9/11 Cross Generates Death Threats Against Atheists

FOX News readers on Facebook started going off after Blair Scott, Communications Director for American Atheists, appeared on America Live with Megyn Kelly. Blair reports that when he returned home from his local FOX station for the interview that his voice mail was full of messages and his inbox had almost 200 hateful messages. “I can always tell when someone from American Atheists is on FOX news, because my Inbox explodes with hate email,” said Blair...read article

More about the cross
More about the cross

Victory for evolution in Texas

Pop the champagne corks. The Texas Board of Education has unanimously come down on the side of evolution. In a 14-0* vote, the board today approved scientifically accurate high school biology textbook supplements from established mainstream publishers — and did not approve the creationist-backed supplements from International Databases, LLC.
"This is a huge victory for Texas students and teachers," said Josh Rosenau, NCSE programs and policy director, who testified at the hearings this week...read article

A look at some of the principles of critical thinking

Father Loses Custody of His Children for Being Agnostic

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Debate: Does the universe have a purpose?

Christopher Hitchens: 'You have to choose your future regrets'

I wasn't sure what, or perhaps whom, to expect as the door opened at Christopher Hitchens's top-floor apartment in downtown Washington. The last time I had interviewed the renowned polemicist, author, literary critic and new resident in the medical state he's called "Tumortown" was in 2005. On that occasion, after a 5am finish to our extravagantly lubricated conversation, it was I who had felt the pressing need of hospital attention.

Since then there have been two dramatic changes in his circumstances. The first was the international bestselling success of his 2007 anti-theist tome God is Not Great. After decades of acclaimed but essentially confined labour, Hitchens suddenly broke out to a mass audience, becoming arguably the global figurehead of the so-called New Atheists. Almost overnight he was upgraded from intellectual notoriety, as an outspoken supporter of the invasion of Iraq, to the business end of mainstream fame. In America, in particular, he has reached that rare position for a journalist of becoming a news story himself.
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First JREF in the Classroom Module Now Available Free

 

 Do You Have E.S.P.? exposes students to concepts identified in the national science content standards and AAAS science literacy benchmarks related to the scientific process, Science as Inquiry, and Science in Personal and Social Perspectives and does so while presenting a topic of great interest to students as a result of E.S.P.'s wide-spread acceptance and its prominent place in popular culture.

Do You Have ESP? can be downloaded here.
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The Skeptic’s Skeptic

SCIENCE VALUES DATA and statistics and champions the virtues of evidence and experimentation. Those of us “viewing the world with a rational eye” (as the new descriptor for this column reads) also have another, underutilized tool at our disposal: rapier logic like that of Christopher Hitchens, a practiced logician trained in rhetoric. Hitchens—who is “leaving the party a bit earlier than I’d like” because of esophageal cancer, as he lamented to Charlie Rose in a recent PBS interview—has something deeply important to o!er on how to think about unscientific claims....read article

Paganism could join the six world religions taught in county schools

PAGANISM could be taught in Lincolnshire's schools after the issue was raised with the county's religious education advisor.

The question of whether Paganism should join the six world religions on the curriculum was raised with Lincolnshire County Council's body for religious education.
The board, due to meet again today, left the topic open for discussion after the RE advisor said she would look into the issue.
Minutes from a meeting of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (Sacre) in March said: "The RE advisor reported she had looked into the query about Paganism forming part of the school curriculum.

"It was determined this covered a broad range of beliefs and practices.
"However, there was no direct guidance about whether it should be included, and it was left to the individual schools to make the decision about whether to include it.
"The RE adviser told the committee she would keep her eye on the situation and report back should there be any developments."
The Pagan religion venerates nature and worships many deities, both goddesses and gods.
The cycle of the natural year is seen by most Pagans as a model of spiritual growth and renewal, and as a sequence marked by festivals which offer access to different divinities according to their affinity with different times of year.
In October, Druidry was recognised as a religion in Britain for the first time. The Charity Commission accepted it as a faith and gave it the charitable status afforded to other religious groups.

Reported in Lincolnshire Echo

Excellent debate "Islam is a Religion of Peace"

ISLAM IS A RELIGION OF PEACE from Intelligence Squared US on Vimeo.

Open Letter To Kansas School Board

I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design.
Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him...Read letter

Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public

This is a fascinating transcript, but a difficult read of long text.  It is worth the effort!  Great information.

