Atheist faces 11 years in prison for stating the obvious
Indonesian atheist faces long jail sentence for posting “God doesn’t exist” on Facebook
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/03/indonesia-atheists-religious-freedom-aan
The pure willful ignorance of christians
There are all sorts of reasons why I am not a christian, but this video manages to illustrate several of them. Prepare to be astounded by the willful, anti-scientific ignorance:
“Unusual SIGNS Pointing to Jesus’ SOON Return”
Every minute of it is thoroughly entertaining and educating about the harm that christianity does to the human mind, but free free to fast forward to 11:10 for the discussion of DNA-changing implants from Satan.
Hope
An uplifting report on atheism in Pakistan: http://www.thecommentator.com/article/782/the_rise_of_atheism_in_pakistan
Site Recommendation: CivicCamp.org
civiccamp logo
I discovered this site over the holidays: http://www.civiccamp.org/ Wow, what a great site. Lot’s of analysis and discussion of the kinds of issues that should concern every Calgary citizen: sustainability, democracy, quality of life and more.
Christopher Hitchens died last night
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/12/16/hitchens-dies-cancer.html
God is not Great
He was the greatest essayist of our time. He sped up the demise of religion considerably and that is a great contribution to human history.
One of the things I liked most about him is he resisted being pegged as “liberal” or “conservative”. He followed basic principles such as a respect for facts, human decency, and balancing individual freedoms with improving the quality of life of the most number of people and thus defied being binary pigeonholed. Perhaps he has influenced me even more than I think… because i might describe myself as a libertarian, law-and-order, fiscal-conservative, scientific, raving, atheist liberal.
Police on the beat in Calgary? Can it be?
I’ve seen more cars pulled over by Police here in Calgary in the last 2 days than I have seen in the previous 4 years. I am not exaggerating.
It’s about bloody time!
But maybe it is just a gang crackdown? I hope not. I hope it is a driving habits crackdown, and a crackdown on officers being assigned duties other than being on the beat educating the public and enforcing the law.
Let’s get them on the trains too.
Way to go City of Calgary!
Lunar Eclipse
lunar eclipse
Silly me. I was up early yesterday working in my office and saw the full moon from my window followed later by the lunar eclipse, but at the time I thought it was just a cloud. It was only today after seeing pictures on the news sites that I realize, “hey, I saw that!”
For an advocate of science I should perhaps have shown more curiosity (something about it didn’t seem cloud-like). Oh well, at least I did see it and now I know what a lunar eclipse looks like. And lesson re-learned: Curiosity is a good thing!
Christmas Music
At the risk of offending all the catholics, other christians, and mothers I know… this is one of my favourite christmas songs.
The importance of debunking bullshit: “Is There Anybody There?” (BBC – 1987)
Speaking out against the bullshit of the paranormal and spiritual is one of the most valuable contributions a person can make. Here’s a classic debunking of religious miracles and other paranormal phenomena by Nicholas Humphrey. Featuring the apparition at Knock, the Enfield poltergeist, the Woodbridge UFO, the moving virgin of Ballinspittle, and much more. A one and a half hour special for BBC Channel Four, 1987.
Sean Faircloth offers a Ten Point Vision of a Secular America
I hadn’t heard of Sean Faircloth before. I’m not sure why because he offers a smart vision for America in this video: