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My First Post (Be Gentle!)

I posted this on my personal blog I just started recently and thought I'd share it here too. Since it was written as an introduction to myself as the first post there, I thought it fitting to use as an introduction to myself here an A|N as well.

It isn't very poetic and probably not even well written. I've been cursed with the ability to have a ton of ideas flowing through my head and being unable to put them down on paper... even virtual paper. None the less, here it… Continue

Added by Douglas Christensen on December 26, 2008 at 3:48pm — 4 Comments

A few scattered ideas...this is my scratch pad...(12/18/2008)

Comment / Help if you are reading this bs...it's all in a draft state right now. We are all so narcissistic. People are too self absorbed...

The GOP is the party of Social Darwinism... think about it.

Issue two: hypothetically there are atheists who reject evolution on the basis that it is scientific dogma. Evolution is not dogma, nor a religion, but whatever.

Finally: There IS a way to disprove the God of the Bible. I said "God of the Bible" on… Continue

Added by j on December 26, 2008 at 3:30pm — 1 Comment

MARTE: building a better life-detector

A special issue of the peer-reviewed research journal Astrobiology just came out, and it makes interesting reading for those who care about finding life elsewhere in the universe. All the papers of this special issue are devoted to aspects of the Mars Astrobiology Research and Technology Experiment (MARTE), a project to design and test a remote sampling construct that can detect key geochemical features and markers useful in the hunt for… Continue

Added by Planetologist on December 26, 2008 at 11:54am — 1 Comment

Thanks to all the feedback re the survey; we're soon to start the fun part

Well, I really like the fact that the survey edged over 8,000 responses yesterday. Just think of it: all those atheists making a statement on Xmas!

Thanks to everyone -and there have been many- who gave feedback on some of the specific questions and the overall survey. In retrospect, there are a few questions that could have been reworded and some response options that could have been more inclusive, etc. I will use all of this feedback in the long version of the article where I talk… Continue

Added by tom arcaro on December 26, 2008 at 9:00am — 2 Comments

Morality.

Morality is a consideration among the living about that which affects survival.

A rock can have no morality.

So that which exists among the living may be said to carry knowledge which assists in it's survival. At it's root, this knowledge is bicameral. Inherited knowledge is instinctual, non-volitional, part of homeostasis. Learned knowledge is empirical, fact based, gained in a learning curve by a theoretical and practical synthesis. These are two distinct intrinsic components of… Continue

Added by Clarence Dember on December 26, 2008 at 4:30am — 7 Comments

GoodSearch

I just want to encourage everyone to use GoodSearch.

I'm using it to support the Center for Inquiry. Other good choices would be Planned Parenthood and Wikipedia.

From the page: "GoodSearch is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users... You use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine. Because it's powered by Yahoo!, you get proven search results. The… Continue

Added by Melanie on December 26, 2008 at 3:38am — 3 Comments

Personal Take

Thanks to member Tedster and for inviting me here. So now I want to point out some major concerns those deviant variations of the fundamentalist Christian Churches members teach in fact what I call the Jim Jones answer to faith if we cannot solve it here we will solve it in heaven join me even if I have to kill you movement.

This for me is a personal take my brother-in-law was of fundamental faith also somewhat unstable and suicidal. I know this because of court documents there are a… Continue

Added by Michael S on December 26, 2008 at 1:06am — 1 Comment

Mary Gordon On Moral Fiction

In a search around the Web while I procrastinate and contemplate my relationship with a man who seems sometimes a Christian fundamentalist to me, I came across this lovely piece by Mary Gordon wherein she describes the importance of literature to civilization's moral make-up. (Though my dear one's occasional bouts of fundamentalism worry me, his erudition and love of ideas have led me in intellectually enriching directions. For that I… Continue

Added by Lee Roberts on December 25, 2008 at 12:03pm — 3 Comments

No Brain Activity Required For Church

I wanted to share this with you. A new study shows that the brain shuts down when someone experiences transcendence. Well, the right parietal lobe, to be exact. That part of the brain also helps with the ability to do math. So that might explain why religious folks have trouble with the difference between 4.5 Billion years and 6,000 years. LOL!

