I hope he comes close to where I live, so I can go hear his lecture.

And if he needs a 10,000 seat hall, there is a mega-church here in town that seats that many. I like to refer to it either as "The Jesus Dome" or "6 Flags Over Jesus."

Richard Dawkins is a modern day hero.

Darwin's Rott gets a +1 from me.

/Fundies should be glad he ain't Mike Vitt's Rott

I'm just going to get this out of the way.

If atheism is a religion, then not playing basketball is a sport.

parkedr: I'm just going to get this out of the way.

If atheism is a religion, then not playing basketball is a sport.

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." --Stephen Roberts

You_mean_Im_gonna_stay_this_color: "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." --Stephen Roberts

That is a great one. So true.

Erm, does anyone else find it slightly disturbing that a lot of links dealing solely with religion have been greenlit to the politics page?

Wow, they must be pretty....hard up....if they want to battle Satan's tool so badly.

Terrific comments at that awful site

quadropheniac: Erm, does anyone else find it slightly disturbing that a lot of links dealing solely with religion have been greenlit to the politics page?

With the new tabs humor and quality's gone down and the trolly meanness way up. I suppose the PTB have their reasons (just so long as the whinging about discussion meanness goes away)

hehehehehehe

subby said tool

Anyone read the comments?

The bible was written by pontious pilot to control the roman christians of the day and to begin the greatest hoax on the world since the irs christianity judaism paganism islam etc was all meant to explain the unexpianable of the era and now that we have science and truth we have finally grown up and realized that we may not be alone in the universe but there are no deities guiding us and ready to spank us if we misbehave. the world needs to wake up and realize we are just here and thats it maybe then it might be a better place free of religious indifference and unneccesary hatred and intolerance.

This kind of stuff is why the internet was invented.

quadropheniac: Erm, does anyone else find it slightly disturbing that a lot of links dealing solely with religion have been greenlit to the politics page?

Religion and politics have been always been intertwined. We're just lucky that we get to see it happen in the open on occasion.

Isn't Richard Dawkins a douche? I think a popular republican TV program told me.

quadropheniac: Erm, does anyone else find it slightly disturbing that a lot of links dealing solely with religion have been greenlit to the politics page?

...? You're acting as if politics and religion aren't the same thing... as if there were some sort of separation between the two.

parkedr: I'm just going to get this out of the way.

If atheism is a religion, then not playing basketball is a sport.

I don't know about you guys, but I actively campaign people to stop playing basketball. It's a boring, not-fun sport, and I can't even play it let alone sit through a game on the television.

Richard Dawkins to preach atheism in the Bible Belt and the Midwest Methodists prepare to battle the "tool of Satan"

So why is Richard Dawkins doing this causing the Methodists to prepare to battle Pat Robertson?

moothemagiccow: Isn't Richard Dawkins a douche? I think a popular republican TV program told me.

It's one of the few times they're right. Usually, they're hilariously and terrifyingly wrong, but Dawkins is a douche.

Vanetia: but I actively campaign people to stop playing basketball.

What other choice have you, when our culture demonizes any who dares to publicly admit they don't play basketball. With basketball and politics so firmly intertwined, you're practically forced to in order to defend yourself.

Wight, who was behind the slogan "The future's bright, the future's Orange", is helping to rebrand atheists in a less negative light.

Wight, 63, chairman and co-founder of the WCRS advertising agency said: "We need a different name." Alternatives that have been considered on Dawkins' internet forum include "brights", "fact fighters", "realists" and "the faithless".

I certainly hope Dawkins isn't paying this guy. Those names are terrible.

Techhell: Dawkins is a douche.

How do you figure?



/Dawkins Rocks!

Show me leprechauns!

Vanetia: I don't know about you guys, but I actively campaign people to stop playing basketball. It's a boring, not-fun sport, and I can't even play it let alone sit through a game on the television.

Actually, yeah. As a society, if we spent a tenth of the attention we put on sports on any political topic, we might actually be able to foment some sort of positive change.

Sports = the profitable opiate of the masses

moothemagiccow: Isn't Richard Dawkins a douche? I think a popular republican TV program told me.

Popular...really ? Really ?


/Name it

We shall crush them like clams on our belly

I can't find information on this tour anywhere else except the article. I wanna see Dawkins.

/help

Muddy_Mae: /help

I'm sure the schedule will show up here (pops) when it's set.

Vespers: Religion and politics have been always been intertwined. We're just lucky that we get to see it happen in the open on occasion.

I don't know, it still makes me nervous. At least the pretense of pretending they're different is enough for me.

Smellvin: ...? You're acting as if politics and religion aren't the same thing... as if there were some sort of separation between the two.

There should be.

quadropheniac:

I've always wondered that. Everyone is passionate about something, but when people legitimize fantasy you end up with people dressed like jedi showing up for jury duty.

You_mean_Im_gonna_stay_this_color: "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." --Stephen Roberts

I actually don't think this is a good argument.

The difference believing in a god in calling it Zeus or Jehovah or whatever is trivial compare to believing in no supernatural entities whatsoever.

This thread does not belong on the politics tab. Now that that's out of the way, Richard Dawkins deserves the Hero tag.

TheMysteriousStranger: You_mean_Im_gonna_stay_this_color: "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." --Stephen Roberts

I actually don't think this is a good argument.

