Friday Link Dump 9/30/11

Lebanon's witch hunt for Satanists — authorities arrest heavy metal musicians and fans Possibly no other simple violation of civil rights illustrates the weakness and subconscious uncertainty of religious thought than arrests for "blasphemy." As they say: "Blasphemy is a victimless crime."     

Speaking of which...TODAY is International Blasphemy Rights Day!

Christian Lies About 'Violent' Atheists

Atheism has a sexism problem Ugh...atheism doesn’t have a sexism problem. Atheists have a sexism problem.

The Unbelievers: New Atheism and the Old Boys' Club The excellent article PZ references.

Random Quotes: "Dr." Keith Ablow

Astronomers discover new way to measure Universe

Why Christians Need PA Systems to Pray

Cult 101: Christian "Rapper" at SC Public School

Michael Shermer Interview – Prominent People Project Well looky at who Marty landed. Great job brother! Also congrats on your 300th post.

Batman vs. Jesus: Who ya got?

Monday Morning Quotes ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love this painting as well.

Islamic healing is on the rise in Southeast Asia "When I get that feeling, I want Islamic Healing..."

Jail or church? Some Alabama offenders will get to choose Adam said "Your choice is either prisoner or slave..."

Wikipedia Bans Church of Scientology

Scientists discover virus that kills all grades of breast cancer ‘within seven days’ WE ARE PENN STATE!

Mid-Week Rant: Patton Oswalt: Beliefs about Gay Marriage

Schrödinger's Cat I can haz explanation?

What makes us worth defending

Feynman: A New Comic Biography I literally bought this the minute I saw that it existed. I haven’t read it yet, but it is now in my possession.

Petition: Reallocate Defense funds to NASA

Some cool private space exploration as well: SPACEX TO BUILD 'GRASSHOPPER' ROCKET

'Why Evolution Is True' by Jerry Coyne

'Antimagnet' joins list of invisibility approaches

Recently discovered species of raptor validates the fears of anyone who ever watched Jurassic Park

How Come God Never Talks To Them? This is over a week old? How did I miss this?

#occupywallstreet

'Why Evolution Is True' by Jerry Coyne

Mid-Week Rant: Patton Oswalt: Beliefs about Gay Marriage

via Friendly Atheist via selfconsumingxfire

Monday Morning Quotes ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted
whenever I am contradicted.”

“The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand.

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”

“As men's prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect.”

“If a man fasten his attention of a single aspect of truth and apply himself to that alone for a long time, the truth becomes distorted and not itself but falsehood.”

“Nothing shall warp me from the belief that every man is a lover of truth. There is no pure lie, no pure malignity in nature. The entertainment of the proposition of depravity is the last profligacy and profanation. There is no scepticism, no atheism but that. Could it be received into common belief, suicide would unpeople the planet.”

“Leave this hypocritical prating about the masses. Masses are rude, lame, unmade, pernicious in their demands and influence, and need not to be flattered, but to be schooled. I wish not to concede anything to them, but to tame, drill, divide, and break them up, and draw individuals out of them.”

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your
private heart, is true for all men -- that is genius.... Whoso would be a man
must be a nonconformist.... What I must do, is all that concerns me; not
what the people think.... Nothing can bring you peace but yourself; nothing,
but the triumph of principles.”

“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul.”

“The word Miracle, as pronounced by Christian churches, gives a false
impression; it is Monster. It is not one with the blowing clover and the
falling rain.”

“The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.”

“The Gods we worship write their names on our faces; be sure of that. A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.”

“Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side.”

“The faith that stands on authority is not faith.”  

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Sunday Morning Hate ~ Linda Harvey

Linda Harvey of Mission America

"The first news is the sad, heartbreaking transformation of our armed forces. This week, homosexuality in the military goes into full effect, permitting people to be openly homosexual or bisexual in the military has been painted in much of the media, it’s not an issue like race where people who are born this way are simply being who they are. No, since no one is born homosexual, it’s an issue of those who’ve chosen to embrace and identify with those feelings and practices, insisting that the over two century’s old military’s rejection of homosexual practice be overturned. And all military personnel are to like it or remain silent. New diversity training is taking place throughout the military to indoctrinate if possible the entire U.S. Armed Forces to say yes to deviance, it’s terribly unfair both to those who object and to those trapped in this sin. No one benefits, and the same-sex living and working environments in the military will be destabilized as a result. We can only hope and pray that under wiser leadership and a new administration the military will be allowed to rethink and overturn these harmful policies."

