the much-trafficked debate between Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and AiG founder Ken Ham. Now, I am obviously biased towards the scientific consensus; evidence tends to do that. However, I have to say that I was pessimistic about how the debate would go. I didn’t figure either side would really win, but rather it seemed there would be a lot of talking past each other. And while that happened to an extend, overall I think Nye handled things rather well.
This blog post is very much a timely piece as there is much newsworthiness concerning the Atheist Assembly and secular gatherings in general. It needs to be read so share away! Simon Clare is organiser of Horsham and Brighton Skeptics in the Pubs and one-time atheist street-preacher. Check out his website at http://www.simonclare.co.uk/ (and will soon feature new blog posts once again!).
Love, hate it or ignore it, the Sunday Assembly project has been successful enough to warrant a serious discussion about how it should be run.
Ack, the Republicans are at it again. Maybe she saw my post on autism meaning that God is unfair.
As HuffPo reports:
“I am not in favor of abortions, I am not in favor of gay rights,” Atanus, who has staged two previous unsuccessful runs for Congress, said during a videotaped portion of the interview, before going into more detail with the paper.
http://youtu.be/PjbYr1xTQlE
OK, so this sort of thing is what you would usually expect from rabid Republican senators. Anyway, looks like that sort of behaviour has traversed the Atlantic. Let me just get this out of the way first – AAAAARRRGGGGHHHH! Fuckwit!
Anyway, the BBC:
This is a fascinating account of someone I met on facebook who has interesting things to say with regard to religion and society in a part of the world which is easy to misunderstand for someone like me. I found mention of sleep paralysis interesting as I have suffered a few times with this and my sister had it badly for years. It is prevalent in African folklore and I can see how it must contribute to ideas of the supernatural.
Anyway, here is an insight into being nonreligious in a very religious and superstitious context:
The results of the 2013 New Zealand Census has Christianity down to 47 per cent. Retired scientist, Ken Perrott’s, accompanying graph charts Christianity’s decline in every recent census and projects its decline to just above 20 per cent by 2030 and further, beyond that date. It is, of course, very unlikely to disappear altogether, but, equally, the chances of a major Christian revival in New Zealand are very remote.
From the National Secular Society:
Religious fundamentalism is not a marginal phenomenon in Western Europe, nor is it restricted to Islam. This conclusion is drawn in a large-scale study published by Ruud Koopmans from the WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
I bought a CD for my partner the other day. it was by an X-Factor third place finisher from a few years ago, Rebecca Ferguson. Not something I’d usually buy myself, of course, but she’s got a rich and textured voice which sounds lovely.
The Christmas Candle, which was produced by the Christian-themed studio that Santorum heads, fails to fly
The Christmas Candle, set in the fictional English village of Gladbury and billed as “a timeless holiday film for the entire family”, attracted widespread critical scorn as well as dismal box-office results, having grossed just over $1.6m (£988,000) after two weeks on release.
From the British Humanist Association, by email:
We were very disappointed last week by comments made by Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities. She addressed a gathering of students at Churchill College, Cambridge, and stated that the UK’s coalition government was one of the most ‘pro-faith’ in the world.
A moment of Schadenfreude: David Marshall recently debated Phil Zuckerman on the issue “What provides a better foundation for civil society: Christianity or Secular Humanism?” and Marshall apparently got creamed. The debate was recorded and the church that organized it planned to upload it. But after their guy lost, they changed their mind on that. Zuckerman asked them when they will finally keep their word and upload the video material of the debate, this is the reply he got:
This is a disgrace. This is what our schools are coming to given the government’s insistence that anyone can set up schools (Free Schools). This is just an excuse for ideological indoctrination. Here is an email the British Humanist Association sent me:
So, us in the rest of the world can see that the Republican Party in the US are several sandwiches…
Shocker. Absolute shocker. Such ignorance. As the Huffington Post reports:
A teenage girl in France narrowly survived a violent week-long crucifixion-style exorcism.
OK, so this is the world’s greatest moustache. But this guy put his life on the line for it in the face of religious extremism. Shit, he even put his family second to the mighty facial hair. Here is Salon.com’s take on it (H/T Reasonable Doubts):
A letter from the president of the BHA. Very welcome news.
Dear all,
Many of you will know that a long-standing campaign of the BHA has been to get the Scout Association and Girlguiding UK to change their membership pledges, known as Promises, to be inclusive of the non-religious. Until recently, both organisations have required all members to pledge to ‘do my duty to God’ (or some variant). We were thrilled when both organisations announced last December that they were to consult on changing their Promises, and even more so when both organisations approached us to work with them in this.
I am a big advocate of the state education sector in Britain. I hate Michael Gove, the Conservative Education Minister,…