The difference believing in a god in calling it Zeus or Jehovah or whatever is trivial compare to believing in no supernatural entities whatsoever.

surely you don't think you can explain everything about your existence, can you?

those the only thing i find fault with (though this is nit-picking, the meat of the argument im not calling to question) is the use of the word 'atheist'. -ist and -ism words tend to get over used and thrown around like hacky sacks while their intended meanings don't show through the word.

i think it would make more sense to say "i contend we are both of the same mindset regarding god"

but the argument is a brilliant one because it forces those who would normally be content to ground all of their belief in the idea of one God (with a captial G) to consider the reality that there are in fact, in reality, in existence other people that feel differently. the argument forces a person stuck in fundamentalist thought to consider an agnostic's aesthetic, well, if only for a split second.

One convert is Dawkins's daughter Juliet, who was sent by her mother to be, as Dawkins puts it, "indoctrinated" into the Catholic church. Friends of the family say she too is now an atheist.

Explains a lot.


Religious leaders in America dismissed Dawkins and his followers. The Rev David Cox, of the First Southern Methodist Church, Charleston, South Carolina said: "I would certainly like to protest. [Dawkins] is a tool of Satan, of the AntiChrist it sounds to me. All God-fearing people will be opposed to an atheist touring."

Fail. This is America, you don't get to oppose free speech. Any God worthy of the name doesn't need people to silence opposing viewpoints.

Captain Darling: One convert is Dawkins's daughter Juliet, who was sent by her mother to be, as Dawkins puts it, "indoctrinated" into the Catholic church. Friends of the family say she too is now an atheist.

Explains a lot.


Religious leaders in America dismissed Dawkins and his followers. The Rev David Cox, of the First Southern Methodist Church, Charleston, South Carolina said: "I would certainly like to protest. [Dawkins] is a tool of Satan, of the AntiChrist it sounds to me. All God-fearing people will be opposed to an atheist touring."

Fail. This is America, you don't get to oppose free speech. Any God worthy of the name doesn't need people to silence opposing viewpoints.

i think what you just said should be illegal.

The real ironic thing is that I doubt that only a tiny fraction of the number of Americans who attended Robert Ingersoll (new window)'s lectures in the 19th century will see Dawkins. And Ingersoll is now almost completely forgotten.

The pattern in the U.S. is for freethought to build up steam, freethinkers think they are about to break fundamentalist religion, there is a severe backlash, they are forgotten by the general public for decades (except maybe as boggy men) and the cycle starts again. This would be the third time freethought has built up steam in the U.S.

In Europe a bunch of very serious wars and the lack of the separation of church and state have largely broken Christianity as a predominant social force.

Richard Dawkins, trying way too hard to make a point that should be kept on the personal level. Also, he doesn't really undersand religion that well, he just takes on Christianity with the assumption anything said about it, can be said about other religions. Doesnt really work though.

ProdigalSigh: we might actually be able to foment some sort of positive change.

Except that most political things exist purely to be divisive, any actual social change, ain't coming from politics or caring about politics.

Dawkins, who sometimes lectures in T-shirts bearing the slogan "Evolution the greatest show on earth", said: "America has a problem with evolution. There is an astonishing level of sheer ignorance fomented by religious prejudices.

That's quite a lot for one tee shirt.

Subby fails at the reading, the "tool of Satan" comment was from a minister in the Southern Methodist church in Charleston. Midwest Methodist may not be crazy about it, but they usually don't go around using phrases like "tool of Satan." That's a right retained by the Southern branch of pretty much any religion.

JQPublic: Dawkin? I saw him open for Judas Priest in 1986!

OK, that was funny

I'm all for evolution, but fark do I hate that guy! Seriously, just as annoying and obnoxious as any of the Pat Robertson types.

If there was a god, they'd all be dead.

TheMysteriousStranger: The real ironic thing is that I doubt that only a tiny fraction of the number of Americans who attended Robert Ingersoll (new window)'s lectures in the 19th century will see Dawkins.

Well, yeah. They'd be like 140 years old.

Kick ass. Our weekly religion flamewar came a day early!

quadropheniac: Erm, does anyone else find it slightly disturbing that a lot of links dealing solely with religion have been greenlit to the politics page?

Depressing, maybe. It'd be disturbing if our developing theocracy was some kind of new thing.

Dawkins is the Pat Robertson for atheists. He won't gain any converts, and he's just reinforcing all the negative stereotypes that religious people have for us.

Dawkins doesn't speak for me.

TheMysteriousStranger: I actually don't think this is a good argument.

The difference believing in a god in calling it Zeus or Jehovah or whatever is trivial compare to believing in no supernatural entities whatsoever.

The point is that most religious people disbelieve in 99.999% of all the deities that humanity has created for itself, despite there usually being the same amount of evidence for those 99.999% as for the 0.001% they do believe in.

flaggboy42: Dawkins is the Pat Robertson for atheists. He won't gain any converts, and he's just reinforcing all the negative stereotypes that religious people have for us.

Dawkins doesn't speak for me.

i can't quite recall when Dawkins called for the assassination of the Pope on TV... when was that again?

He is to embark on a lecture tour of 2,000-seater halls in the Bible Belt and the Midwest in the wake of the presidential primary season

Translation: he's speaking at Duke and Oberlin.

hej: Kick ass. Our weekly religion flamewar came a day early!

What, they usually occur on Mondays? The mods must be crazy.

cmunic8r99: We shall crush them like clams on our belly

I knew a chick who could do that.