The Atheist Blogger

I can personally think of about…7 different ways off the top of my head before I start getting bored and have to go play video games. A Canadian YouTube user who goes by the name fsmdude (his noodliness be praised) is trying to find out just that. So far, his video series has seen 20 desecrations, including

• Desecration by Frying Pan (plus whipped cream for a tasty fried snack)
• Desecration by Toilet
• Desecration by Glue-gun
• Desecration by Magnifying glass (plus the good ol’ Sun)

My personal favourite (because it is  so cute) is video #15, Desecration by Groundhog:

Great work, PZ Myers would be proud!

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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I have to say, this video might just be the new spark atheists have been waiting for. Ray Comfort held the top spot for a while with his famous banana argument, but this guy could have him beat. “Grandpa John” presents the amazing power of God…and pickles.

Comparing converting to Christianity to electrocuting pickles…I think that idea is best summed up in the closing statement

Don’t try this at home

Religion is dangerous…connect to God and you will get electrocuted. I have to say though, that Christian pickle looked quite different to the atheist one. For one, the atheist pickle wasn’t smoking and dribbling all the time…and it certainly wasn’t on fire…

Thanks to Atheist Media Blog for the video!

Well known atheist author Christopher Hitchens agreed to be waterboarded by the U.S Military in an effort to see if it constituted as torture or not. Waterboarding is used in interrogation and is effective because it “simulates” drowning and forces a gag reflex on the victim. It involves having layers of towel placed over the head, and the entire body restrained. The towel is held down firmly and water poured over it, which seeps through and enters the nasal passages of the victim.

Christopher Hitchens described the entire experience in his article for Vanity Fair:

The “board” is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered. This was very rapidly brought home to me when, on top of the hood, which still admitted a few flashes of random and worrying strobe light to my vision, three layers of enveloping towel were added. In this pregnant darkness, head downward, I waited for a while until I abruptly felt a slow cascade of water going up my nose. Determined to resist if only for the honor of my navy ancestors who had so often been in peril on the sea, I held my breath for a while and then had to exhale and—as you might expect—inhale in turn. The inhalation brought the damp cloths tight against my nostrils, as if a huge, wet paw had been suddenly and annihilatingly clamped over my face. Unable to determine whether I was breathing in or out, and flooded more with sheer panic than with mere water, I triggered the pre-arranged signal and felt the unbelievable relief of being pulled upright and having the soaking and stifling layers pulled off me. I find I don’t want to tell you how little time I lasted.

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A friend sent me this today:

Release date is 3rd October, 2008. I can’t wait!