tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:50:06 +0000Articles and opinions on the absurdity and danger of religious beliefshttp://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/index.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)Blogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-7628773936199954016Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:57:00 +00002010-02-15T20:50:06.100ZI though as I've just finished re-reading it, I would recommend what is by far my favourite book by Richard Dawkins, Unweaving the Rainbow (Amazon | Amazon UK). I think that it actually does a better job than The God Delusion of exposing religion - along with superstition, the paranormal, pseudo-science and plain bad reasoning - by showing that real science, properly understood, "does not http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2010/02/unweaving-rainbow.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Tim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-8918801059332368056Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:42:00 +00002009-08-19T17:10:03.528ZHi 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]http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2009/06/scientific-creation.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Tim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-1672522249112617275Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:49:00 +00002009-02-24T00:14:48.807ZI 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 http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2009/02/announcement-2.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Tim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-7614940502981168969Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:47:00 +00002008-03-10T01:20:15.832ZThe 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.http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2008/03/announcement.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Tim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-6401833669625975132Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:09:00 +00002008-02-13T19:39:48.767ZIt 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 behttp://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2008/02/bashing-bishop.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Tim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-268663274745179009Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:30:00 +00002008-02-04T20:33:37.774ZI couldn't ignore the invitation to share this video.There are two things that creationists just don't seem to grasp about evolution - firstly that any changes were gradual (I have actually been called stupid for apparently believing that one day a monkey gave birth to a human) and secondly the fact that these changes happened over hundreds of millions of years (admittedly the timescale involved http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2008/02/evolution-in-five-minutes.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Tim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-5942894681051745274Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:08:00 +00002008-01-10T00:28:04.334ZIt 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 http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2008/01/some-good-news.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Tim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-4164145375509742338Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:06:00 +00002007-12-26T11:50:12.060Z... 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 http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/12/hello-again.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Tim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-7551991520555760982Tue, 21 Aug 2007 05:33:00 +00002007-08-21T05:46:37.701ZHey everyone, this is JGJ, but you can call me Jim if you like. I decided to make a post after a long hiatus. Hey! I actually had time to devote to one as I wait for the new carpet in my house.So, anyway, here it goes.I am a relativist. I am a classical liberal who believes that people are entitled to their own beliefs, especially when it comes to belief in a god or not. You may be wondering why http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/08/hey-everyone-this-is-jgj-but-you-can.phpnoreply@blogger.com (JGJ)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-8853561655069664174Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:29:00 +00002007-07-03T20:51:57.643ZCriminy, I've never been tagged before. Scandalous, I know. The rules:1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.4. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.5. http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/07/popping-my-tag-cherry.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-6067506745614701804Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:46:00 +00002007-06-26T17:52:58.076ZThis, regarding the dubious nature of the kerfuffle over the Slightly Disturbing Ring Thing, and this, which has a lovely picture of Rage Boy (who, it must be said, gives good rage) and a smashing quote from Butterflies and Wheels which deserves reprinting in full:'...along with not giving them an inch it’s crucial that we keep explaining to them and to the fans of inch-giving why we are not http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/06/items-worthy-of-your-attention.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-404829575298407960Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:47:00 +00002007-06-18T18:56:44.718ZYou know why I don't post very often any more? It's not just the state of constant boiling rage at the muppetry on display at Comment Is Free, oh no. It's that writing takedowns of the insanity, undeserved respect and appalling reasoning that are the defining characteristics of any of the constant stream of religious farces that scroll across our screens and pages day in day out has become so http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/06/silence-explained.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-8190749057860008653Sat, 19 May 2007 11:31:00 +00002007-05-19T11:37:35.465ZTeh funny.http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/05/anonymous-atheist-complaint-box.