A new group of atheists has arisen in society. Called the new atheists, they are not content to keep their views to themselves.
From the November 2010 (November already?) issue of Awake, the magazine of the door-to-door Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Via Pharyngula
Physicists seem to have a liking for using the word “God” as a metaphor for the forces of nature. I’ve often found religious people quoting Einstein’s “God does not play dice” approvingly, unaware that it was metaphor. Hawking’s “Mind of God” is another good example.
Hawing is in the news again after saying that there is no need for God in explaining the Universe. I’ma bit surprised it’s getting so much attention. Hawking hasn’t really changed his tune, and it’s not really a new argument.
Here’s Sean Carroll explaining things quite well:
Queensland has a bit of a reputation as Australia’s backward state – somewhat similar to that of the US Bible belt. We’re getting a little well-deserved mockery on this front at the moment after a News.com.au report about Creationists being invited in to state government schools under the guise of religious education. Having some from the heathen south and not having any children, I wasn’t aware that our state schools had religious education classes let alone that they were subverted from religious literacy (a good idea) towards indoctrination.
A parent of a Year 5 student on the Sunshine Coast said his daughter was ostracised to the library after arguing with her scripture teacher about DNA.
“The scripture teacher told the class that all people were descended from Adam and Eve,” he said.
“My daughter rightly pointed out, as I had been teaching her about DNA and science, that ‘wouldn’t they all be inbred’?
“But the teacher replied that DNA wasn’t invented then.”
After the parent complained, the girl spent the rest of the year’s classes in the library.
Hmmm… DNA hadn’t been invented? I wonder what that particular moron thinks happened when Adam and Eve made the two-backed beast to create Cain and Abel. It’s pretty obvious that he was out-thought by an 11-year-old and lied to try to hide it. It would be interesting to see the paperwork generated by that one.
The way they should do this religious education is to imagine some other religion they aren’t familiar with, say the Yoruba religion of Africa, imagine what sort of description of that religion they would be happy with if it was taught to their kids and then they teach about Christianity in the same voice.
I was interested to read:
About 80 per cent of children at state primary schools attend one half-hour instruction a week, open to any interested lay person to conduct.
Perhaps I should volunteer. I think I would be a little more moderate in that setting, but I fear that even just bringing the non-canonical gospels to kids’ attention would see me getting complaints from some parents. By the time I got to Terror Management Theory I think I would get stoned.
Bender hates Phelps too
Westboro Baptist Church is the group of lunatics led by Fred Phelps who picket military funerals and other events with GOD HATES FAGS signs. The best way to combat them is, of course, ridicule.
Recently Phelps decided to picket Comic-Con for worshipping false idols. The result was a counter-protest by Comic-Con participants, some dressed as superheros and other comic characters chanting “What do we want? Gay sex! When do we want it? Now!” while brandishing placards like “God hates kittens”, “All glory to the hypnotoad!”, and “God hates Jedi”.
It wouldn’t be a suitable response at a funeral, of course, but it’s great for other events.
The second episode in Season 4 of Mr Deity sees El meeting Larry for the first time:
Here’s Pat Condell in fine form, with some refreshing well-targeted brutality. If you want to know more about the Islamist front group he mention, the book is available in hardback or you can visit Anti-CAIR’s website.
The title of this post was the most memorable line for me.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
A JEWISH group plans to overcome an ancient and restrictive religious commandment by creating a virtual wall around an entire North Shore suburb.
But its push for greater freedom has caused angst among some St Ives residents, who say it will block their views and create a “Jewish ghetto”.
Under Jewish law it is forbidden to push or carry objects beyond the private home on the Sabbath and during holy festivals such as the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, which began at sunset on Monday.
That means parents are often unable to take babies and young children to synagogues or parks because they cannot push them there in prams. Likewise, the elderly and disabled cannot be pushed in wheelchairs.
But the creation of a part-symbolic, part-physical zone known as an eruv allows Jews to carry out such activities within its boundaries.
No, really…I’m not making this shit up. Their make believe walls and ceiling apparently trick their make believe God into not noticing that they are breaking his rules. I’m sure some ultra-orthodox Jews would consider the eruv blasphemy.
In So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Douglas Adams had a character build his house inside out, with the outer walls decorated as if they were inside, and the inside kitted out as a garden. Wonko the Sane would welcome visitors and invite them to come outside… Outside the Asylum. The rest of the world was inside, he was outside.
Perhaps Jews should take this on board, make a small circle of wire,and declare the outside to be inside and the inside to be outside. This would allow them to ignore their Lord’s commandments everywhere one Earth except inside the small wire ring.
If God falls for an eruv, why wouldn’t he fall for an inside out eruv?
After a long hiatus, Mr Deity returns with a new season. It opens with the answer to the old question of what Mr Deity was doing before the Creation.
The Mr Deity website is still yet to show details for ordering the Season 3 DVD outside the US.
Mr Deity Season 3 will soon be available on DVD, complete with a host of additional material. An international ordering option should appear on the website soon, and the DVD will be region free, allowing it to be played on Australian DVDs. It will be in NTSC format rather than Australian PAL standard, but most TVs sold these days can autosense the colour standard and change.
Here’s the promo for the DVD:
Unfortunately Sony have the rights to the first two seasons, so they aren’t coming out.
© 2010 FNQhome.com · Proudly powered by WordPress & Green Park 2 by Cordobo.
Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional | Valid CSS 3
