The Atheist Blogger

This month’s book club discussion will take place tomorrow (Sunday 27th July) at Midnight UTC+1. For people who want to figure out what time that is where you live, use the handy world clock. UTC+1 corresponds to the current time of London on the site, so simply work out the differences with your nearest city.

As always, use our guide to the IRC server to get connected to the chat, and I hope to see some of you there!

Two weeks ago I wrote about the epic failure that was the new BBC archaeology drama “Bonekickers“. It attempted to combine CSI and Indiana Jones which is a fair combination if you get it right. Unfortunately, the first episode concerned religion and went about it in a very bizarre way. The second episode was much better, focusing on an American Presidential election which included a black candidate (foreshadowing anyone?), and a conspiracy to prevent black people from becoming the leader of the USA. I found this episode to be very watchable and entertaining.

The third episode aired a few days ago and was concerned with the Roman Baths at Bath, which was great and brought back fond memories of visits to the city. The episode was centred around a Roman inventor Marcus Quintanus (fictional) and Boudicca, the English warrior queen. Quintanus invented what were essentially hand grenades, a simple small clay pot that separated two volatile liquids inside. Once the pot is thrown and broken, the two liquids mixed and exploded. The story went that Quintanus was enlisted to help find Queen Boudicca who was in hiding after losing a battle. He was so upset that his weapons had caused so much death and destruction all for finding one woman that when he eventually found her in Bath, he hid her under the Celtic springs that would eventually become the Roman Baths. They fell in love, etc. etc.

It was a fun story to follow and the episode was great, but I have one tiny complaint concerning the character of Quintanus. The character was an atheist as revealed by a member of the archaeology team, and when the details of his life were discovered, including his disgust at the massacre he had a hand in, one of the team, Professor Gregory Parton remarked

No wonder he was an atheist. Who would want to be judged by god after that?

This seems to me like a very poor description of atheist attitudes and a common misconception among non-atheists. The concept that we don’t believe in gods because we don’t want to be judged is the most idiotic argument ever. Its the same as not believing in cars because you don’t want to be hit by one. At the end of the day, if cars exist (which they do) then you will get hit by one if you cross the road without looking, nomatter your beliefs.

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John Barrowman, the popular Scottish-American actor from Doctor Who, Torchwood, and various TV Quiz shows has tried to figure out why he is gay. The BBC filmed a documentary about his journey back to America where he visits various scientific institutes trying to prove that homosexuality is something you are born with, not a lifestyle choice.

Barrowmans journey, which is available on the BBC iplayer (non-UK residents may have to use a proxy to view it) first goes to Chicagos Northwestern University, where he went through a Penile plethysmograph, and also a FMRI. Both tests conclusively came up with a “gay” verdict.

He then visited his parents to question them about his growing up and whether there was any influence in his childhood that could have caused his homosexuality. Ranging from playing with dolls to having a best friend who was a girl, to dressing up in a bikini for a fancy dress competition, Johns childhood was anything but normal for a boy.

However, John travels back to Chicago to meet an expert in early childhood behaviour. The expert looks at various videos of children from their childhood, and compares their actions with their sexual orientation today. One film is of a young girl playing with a toy truck, smashing it off a table, and generally breaking things. Another shows a boy who has dressed up and is dancing. Both children grew up and are openly homosexual today. The studies show that 75% of boys who exhibit female behaviour traits whilst very young tend to be homosexual.

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