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Rational Okie writes: As an over 40 atheist, I’ve been around long enough to witness the extreme changes that have occurred in the churches over the last 30 years. Churches now seem to compete to see who can be more extreme. From my perspective, living in the South, the evangelic fundamentalists are the most sanctimonious [...]
Archive for May, 2010
Atheists In Foxholes
May 31st, 2010 
Daniel Fincke While on this day we Americans honor all those service people who have lost their lives fighting for causes of freedom, here’s a special tribute to those who were, or are, willing to risk their lives without even any belief they could get them back if they lost them: Thanks to ChuckyJesus666. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Atheism, Atheist Videos, Atheistic Ethics, Military, Videos 
Tags: Atheists in Military 
No Comments »Maximal Self-Realization In Self-Obliteration: The Existential Paradox of Heroic Self-Sacrifice
May 31st, 2010 Daniel Fincke Below I am reposting a blog post I wrote which essentially attempts to defend the paradoxical idea that dying in acts of honorable courage could be consistent with an ethics that locates one’s primary good in one’s own flourishing. If, as I think, the highest ethics is one in which we maximally realize our power, [...]
Researchers May Have Explanation For Near Death Experiences
May 31st, 2010 Daniel Fincke That the phenomenon of seeing a bright light before one dies has a brain-based cause is hardly a surprise, but rather the clearly most likely inference. But it is still wonderful to live in a time at which it may be possible neuroscientifically to ascertain that precise cause and hopefully undermine those who would reinforce [...]
God Would Understand
May 31st, 2010 Daniel Fincke What if, against all odds, there really is this omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient, and all-loving God the Christians claim and I were to meet it on a Judgment Day? The YouTuber “Theoretical Bullshit” expresses, and even advances a bit, my own thoughts on the matter: Thanks to Mary and Shay for the find. Your Thoughts?
Greenwood High School Valedictorian Eric Workman Stands Up For Separation Of Church And State
May 30th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Thanks to Hemant Mehta of the Friendly Atheist, here is a portion of the inspiring speech from the valedictorian of Greenwood High School, where the school administration let the students vote that they could have a graduation prayer, only to have this plan challenged by the class valedictorian, with whom the courts sided: You may not [...]
Posted in Christianity, Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, Religion, Separation of Church and State Tags: American Civil Liberties Union, Commencement Speeches, Eric Workman, Establishment Clause, Federal District Judge Sarah Evans Barker, First Amendment, Greenwood Community School Corporation, Greenwood High School, James Kaylor, School Prayer, Thomas Jefferson No Comments »Cynically Insane Demagogue Gives Commencement Speech
May 30th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Here is Glenn Beck at Liberty University from May 15: Your Thoughts?
Trading Spouses: Christians Vs. Woo Edition
May 30th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Passive aggressive condemnation does not come much rawer than this: Your Thoughts?
Maldivian Man Attacked By Crowd For Disbelief In Islam
May 30th, 2010 Daniel Fincke In a country where being a non-Muslim is illegal: MALE, May 29, 2010 (HNS) – A Maldivian man was assaulted Friday evening, after he declared his atheist status to the public during the Q&A session of a lecture given by visiting Indian scholar Dr Zakir Naik. Mohamed Nazim, 37, said although he was born to [...]
Nigeria Choking To Death On Perennial Oil Spills
May 30th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Horrifying irresponsibility and callousness: “Oil companies do not value our life; they want us to all die. In the past two years, we have experienced 10 oil spills and fishermen can no longer sustain their families. It is not tolerable.” With 606 oilfields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Tags: Amazon Crude Oil, Amnesty International, Ben Ikar, BP, British Petroleum, City University of New York, Exxon Valdez, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf oil leak, Judith Kimerling, Louisiana shoreline, Niger delta, Nigeria, Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Nnimo Bassey, Odidi, Shell Oil, the Ogoni people, Trans Escravos, World Conservation Union, WWF UK No Comments »Sundaily Hilarity: God’s Filling Station
May 30th, 2010 Daniel Fincke There’s something of an art to making TV this awful: Your Thoughts?
Jon Stewart’s 2004 Commencement Speech At William And Mary
May 28th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Listen here to Jon Stewart’s 2004 commencement speech, delivered at his alma mater The College of William and Mary. I heard it several years ago and I’ve thought of it often since. In both his humor and his substance, Dr. Stewart really, really gets it right and gives the graduands the most relevant advice. Click [...]
Posted in Comedy, Education, Hilarious Tags: 9/11, Commencement Speeches, Jon Stewart, The College of William and Mary No Comments »US Soldier Taunts Iraqi Kids On Video
May 28th, 2010 Daniel Fincke He asks them if they perform certain gay sex acts and will grow up to be terrorists who plant IEDs: Your Thoughts?
The Dalai Lama Or The Pope?
May 28th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Can you tell which quote comes from which religious leader? Thanks to Butterflies and Wheels and Jessica Your Thoughts?
ZJ Defends “Everybody Draws Muhammad Day”
May 28th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Your Thoughts?
