Why fight religion?

Where religions come to die . . .

. . . THE INTERNET - death by a thousand cuts!

A decalogue for the 21st Century

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS - GREATLY MISSED

A victim of Dutch Church speaks . . .

If religion does not temper even the behaviour of its priests why does David Cameron recommend it to the rest of us?

Morality

"What binds us together, what gives us our sense of empathy and compassion - our goodness - is something far more important, more fundamental and more powerful than religion: it is our common humanity, deriving from our pre-religious evolutionary heritage, then refined and improved by centuries of of secular enlightenment." ~ Richard Dawkins. "Do you get it now Prime Minister?" New Statesman, 19/12/2011

William Lane Craig (et al) gets crushed by Hitch

Every sperm is sacred . . .

Bad Faith Awards 2011

"It’s time once again for New Humanist readers to vote to decide who walks away with our annual Bad Faith Award. Now in its fifth year our award is a means of dishonouring the year's most outspoken enemy of reason. Previous winners include Sarah Palin, the Pope and last year's victor Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed, the head of the UK Islamic Sharia Council, for his assertion that it is not possible for a man to commit rape within marriage. 2011 has been a bumper year for irrationality (aren’t they all), and we’ve been flooded with nominations. We have whittled them down to a field of six arch adversaries of human advancement – take a look, make your choice, then deliver the click of shame using the poll below."

Read-on: Bad Faith Awards 2011: place your vote now

At the moment Nadine Dorries is in clear lead.

How to argue with a muslim . .

BHA campaign against Faith Schools

Help support the ongoing British Humanist Association's campaign to abolish Faith Schools in the UK.

 http://justgiving.com/nofaithschool

Separation of Church & State - epetitions

Three epetitions have appeared on HM government website calling for disestablishment and the ending of religious privilege:-

• Disestablish the Church of England. "With the British Social Attitudes survey showing that just 20% of the population are C of E, and that 50% have no religion at all, England should no longer remain one of the only developed countries to have a state religion."
• Separation of church and state. "Modern Society has no place for preferential treatment to any religious organisation or faith. Freedom to practice religion is fundamental to democracy however state interference is undemocratic. Arguing the Church has no power through its establishment is false, 26 Bishops sit in the House of Lords. The United Kingdom is host to many different faiths, including atheists who are not represented by an established church. The UK government should lead a debate on the merits of church and state separation."
• Separate the Church from the State. "This petition calls for the Dis-Establishment of the Church of England, the end of the Bishops' automatic seat in the House of Lords, the removal of religious ceremony from our Government institutions and the end of State-subsidised faith schools. There should be no State-sanctioned religious privilege."

If you are a UK citizen and believe that there is no good reason why people who believe in sky-fairies should be trusted with the business of government, why not sign all three?

BBC Radio 4 'Thought for the Day' comes under new scrutiny

The place and role of BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day has been questioned again following comments from a prominent BBC presenter and an editorial in a national newspaper. 

John Humphrys, a presenter of the Today programme, which is interrupted by transmission of the three minute Thought for Day slot, stated it was ‘frankly bizarre’ to interrupt the BBC’s news programme with ‘what is in essence a sermon’.

Mr Humphrys, in an article in the Times, has previously expressed his view that non-religious contributors should be allowed to participate in the programme, which explicitly excludes individuals without a religious belief. 

A recent editorial in the Guardian newspaper questioned the timing of the slot, believing Thought for the Day’s positioning within one of the BBC’s premier news and current affairs programmes as inappropriate and out of context. 

Read more.

Was Jesus a madman?

Trailer for a forthcoming film by Peter Breitbart, President of the Sussex University Secular Society, and contributor to the Brighton-based Freethinker magazine.

Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus

"Jesus unambiguously preached mercy and forgiveness. These are supposed to be cardinal virtues of the Christian faith. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of the death penalty, draconian sentencing, punitive punishment over rehabilitation, and the governmental use of torture. Jesus exhorted humans to be loving, peaceful, and non-violent. And yet Evangelicals are the group of Americans most supportive of easy-access weaponry, little-to-no regulation of handgun and semi-automatic gun ownership, not to mention the violent military invasion of various countries around the world. Jesus was very clear that the pursuit of wealth was inimical to the Kingdom of God, that the rich are to be condemned, and that to be a follower of Him means to give one’s money to the poor. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of corporate greed and capitalistic excess, and they are the most opposed to institutional help for the nation’s poor — especially poor children. They hate anything that smacks of “socialism,” even though that is essentially what their Savior preached. They despise food stamp programs, subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training — anything that might dare to help out those in need. Even though helping out those in need was exactly what Jesus urged humans to do. In short, Evangelicals are that segment of America which is the most pro-militaristic, pro-gun, and pro-corporate, while simultaneously claiming to be most ardent lovers of the Prince of Peace."

Extract from an article by Phil Zuckerman on RELIGIOUSINTELLIGENCE.COM

The Great Jesus swindle

Education

"Scientific education and religious education are incompatible. The clergy have ceased to interfere with education at the advanced state, with which I am directly concerned, but they have still got control of that of children. This means that the children have to learn about Adam and Noah instead of about Evolution; about David who killed Goliath, instead of Koch who killed cholera; about Christ's ascent into heaven instead of Montgolfier's and Wright's. Worse than that, they are taught that it is a virtue to accept statements without adequate evidence, which leaves them a prey to quacks of every kind in later life, and makes it very difficult for them to accept the methods of thought which are successful in science." ~ J.B.S. Haldane

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

"Why I get angry at religion" - Richard Dawkins

I would have loved to have seen Alistair McGrath's response. (If any were possible!)

God and Disaster

by A C Grayling on Richard Dawkins.net

One thinks with sorrow of the hundreds of thousands whose lives have been horrendously lost or affected by the great Japanese earthquake and tsunami, which will put a black mark against this year 2011 in the annals, coming so soon after the earthquake that hit Christchurch in New Zealand. The events are almost certainly linked tectonically, reminding us of the vast forces of nature that are normal for the planet itself but inimical to human life, especially when lived dangerously close to the jigsaw cracks of the earth’s surface.

Someone told me that there were to be special prayers in their local church for the people of Japan. This well-intentioned and fundamentally kindly proceeding nevertheless shows how absurd, in the literal sense of this term, are religious belief and practice. When I saw the television footage of people going to church in Christchurch after the tragic quake there, the following thoughts pressed.

Read more.

Tick "No religion"