religionisbullshit.net

Hi again peeps. Thought I'd post this as it made me laugh - show it to anyone who thinks that science and creationism are compatible.


[via b3ta]

I keep thinking that I should declare this blog officially dead, but I can't quite bring myself to do so. After all, I might write something ... sometime ...

Writing about religion is more than a little frustrating, having to reiterate the same old arguments and put up with trolls and hit-and-run fundie commenters. Also, I got all the metaphysical stuff out of the way early on, leaving me to have to follow the news if I wanted to write anything of interest - something that I don't consistently bother with (plenty of other people do that job rather better than me).

There is still an interest in the site though, so I'm not planning to get rid of what's already here whether I continue writing or not. I still get hundreds - sometimes thousands - of visitors a day. People still comment on old posts and I receive a large number of responses to the Christianity Questionnaire (I haven't posted any of the responses recently as they are all just variations of the same theme).

I have been told that sites like this are pointless as I'm either preaching to the converted or winding up fundies who are beyond any form of reasoning. This may be partially true, but I'd guess that at least a few of the more intelligent religious people who have found their way here have gone away questioning their beliefs to some extent. Also, anything that promotes atheism is a good thing. While it may be several centuries since anyone was burnt at the stake for heresy, it's only fairly recently that atheism has become socially acceptable. The atheist bus thing is a good example of this - I don't imagine that even a few years ago it would have happened. The response from religious groups was fairly feeble and not really taken seriously (although the hypocrisy of Christians and the special treatment still given them for no reason other than they have a "belief" was evident when a Christian bus driver refused to drive one of the busses displaying the advert - somehow I can't imagine an atheist bus driver being allowed to refuse to drive a bus displaying an advert for the alpha course).

On the subject of the advert, I do think that the wording could have been stronger:

(Thanks to the bus slogan generator, via b3ta)

Anyway, this site is more than just a blog. Since writing last I have put back the articles from the original version of this site and re-done the front page (just an introduction, but contains the important - and much talked about it would seem - disclaimer). Any other updates will be added below.

In the meantime, buy my stuff!

UPDATES:
23/02/09 - added a response to a Christian's view of atheism

The server this site is on has just had its php upgraded. This has had the interesting effect of stopping everything from working properly. I'm currently trying to get it all sorted and, hopefully, have a bit of a tidy up around here. In the meantime, feel free to look around - there is actually some good stuff hidden in this mess of a website.

It would have been nice if all the people who have been foaming at the mouth following the recent comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury on Sharia law recently had have found out what he actually said first.

He's still wrong thought, for the reasons highlighted in this post by the Pub Philosopher. I don't always agree with Pub, but here he points out exactly why religious groups should never be given any power, even as an "alternative" authority that is available to certain sections of society (the post also shows how in many ways the state is what allows freedom, something that most conservative/right-wing people don't seem to understand. But you don't want to get me started on that subject ...)

It seems that the UK's "ancient, discriminatory, unnecessary, illiberal and non-human rights compliant" blasphemy laws - which are generally ignored anyway - are likely to be abolished [BBC News story].

Although certain religious groups will be seriously pissed off by this, it seems that many high profile Christians are in favour of the law being abolished. Lib Dem MP Evan Harris points out the obvious:

"The Almighty does not really need the protection of these ridiculous laws and that's why large numbers of people of a religious perspective share the view that these offences need to be abolished".

... it's been a while. Thought I'd give the place a new coat of paint before adding any new content.

I doubt that this blog will be updated very often - it's just too frustrating to write. There are only a certain number of times you can point out the flaws in Pascal's wager, or point out that evolution is not about things "all growed by random" - before going completely insane, and keeping up with religion in the news is impossible (in some ways all the don't know whether to laugh or cry at stories are encouraging - the fanatics and nutters are shouting louder because religion in the mainstream is becoming more and more irrelevant, at least in the UK).

There are other things I will be doing soon though; writing an FAQ page (to send people to instead of having to answer the same questions over and over again), adding more of the responses to the questionnaire, adding a page in response to an atheism section I found on a Christian website, and probably some more articles.

In the meantime, Brother Jeff appears to be back (I'd like to draw attention to this post - I like Marcus Brigstocke and hadn't heard this before) so pay him a visit if you're bored. Or, you could visit the recently opened Religion is Bullshit store (yeah, I know, but, well, you know ... and, well, why not?) to help spread the word ...

And, as an experiment, comment moderation is off. So, feel free to tell me that Jesus loves me and/or I'm going to hell and all that - you might give me more material for the FAQs.

P.S. help spread the word further with these printable flyers!