Posted in Free Speech, Islam, Racism, Religion Tags: argument, Censorship, chilling effect, conversion, criticism, Deconversion, Depictions of Mohammed, draws the prophet muhammad, Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, Fear, free expression, guilt by association, intimidation, lds, Mormons, Muhammad cartoons, Muslims, offended, offensive, provocation, provocative, racial prejudice, racist, reactions, religious beliefs, Religious Violence, Responsibility, Rights, salvation army, threats, violation, violent response, Xenophobia, zinnia jones, zj, ZJemptv No Comments »Daily Hilarity: Graduation Cakes Gone Wrong
May 28th, 2010 Daniel Fincke With regards to Travis’s cake, the blog Cake Wrecks infers: One thing you’ve really got to hand to home-schooling: The grad ceremonies are quick. I bet they’re always first in line at Olive Garden. More hilarious graduation cake wreck here, here, and here. And this one’s not a graduation one but just hilarious nonetheless: Many hilarious cakes here.
Posted in Arts, Unintentional Comedy Tags: Bad Cake Art, Bad Graduation Cakes, Cake Art, Graduation Cakes No Comments »Video Of Fordham’s 165th Commencement, At Which I Received My PhD In Philosophy
May 27th, 2010 Daniel Fincke At 1:05:46-52 you can see me get the diploma (or a piece of paper temporarily representing it—the actual diploma came at the hooding ceremony shortly thereafter). Back at 1:05:13 they start handing out the scrolls representing diplomas to the PhD graduands in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The degree is conferred officially conferred by [...]
Neuroplasticity
May 27th, 2010 Daniel Fincke In May 2009, Margaret Throsby interviewed Norman Doidge MD, research psychiatrist at the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Centre and the University of Toronto. Here are a few nuggets from the fascinating, 40 minute long audio interview on neuroplasticity: a property of the brain which allows it to change its structure and its function as it goes [...]
On The Powers Of Personal And Political Bodies Over Their Apparent Mental Leaders
May 27th, 2010 Daniel Fincke The Peaceful Atheist finds “consciousness-lowering” experiences in which she escapes her aloof and wandering mind to reconnect with her tangible and oft-forgotten body to be greater than her many “consciousness-raising” experiences. She writes: It’s extremely hard for me to escape the internal labyrinth of my mind and focus completely on something external. Often after being [...]
Missionaries of Hate
May 27th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Do American evangelical leaders really oppose Uganda’s “Kill The Gays Bill”? What exactly is the extent of their responsibility for the creation of this mercilessly unjust, religiously motivated law? Mariana van Zeller’s documentary Missionaries of Hate explores the question: Jim Burroway has more interview footage with Ugandan MP David Bahati, who introduced the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill”, including [...]
Posted in Bible, Christianity, Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, Politics, Religion, Religious Extremism, Right Wing Politics, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats, Videos, World Affairs Tags: "Defend the Family", "The Pink Swastika", Adam Yamaguchi, Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009, Christof Putzel, David Bahati, Hillary Clinton, Joyce Meyer, Julius Kaggwa, Kaj Larsen, Kampala, Kill The Gays Bill, Long Jones, Mariana van Zeller, Martin Ssempa, Missionaries of Hate, Neo-Colonialism, Otto Odonga, Rick Warren, Scott Lively, Tammy Baldwin, Uganda, Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Legislation, Vanguard, Vanguard: Missionaries of Hate, Yoweri Museveni No Comments »Islam Needs An I-Pod
May 27th, 2010 Daniel Fincke The Amazing Atheist nails it (for the first five minutes anyway and then becomes rather hit and miss, missing the hardest on Ft. Hood): Your Thoughts?
Freedom From Religion Challenge To Parish Tax Exemptions Makes Progress
May 27th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Encouraging news via Paliban Daily: The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s challenge of “parish exemptions” has made it through a significant hurdle, with a federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., firmly turning back the Obama administration’s attempt to dismiss FFRF’s historic challenge of Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 107 says that “In the case [...]
What Do Wheaton Students Learn About Evolution?
May 27th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Jason Rosenhouse reads from the Jeffery Sheler’s 2006 book about Wheaton College, Believers: A Journey into Evangelical America: “We do believe that God created the universe, and that Adam and Eve were the first humans,” [Dorothy Chappell, dean of natural and social sciences] said. “But we are agnostic as to how God did it.” In practical terms, [...]
Mikey Weinstein: Saving The U.S. Military From God
May 27th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Foreign Policy has a profile of Mikey Weinstein who tirelessly works to combat the efforts of fundamentalist Christians to co-opt the U.S. military for purposes of religious recruitment and religious crusades: Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein shares his hate mail with both friends and strangers the way elderly people show off photos of their grandkids. He [...]
Posted in Fundamentalism, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Rights, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Theocrats Tags: Campus Crusade, Campus Crusade for Christ's Military Ministry, Christianity in Military, Marines, Mikey Weinstein, Militaristic Religion, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Muslims in US Military, Navigators, Proselytization In Military, Religion In Military No Comments »
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