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-7871415110810903167Wed, 16 May 2007 17:56:00 +00002007-05-16T17:57:27.040Zvia Pharyngula.http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/05/in-memory-of-falwell.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-6307055606946780360Mon, 07 May 2007 18:30:00 +00002007-05-07T18:49:44.983ZIn the midst of an article that can never quite bring itself to discuss whether the arguments of the 'New Atheists' are actually valid or not, Bunters says something amusing.Yet The God Delusion is not a book of persuasion, but of provocation - it may have sold in the thousands but has it won any souls? Anyone who has experienced such a conversion, please email me (with proof).Any ideas on what http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/05/proof.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-1184247089932582612Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:30:00 +00002007-04-06T19:36:31.817ZIt really is a great op-ed, so much so that I'll quote the same exact same bit as MediawatchWatch: You are living, dear reader, at a watershed in human history. This is the century during which, after 2,000 years of what has been a pretty bloody marriage, faith and reason must agree to part, citing irreconcilable differences. So block your ears to the cooing voices on Thought for the Day, andhttp://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/04/matthew-parris-cured-my-eczema.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-6612643810047475949Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:01:00 +00002008-02-23T17:40:09.745ZSo there's this nun, right, who claims that JP2 cured her of Parkinson's disease (someone might want to let Michael J Fox and Muhammad Ali know). I'm not entirely sure why he gets the credit - certainly this article doesn't actually mention him appearing before the nun in a vision, or speaking to her from the plughole like that clown in It, or whatever the hell it is recently deceased pontiffs dohttp://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/04/john-paul-ii-gave-me-eczema.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-2319283673237386961Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:41:00 +00002007-04-03T19:02:56.412ZThousand of Aids and HIV patients are risking their lives by refusing medication in favour of holy water. (via RDF)Well that's just marvellous, isn't it? With the vitamin pill lot at one end and the church the other, they've just about got the AIDS sufferers covered. Probably serves 'em right, it's a bummer's disease after all, innit? Let the following lines wash over you much like holy water http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/04/isnt-faith-wonderful.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-8211964445150344347Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:43:00 +00002007-03-08T20:01:27.952ZThis is excellent, and deserves much attention. Via B&W.http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/03/secular-islam-summit.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-8671492760268485314Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:47:00 +00002007-03-04T14:08:35.188ZA point from Alister McGrath:"Dawkins often compares belief in God to an infantile belief in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, saying it is something we should all outgrow. But the analogy is flawed. How many people do you know who started to believe in Santa Claus in adulthood?"A counterpoint from me:Very few (thank fuck). But the point is unexpectedly interesting, because yes, fair enough, peoplehttp://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/03/to-take-on-another-mcgrath-comment.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-6839601701020326054Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:13:00 +00002007-02-28T22:16:07.835ZIf you're a UK resident, you might want to consider writing to your MP in support of this. That's me on the comments at RDF, advising personal letters cos the pro formas are apparently often binned. Get to it.http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/02/bishop-bashing.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-4918159388487844788Wed, 28 Feb 2007 21:29:00 +00002007-02-28T21:34:13.655ZVia MediaWatchWatch, a lecturer at Cambridge weighs into the Clare College row in splendid fashion:"[I] regard the satirizing of religion as commendable, indeed in the present atmosphere I think it is practically obligatory."Good work fella.http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/02/now-thats-academic.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-253055230848817186Mon, 26 Feb 2007 20:53:00 +00002007-02-26T21:45:21.345ZIt never ends, does it?For the sake of form, let's skip through some of the dafter stuff:"Atheists like the Richard Dawkins of this world are just as fundamentalist as the people setting off bombs on the tube": presumably Colin Dee doesn't actually intend to directly equate a scientist writing a book about an evidence-free mass delusion with savage loons blowing up commuters, but it's a nice leaphttp://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/02/in-which-i-despairingly-turn-to-oscars.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-117136212363954247Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:42:00 +00002007-02-13T10:22:03.656ZForgive the lazy link dump, but I struggle these days to write much more than "aaarrrrghhnnng" about cases like this.MediawatchWatch: Toon rage in Cambridge; NSS sticks up for Clareification Editor.National Secular Society (via the above): College Principals Should Stand up for Free Speech...Butterflies and Wheels: Pub Philosopher on Clare College; Some of the most senior staff are utterly http://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/02/clare-college-roundup.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Ben)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15841225.post-116838359868970830Sun, 07 Jan 2007 01:18:00 +00002007-01-09T22:59:58.716ZI apologise in advance for the fact that this is highly likely to turn into a semi-drunken rambling rant on what is really a social issue (apologies also to Steve - no disrespect to his wife intended). I should point out that this post is about Christianity in England - things are obviously very different elsewhere.From the Pub Philosopher -Having a history degree, she [his wife] also knows thathttp://www.religionisbullshit.net/blog/2007/01/tradition-and-belief.phpnoreply@blogger.com (Tim)0