EDIT: the study that shows that… Continue

Added by Neece on December 25, 2008 at 12:00pm — 12 Comments

Other Reasons to Celebrate December 25

In the lunacy of the yuletide, many other items of interest can be lost. The first, of course, is the winter solstice, which has moved through the centuries from December 25 to December 21. Allow me to mention a few others here.

December 25, 2008 marks the 100th Birthday of The Naked Civil Servant himself, Quentin Crisp (1908-1999), who wrote the following:…

Continue

Added by NH Baritone on December 25, 2008 at 10:19am — 5 Comments

End Week

Just a short one today, as we here at Rancho Taylor kick off End Week. I know, I know, many people call it Christmas or some other name. In my home, being as we are such a unique combination of people, I call it End Week. A celebration of another year closing and the promise of a new adventure in the year to come.

And this last year marks a huge milestone for my family. After 14 very long, very painful years of being care givers to elderly parents, we are now retired from that job.… Continue

Added by K. E. Taylor on December 25, 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments

Merry Clitoris!!!

well... i dunno about you, but i'd rather celebrate that then jesus' birfday. lol.

Added by markystar on December 25, 2008 at 3:50am — 2 Comments

Deck the Halls? Not if you're a true Christian ...

I noticed that the local Baptist Church didn't decorate for Christmas this year.
I wonder if it's because of the pagan origins of the decorations. I'll have to check out some other churches and see if they did same.

Added by HotMess on December 25, 2008 at 2:00am — 3 Comments

AAI 2008 Convention DVD set

The 5 DVD set of the 2008 Atheist Alliance Convention is now available each with about 4 hours of the speakers, workshop presenters, and award ceremony.

It is only $50.

BUY NOW

Your purchase will support our organization and help us be the positive voice for atheism in this turbulent world.

Repost this, please.

Added by V1ktor on December 25, 2008 at 12:08am — No Comments

Merry...uh, Happy...er, Joyous...

So what DO atheists wish each other at this time of year?

Added by Ruth Dickson on December 24, 2008 at 7:58pm — 1 Comment

Sigh....

Okay so I'm at my girlfriends mother's home. We have Xmas early because she has to work on Xmas day. So we go to her mother's to celebrate earlly. Family comes over and so on.

So later that night I turn on the History Channel. I'm a guy, right? It's all we ever watch unless there is a game on. Ask any women, they'll tell you this is true. Must be written in stone somewhere.

So I'm watching this show about the Garden of Eden. Guy says it was located once where the Persian Gulf is. Ok.… Continue

Added by Rick on December 24, 2008 at 6:30pm — 2 Comments

So who else fucked up their Christmas?

Hello world.

I live in a country where people assume you're a Catholic by default. If I lived in, say, America, I probably wouldn't be just as uncomfortable with celebrating Christmas as I am here. There, it's about trees, presents and Santa. Here, its all about the Baby Jeeezus, and the boring, monotonous, infantile carols that you can't escape from, because they are played on every radio station, sung on the television, and butchered by your raving fundie grandmother.

I… Continue

Added by fortunate on December 24, 2008 at 5:30pm — 4 Comments

Merry Christmas from an atheist

I don't care what you call it... Christmas, Imbolc, Hanukkah, whatever. I'm still going to celebrate the holiday as I see fit, which will include a healthy mixture of food, intoxication and laziness. I will devote not one erg of my emotional or cognitive energy to imagining the existence of either Santa Claus or the Baby Jesus. They are archetypal stories, finely-resolved expulsions from the figurative-collective unconscious, but that's about all the import they carry for me. I don't have to… Continue

Added by Planetologist on December 24, 2008 at 2:59pm — 1 Comment

Of all religions the Christian is without doubt the one which should inspire tolerance most, although up to now the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men. (Voltaire). true then as it …

Of all religions the Christian is without doubt the one which should inspire tolerance most, although up to now the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men. (Voltaire).

true then as it isnow.

mike Continue

Added by michelliberty on December 24, 2008 at 1:21pm — 2 Comments

Did an angel save girl from dying in hospital?

I have my own question: Does God and his angel choose who they want to heal?

My question arose when it was reported that "A 14-year-old girl with a history of serious health issues lay dying of pneumonia in a hospital room. But as her mother waited for the girl to take her last breath, an image of bright light appeared on a security monitor. Within an hour, the dying girl began a recovery that doctors are at a loss to explain."…