The Blog for WhyWontGodHealAmputees.com

Phil Plait speaks about being polite: “I was basically telling people to be nicer”.

Phil Plait – Don’t Be A Dick from JREF on Vimeo.

Here’s the back story on his talk:

- Don’t Be a Dick, Part 1: the video

- Don’t Be a Dick, Part 3: the aftermath

A handy reference guide (in the form of an Apple App), and also a nice way to remind yourself of the silliness of religion:

Atheist Pocket Debater

“Atheist Pocket Debater is an excellent and useful tool for Atheists and Skeptics.” – Michael Shermer, Skeptic Magazine

An interview with Daniel Everett.

“Although Daniel Everett was a missionary, far from converting the Pirahas, they converted him. He shows the slow, meticulous steps by which he gradually mastered their language and his gradual realization that its unusual nature closely reflected its speakers startlingly original perceptions of the world.”

A simple, well-reasoned explanation of why atheists are atheists:

Many Christians have asked me why I am an athiest. Here is what I tell them

What could be simpler than that?

A longer version:

Why theistic belief in God is contemptible in the eyes of many atheists: a response to a question from a fellow redditor

More importantly, how could any intelligent person accept all the nonsense and baggage that comes with religion?

Is America divided on religious lines?

A Nation Divided: Rationalists and Theists in America

The barrier separating us is defined by the unbridgeable gulf between god and rationalism. This is not a culture war, but a cosmic battle between theism and humanism.

The conflict between these two world views is made apparent in the voting booth. The closest election in American history offers plenty of evidence for the religiosity divide. Of those voters who attend church more than once per week, 68% voted for Bush and 32% for Gore. Of those who never attend church, 35% went for Bush, 65% for Gore. Religiosity alone is the most important, obvious and conclusive factor in determining voter behavior. Simply put, church goers tend to vote Republican. Those who instead go the hardware store on Sunday vote Democrat by wide margins. The divide in our society is not between rich and poor, or Catholic and Protestant, or Christian and Muslim, but between those have faith and those who have reason.

Here is a humanitarian crisis, and anyone can help:

Aid agencies launch Niger appeal

About seven million people – half of the country’s population – face food shortages after crop failures last year.

Aid organisations Oxfam and Save The Children say the situation is growing more critical by the day.

Their concern is shared by the UN, which says the crisis is of a magnitude not seen before.

Save the Children says 400,000 children under five are at risk of starvation.

- Oxfam International – “The name ‘Oxfam’ comes from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in Britain in 1942.” (Rating)

- Save the Children – “Our mission is to create lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need in the U.S. and around the world.” (Rating)

One online discussion about why God allows children to starve:

Why does an omnipotent God allow so many millions of innocent children to starve to death?

Another:

Why do so many children live in poverty?

The ultimate answer to the “science doesn’t know everything” line:

Deserves to be played twice.

This little video from Feynman is relevant:

Compare and contrast these two cases:

1) Clergy Who Don’t Believe

2) I converted from serious atheism to christianity.

Watch the video and it will be immediately obvious how the geographic distribution of religion is an absurdity:

Ask yourself this question: Did a loving God design this system, or did evolution:

Octopus Versus Huge School of Fish – Watch more Funny Videos

Simple and straightforward – science blows religion away:

Good news from USAToday:

Most young adults today don’t pray, don’t worship and don’t read the Bible

If the trends continue, “the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships,” says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In the group’s survey of 1,200 18- to 29-year-olds, 72% say they’re “really more spiritual than religious.”

And:

Among the 65% who call themselves Christian, “many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only,” Rainer says. “Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith.”

Read the whole article. It is heartwarming.

The rational person speaks:

For all of those that want us to stop showing images of Muhammad because it offends the “good” Muslims.

The religious person responds:

“Good Muslim” response to “You know what offends me?”

Who is right?

This video demonstrates how people can be mistreated by the media and made to look like idiots. It goes in all directions. In this case the recipient of the treatment is a Muslim, but atheists can get this treatment as well:

An interesting way to look at the different values of religious and rational people:

Atheistic liberals ARE smarter, but for a funny reason

But let me offer a slightly less smug and rather simple possible explanation: highly intelligent people are simply playing a different mating strategy, and it’s one that doesn’t go well with being conservative or highly religious.

But whay are atheists smarter?

Why Atheists Are More Intelligent than the Religious