The Brexit Video

Belief that Brexit is a good thing requires the same kind of suspension of reason & logic as does religion.

Stephen Pinker in conversation

"All the parts of the world that don't have violence don't have news cameras pointing at them."

The Better Angels of Our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity

A thought for "Curiosity"

St. George's Day 2012

HAPPY

ST. GEORGE'S DAY

Hitler the atheist

E-petition to close the UK Embassy in the Holy See

The petitioner says: "Following Ireland's closure of it's embassy in the Vatican it seems to me time to review our links with this small state. Do we need an embassy here? There is an embassy for Italy in Rome more or less a short walk from the Vatican. Let's save the money."

Go to: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22434

Religion in America

"The only thing we know for sure about the next President is that he won't be an atheist."

Richard Dawkins on Rick Perry

"The population of the United States is more than 300 million and it includes some of the best and brightest that the human species has to offer, probably more so than any other country in the world. There is surely something wrong with a system for choosing a leader when, given a pool of such talent and a process that occupies more than a year and consumes billions of dollars, what rises to the top of the heap is George W Bush. Or when the likes of Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin can be mentioned as even remote possibilities."

The Washington Post: Attention Governor Perry Evolution is a fact.

Evan Harris - Secular Europe Campaign

Richard Dawkins on the Secular Europe Campaign

Join the London march for a Secular Europe 17th September 2011

Geert Wilders cleared

Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders, who described Islam as "fascist", has been acquitted of inciting hatred against Muslims. 

Amsterdam judge Marcel van Oosten accepted the Freedom Party leader's statements were directed at Islam and not at Muslim believers.  They were, the judge ruled, "acceptable within the context of public debate". 

It is believed the plaintiffs may attempt to make their case before a European court or the UN.

Read whole BBC report. 

Peace anthem for Palestine

"The Palestine/Israel conflict finally put to bed for ever."

Some quotes for certain US readers . . .

• "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason" ~ Benjamin Franklin
• "I do not believe in the divinity of Christ.” ~ William Howard Taf
• "I do believe in organic evolution. It surprises me that at this late date such questions should be raised.” ~ Woodrow Wilson
• "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”~  John Adams, Treaty of Tripoli, 1796
• "The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
• "Keep the church and the state forever separated.”~ Ulysses S. Grant
• “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect.”~ James Madison

Tick "No religion"

New Census Campaign poster

Crispian Jago's version:- 

US Government more dangerous than Wikileaks

BHA calls for disestablishment

BHA renews call for disestablishment as Church of England meets to discuss atheism and secularism

"This is a tension at the heart of the Church of England which demands resolution. The Church of England wishes – as a church – to promote Christianity and of course it should be free to do so, but it should not be privileged in doing so, and it is not legitimate for it to enlist our shared and publicly-funded schools, social services and our parliament in its evangelistic task."

International Aid wasted on bullshit

Payments of nearly £2 million towards the cost of the Pope’s state visit to the UK have been made by the Department for International Development (DfID). The British Humanist Association (BHA) has described the payments as illegitimate use of government funds. In October 2010, it was reported that £3.7 million had been paid towards the spiralling costs of the Papal visit from environmental funds, by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The payment came to light following an investigation into the accounts of DfID, by the International Development Select Committee, which considered the transfer of funds as surprising, and has asked the government for further explanation. A spokesperson for DfID claimed that the £1.85 million contribution ‘Recognised the Catholic Church's role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries’. The BHA has described this reasoning as ‘irrational and wrong’. Read more.

Christopher Hitchens on the Tea Party

Pithy and illuminating.

The criminal truth

"Causing offence is now a crime in several European Countries"