"
The Birth of Conversion/Brainwashing in Christian Revivalism in 1735. The Pavlovian explanation of the three brain phases. Born-again preachers: Step-by-Step, how they conduct a revival and the expected physiological results. The "voice roll" technique used by preachers, lawyers and hypnotists. New trance-inducing churches. The 6 steps to conversion. The decognition process. Thought-stopping techniques. The "sell it by zealot" technique. True believers and mass movements. Persuasion techniques: "Yes set," "Imbedded Commands," "Shock and Confusion," and the "Interspersal Technique." Subliminals. Vibrato and ELF waves. Inducing trance with vibrational sound. Even professional observers will be "possessed" at charismatic gatherings. The "only hope" technique to attend and not be converted. Non-detectable Neurophone programming through the skin. The medium for mass take-over.
I'm Dick Sutphen and this tape is a studio-recorded, expanded version of a talk I delivered at the World Congress of Professional Hypnotists Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although the tape carries a copyright to protect it from unlawful duplication for sale by other companies, in this case I invite individuals to make copies and give them to friends or anyone in a position to communicate this information."

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It's spreading!!!

The Lost Abbey e-Lynch Mob

The Lost Abbey, an ingeniously themed brewer of beers, came under attack for their Witch's Wit label by Wacky Wiccans and Poppycock Pagans.  The brewery's theme of Good vs. Evil drives each beers' original artwork and backstory.  As usual, there are some folks who just don't get it.

"In the beginning there was Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were told not to eat the fruit from the apple tree.They were tempted by the serpent and made a "choice" to eat from the tree. Their actions were not preordained but rather the actions of beings with free will. At every fork in the road, there are signs marking the struggle of Good vs. Evil. The Lost Abbey was imagined as part of a crusade in this ongoing story of Good vs. Evil beer. Everywhere we turn these days, there is a battle being waged between those who make good beer and those who make evil beer."

Read the article in the NY Times and Lost Abbey's response to see how the story unfolded.  The Saint's favorite comment from the Lost Abbey post came from Ramen the True Believer (see below).  Anywhere ignorance shows it dim, pudgy face, our brethren will be there to defend truth, justice, and the noodlan way.

True Believer says:

October 25, 2010 at 6:19 pm

Dear Lost Abbey,

I am a Pastafarian and follower of the One True Creator, The Flying Spaghetti Monster. (May his noddly appendages reach out and touch us all.) I am deeply offended by your labels and the entire nature of this discussion.

Witches were created by Christians to scare children, sell Harry Potter books, and distract the massess from the fact that an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe after going off his meds for a couple days (thus creating the flawed Earth we have today). Our Absolute Devine Beings, the Pirates, have been vilified, outcast and otherwise emotionally damaged by the Christian Church since the Middle Ages.

Witches are mythical. Pirates are real. We are the true victims here.

We demand that you stop creating made-up pictures of mythical creatures to build phony controversy in order to sell a heretical beer. As we all know, Heaven contains both a beer volcano and a stripper factory, and your use of fire with a clothed woman on a beer is a thinly veiled mockery of our core beliefs.

You have seven days to compy with our demands. After that we will unleash the Marinara upon you. You would be wise to cooperate.

May the FSM’s noodly appendages embrace you.

Ramen.

Acupuncture Needles Kill

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/oct/18/dozens-killed-acupuncture-needles

Hitchens and Fry vs. Ann Widdecombe on The Ten Commandments

Psychic Readings To Be Regulated In Michigan

Anyone offering psychic readings or similar services in Warren, Michigan will soon have some new regulations to live by. These include fingerprints and paying an annual fee

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James Randi explains homeopathy

Prayer Meetings

Let’s say your boss holds a prayer meeting every morning at 10. Let’s say you’re not comfortable attending. At the next prayer meeting, your boss says, “Anyone who doesn’t like this can go stand in the hall while the rest of us pray.”
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Law of attraction

"The Secret" is like Amway for the soul.

"Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." — Mark xi. 24.

The law of attraction is a New (Dark) Age belief that one's mental disposition attracts similar external circumstances and events. In other words, your mental intentions and attitudes draw people and things of like intention and attitude to yourself. On one level this is trivially true. We generally hang out with people who think like us and share our values and we avoid people who disagree with us on important matters and don't share our values. But a moment's reflection should reveal that this "law" is false; it's not even truthy. Read article