The Atheist Blogger

My Feeds

I subscribe to quite a few blogs; some technical, some webcomics, most atheist-based. However I do subscribe to a few Christian blogs for various reasons:

“Atheist Central” by Ray Comfort

Ray Comfort’s blog is a great place if you want to have a laugh, or simply want to watch a load of bigoted hatred emerge out of the “love” theists have for our souls. Whether he is busy redefining science or claiming that light is invisible, Ray Comfort always manages to bring a smile to the face of any atheist. Heck, he even has his own bunch of debunkers.

Stuff Christians Like by Prodigal John

This blog is rather atheist-friendly since atheists aren’t actually mentioned, so it is a nice look into the minds of Christians when they aren’t all riled up over our “atheist faith”.

Debunking Atheists by Dan

Debunking Atheists has a special place not only in my feed reader but also in my blog’s blogroll because the author challenged me to put him there after he wrote answers to the Atheist Thirteen for me. Dan (the author in question) has a current series trying to “Debunk Evolution” which is hilarious to read, mainly because he doesn’t understand the fundamentals of the science and simply repeats well-known lies.

Uncommon Descent by William Dembski (originally)

A blog about Intelligent Design, which of course spouts the same rubbish and regurgitated debunked “facts” they’ve been talking about for years. The site logo is still the I.D mascot, the bacterial flagellum, which of course has various explanations for its existence through Evolutionary theory. Still, it’s great fun to read on all the “controversy” surrounding these issues.

So what Christian blogs do you peruse? Why do you do it? Do you actively take part in discussions or just sit in the sidelines?

My recent article deals with the misconception that the UK is a “secular nation“. A secular nation does not depend on the public view of secularism, but on how the country is run. It doesn’t matter if the majority of or even the total populace agree with secularism, because if the country’s constitution somehow includes religion, the majority opinion is null and void. Likewise, a completely religious country could indeed be very secular if they didn’t mention religion in their government.

So after taking in this information, which do you think is more secular? The UK or the USA?

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After writing my satiric review of Expelled, I am compelled to write a proper review, but I’m afraid the result would just be a mess of obscenities. In the course of writing the review, I watched the movie twice (once the whole way through, and then second partially to get plot “info”). Watching the movie in it’s entirety almost twice was a pain (believe me), and I really couldn’t say more about it than I did in the satirical review. When you know the facts that are being either lied about or misused, Expelled really does play more like a science fiction piece than anything.

That said, it was quite a well written piece of intolerable propaganda. I suspect it would have been more interesting if they hadn’t chosen the dullest voice in film to narrate and star in it. Of course, a lot of stars in Hollywood actually support science and accept Evolution. Matt Damon nicely brought the subject up in a election video^[1], where he stated “it’s like a really bad Disney movie…I really need to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago…because she’s gonna have the nuclear codes.”

Since writing the review, I have watched Expelled an extra time, and it was this time that I actually enjoyed the film. Why? Because it had lie-correcting subtitles. If you want to watch this film, I suggest you download the subtitles file first, because it really makes a difference.

Whenever a documentary is made of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), it always focuses on the church members, and hardly ever on people who have left the church. This is probably because those who did leave don’t want to talk about their experiences, but a journalist by the name of Trevor Melanson was astonished to discover that his taxi driver was none other than Nate Phelps, the son of Fred Phelps, and brother to Shirley Phelps-Roper.

An interview took place afterwards, and many things were revealed about how children are brought up in the Phelps household, which included regular beatings.

The mattock, a close cousin of the pickaxe, is used to dig through tough, earthy surfaces—it loosens soil, breaks rock, and tears through knotted grass. Its handle is a three-foot wooden shaft, twice the density of a baseball bat and its dual-sided iron head is comprised of a chisel and a pick. It was Pastor Fred Phelps’s weapon of choice when beating his children according to his son, Nate Phelps.

“The Bible says ‘spare the rod, spoil the child,’” explained Nate, “and he would be screaming that out as he was beating us.” One Christmas night, Pastor Phelps hit Nate over 200 times with a mattock’s handle, swinging it like a baseball player.

Nate left the household when he was 18, before returning 3 years later, and then leaving again when it became too much. What is uplifting about this story is how even those brought up in such harsh conditions can come to the side of rationality.

Nate agrees with prominent atheist and scientist Richard Dawkins, who has said that religion can be “real child abuse.”

…

“The threat of eternal Hell is an extreme example of mental abuse,” Dawkins says on his website, “just as violent sodomy is an extreme example of physical abuse.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” asserted Nate. “In so many different ways we have abused children with religion over the centuries.”

…

“I do declare myself an atheist now,” affirmed Nate, “although I’m willing to admit that there’s stuff in life that I’m not real clear on yet.”

Although Nate still lives with anxiety caused by his childhood suffering, he has a strong positive outlook for the future, saying “I just want peace. I want to not wake up fearful every morning”.

The full story can be read here, as well as the comments (the first is by Shirley Phelps-Roper and is a laugh). In other WBC news, it seems a non-existent being hates Barack Obama:

“Would You Like to Know the Truth?” is the title of a Jehovah’s Witness leaflet that was given to me the other day. I was in a hurry to my friends house, and a guy stopped me and told me that “there are some questions that people have tried to answer over the years but never got a good response to. This leaflet explains some of them”.

I took one look at the document in my hand and saw the word “God” mentioned a couple of times. Together with the picture of the sunset, I knew I was dealing with a religious guy. My mind worked through several scenarios; I could stay and talk to the man, telling him I don’t believe, and be late for my friends, or I could go be sociable. I chose the latter (mainly because of the aforementioned rush I was in), thanked the man, and went on my way.

Of course, I’m not going to let the questions in the document go unanswered…

Does God really care about us?

No, because there probably isn’t a God, and if there were, does it really look like it gives a shit?

Will war and suffering end?

No; humans are very social creatures, but we tend to subscribe to different types of society. Unfortunately, these societies do not like each other very much. Major suffering might end when we cure all major illnesses, but that doesn’t stop new illnesses, inflicted wounds, etc.

What happens to us when we die?

We rot in the ground, although I personally want my body donated to medical science and then the remains cremated and scattered somewhere (waste not people).

Is there any hope for the dead?

Is there any hope for other inanimate objects like spoons? No.

How can I pray and be heard by God?

Once you accept that you are talking to yourself, I’m certain you’ll be able to hear.

How can I find happiness in life?

Try new things, find out what makes you happy. Pursue it.

You might also notice none of my answers involve believing in a ridiculous doctrine made up by men thousands of years ago who thought the sun was magic. It’s a slight bonus.

I do hope the Jehovah’s Witnesses come round again; I’ll be able to give them my answers!