RWW for Audio

Harvey has also been quoted saying that gays don’t really exist. This is what happens when people manufacture to their own truth.  They can reject any aspect of reality they don’t approve of.

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Cult 101: Christian "Rapper" at SC Public School

First of all, B-SHOC is nothing but an auto-tuned, talentless, redneck tool of a cult.

Second, and much more importantly, the fact that this event was held at a public school (Jefferson, South Carolina) for obvious indoctrination is clearly unconstitutional and sickening. The superintendent, principal, and any teachers that were involved should all be fired.

They won't be. This will continue. They will use their political majority and religious guilt on others who recognize this for what it is, but are too afraid to challenge the religious right. They are nearly impervious because of the cowardice of moderate and progressive Christians.

So, it's up to us. Thankfully Freedom From Religion Foundation is on it. We need to find this whenever it occurs and hold their feet to the fire.

FFRF contests flagrant violations at South Carolina school

via FFRF


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Friday Link Dump ~ 9/23/11

Mid-Week Rant: Lee Camp

Monday Morning Quotes ~ Woody Allen “If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever.”

Sunday Morning Hate ~ Pastor Jack Hibbs

Wanna feel small?

MC Hawking: What We Need More Of Is Science

The Story of Human Rights

Why We're Obsessed with the Apocalypse

The Decline of Religion in America According to the Blaze

Ten Astounding Cases of Modern Evolution and Adaptation

Atheism on the upswing in America “The science-based evidence leaves no doubt that, although very human in its flaws, democratic atheism is proving superior to faith-based mythical doctrines in practical societal and moral terms.”

Oldest known DNA fragment is over a billion years old

Evolution, as helping hand

Germans Manufacture Artificial Blood Vessels With a 3-D Printer

A Knack for Bashing Orthodoxy

The Cultural Evolution of Religion

Ridiculous Religious Rationalization of the Day “NASA’s scientists have discovered that as the planets mature inside their dusty cocoon they suck up all the dust between them and the sun so that the planets slowly emerge from darkness into the light as described in Genesis verse 3. “Let light come to be.” Then there came to be light.”

~Lets not forget that light was created on the first day and the source of light on the fourth day.  Apparently the light from stars several light years away was created in-route to Earth.

The Vexing Mental Tug-of-War Called Morality

Nasa's Kepler telescope finds planet orbiting two suns “It may resemble the planet Tatooine from the film Star Wars, but scientists say Luke Skywalker, or anyone at all, is unlikely to be living there.”

Is Rick Perry a Secret Atheist? Of course not - But his campaign designers might be trying to tell us something.  

Evolution This finds a way to explain complex science in an accessible way.

Obama hails end of U.S. military restrictions on gays
As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love."

Religious Right Freaks Out Over DADT Repeal TheFamily Reasearch Council worked themselves into the expected lather over DADT.

“...there will be no press releases from the new victims of sexual harassment or assault, the soldiers exposed to HIV-tainted blood, the thousands of servicemembers who choose not to reenlist rather than forfeit their freedom of speech and religion...”

You see, if the military looses the ability to fire homosexuals for being openly, well...homosexual.  Then the gays will start sexually abusing the other 98% of the military like sex-crazed, amoral predators.   The FRC outlined this threat in 2010 when they predicted that gays will start fellating straight soldiers in their sleep.

Once Strongly Opposed To DADT Repeal, Marines Now Try To Prove They’re Best At Recruiting Gays  I think we in the private sector occasionally forget that the marines, unlike congress or the senate are not a bunch of old, white guys.  

Foo Fighters take on the WBC

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Matt Dillahunty at OK Freethought Convention 2011

via the always awesome The Thinking Atheist


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Mid-Week Rant: Lee Camp

This is NSFW so watch your volume!

The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True by Richard Dawkins

Monday Morning Quotes ~ Woody Allen

“God is silent. Now if only man would shut up.”


“The chief problem about death, incidentally, is the fear that there may be no afterlife -- a depressing thought, particularly for those who have bothered to shave. Also, there is the fear that there is an afterlife but no one will know where it's being held.”

"I do not believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear."

“I do occasionally envy the person who is religious naturally, without being brainwashed into it or suckered into it by all the organized hustles.”

“I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government.”

“If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.”

"How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?"

“Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.”

“I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens.”

”I don't want to achieve immortality through my work ... I want to achieve it through not dying.”

“If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever.”

“To YOU I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.”

““If Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he'd never stop throwing up.


"If Woody Allen were a Muslim, he’d be dead by now."
-- Salman Rushdie,

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Sunday Morning Hate ~ Pastor Jack Hibbs

Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills calls California’s SB 48 — the FAIR Education Act  “...Indoctrination of children by a rogue government.” The act is designed to allow CA children to be taught about LGBT and disabled figures in history. Specifically, children will learn FACTS about historic people ranging from disabilities to sexual orientation. The fear, of course is that LGBT individuals could be potential role models for children. Revealing LGBT contributors to the fields of science, art, economics, and politics disrupts the narrative of the lonely, godless, homo.

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Wanna feel small?

A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. via yesterday2221.

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MC Hawking: What We Need More Of Is Science

The Story of Human Rights

Friday Link Dump ~ 9/16/11

9/11 Ten Years On “Do not allow the fundamentalist reactions, jingoism and nationalism to harden our hearts from the powerful emotions people have. They are real. No one should be told how to grieve.”
Well said, Steve.

The Fallen – Ten Years After

“Marriage Saves Lives!” (Well at has a nice ring to it) Brilliant dissection of how the media fails to understand the studies it reports.

Lee Cronin: Making matter come alive

More Americans tailoring religion to fit their needs Gasp!

Monday Morning Quotes: Abraham Lincoln “It is an established maxim and moral that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false is guilty of falsehood, and the accidental truth of the assertion does not justify or excuse him.”

Terrorism Expert: Since 9/11, Only 33 Deaths From Muslim Terrorism Vs. 150,000 Deaths From Murders

Mid-Week Rant: George Carlin

Potentially habitable "Super-Earth" is among 50 newly discovered exoplanets

10 Myths Many Religious People Hold About Atheists, Debunked My personal favorite is the one about how we eat babies while praying to the Dark Lord Dawkins.

Conservative Christian Morality...or the clear lack thereof...

That was my brother's death you were cheering, you a$$holes

Physicist Lawrence Krauss ponders NASA in Wall Street Journal

What are the ten most peculiar (and sad) things in the Catholic Church? Number 11 should definitely be the pope’s shoes.

Conservative Catholic Mom Scared of Leaving The House due to the "gays"

Matthew 27:51-53

Astrophile: Saturn-lookalike galaxy has a murky past

Christian Reconstructionists Warn Of "Tyrannical" Seven Mountains Theology Riiiiight.  So the Christian Reconstructionists are afraid of the 7M people.  This is like the Klan telling us to look out for skinheads.

Peace of Mind: Near-Death Experiences Now Found to Have Scientific Explanations
“Seeing your life pass before you and the light at the end of the tunnel, can be explained by new research on abnormal functioning of dopamine and oxygen flow.”

Pediatricians Slam Bachmann’s Anti-Vaccine Comments

The American Academy of Pediatrics makes a statement in response to Michelle Bachmann’s claim that vaccines can cause brain damage.  I’d love to make some snarky remark about Michell’s brain, but the truth is that literally thousands of children die every year from preventable diseases because of people using pseudo science for political aims.  I bet you a stack of bibles that Bachman’s statement is meant to stir suspicion of Rick Perry who supported HPV vaccines in Texas.

Perry Urged to Block Execution in Racially-Tinged Case That’s right kids.  Gov. Perry has the ability to delay this execution 30 days to allow the for a new sentence hearing in light of glaring discrimination playing a role in sentencing.  It is very unlikely that this will happen.

How vaccines saved the world
Atheist makes case for non-belief

My Faithlessness: The atheist way through AA

Stamp out anti-science in US politics

How we found the speed of light: it's not infinite

Another Pointless Creationist Prize Really?  When will Intelligent Design apologists just admit it?  ID is just Creationism in Clark Kent glasses.

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