The universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. The story of its creation has been handed down through generations and written down in books.

I hereby renounce my faith in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, having recognized him as a false god. Instead, the truth has been revealed to me by the divine Invisible Pink Unicorn.

It seems that many religious people have quite a preoccupation with sex. Generally, they are very concerned about preventing people from having sex in various ways and contexts: No gay sex, no anal sex, no sex before marriage, sex is mainly for procreation, and heaven forbid that you may actually enjoy it. (Of course, sex with family members seems fine).

Apparently, US Christian conservatives want to have the US Constitution amended to prohibit gay marriage. They'd like to see an amendment preventing consenting adults from legally committing to each other right alongside freedom of speech, abolishing slavery and granting women's suffrage.

The Family Research Institute conducts research with the purpose of proving that homosexuality is a scourge on society. They publish "Educational" pamphlets about homosexuality.

This subject is not easy to write about. Like most people, I like to think of myself as relatively tolerant and respectful. And you often hear that we all should be respectful of other people's religious beliefs. But I don't think I really do respect everyone's beliefs, and I'm not even sure I should.

This subject is not easy to write about. Like most people, I like to think of myself as relatively tolerant and respectful. And you often hear that we all should be respectful of other people's religious beliefs. But I don't think I really do respect everyone's beliefs, and I'm not even sure I should.

Watch this: http://www.dumpalink.com/media/1145695609/Fox_News_Baptist_Protestor

Watch this: http://www.dumpalink.com/media/1145695609/Fox_News_Baptist_Protestor

I wrote the other day about my tension between wanting to respect the beliefs of others, whilst not agreeing with those beliefs and not condoning the actions that arise from those beliefs (although, I'm not sure I explained it so succinctly). Today I came across ReligiousTolerance.org, which has some very well thought out ideas on this.

I wrote the other day about my tension between wanting to respect the beliefs of others, whilst not agreeing with those beliefs and not condoning the actions that arise from those beliefs (although, I'm not sure I explained it so succinctly). Today I came across ReligiousTolerance.org, which has some very well thought out ideas on this.

Oh no! The Rapture is approaching! The Rapture Index is currently 156. This is slightly down from its all time high of 182 just after the September 11 bombings.

Religion seems to be a convienient way of avoiding personal responsibility.

I've been learning a bit more about Christianity recently. This is the first of a set of posts on and around the topic.

Steve dobbed me in to a friend of his the other night, telling him I was interested in things like evolution. Asked about whether he believed in creationism, the friend said, 'what people seem to forget is that evolution is just a theory'. I was largely saved from having to argue this by the phone ringing, but it echoes things I have heard christian creationists say on various websites and blogs.

I wrote in a previous post about how many creationists dismiss the theory of evolution because they don't understand what a scientific theory means. Many of the other creationist criticisms that I have seen or heard seem to be based on a misunderstanding of the theory. (It's easier to knock down a straw man). Just because I felt like it, here is my explanation of the current theory of evolution in a nutshell.

Actually, rather than write more about evolution, I thought I'd just take a cop out path instead.

Extremism only gets you more extremism.

Extremism only gets you more extremism.

I've seen a few Christian arguments for (proof of) the resurrection of Jesus. As I've mentioned previously, most of the evidence they use comes from the bible itself. One of the articles on apologetics.com had a very interesting argument that the very existence of Christianity is proof of the resurrection of Jesus. I'll quote the whole section below before I comment on it:

This was in yesterday's Herald:

Sounds like religion to me.

Quotes about religion, not from it. Some good thoughts here.

AV1611VET, Christian Forums [Comments (43)] [2006-Sep-12]

-- In Visual Basic by JohnNotTheBaptist

George Carlin is awesome!

An atheist lacks belief in a god or gods. That's it. Lack of belief.

Definitionally speaking, someone who believes in at least one theistic deity is a theist. An atheist is someone who lacks belief in any theistic deities.

Imagine someone tells you that there is a magic giant radish in deep space that demands you hop on one foot for 10 minutes every Thursday morning or you will lose one sock out of every load of washing.

-- H. L. Mencken, "Aftermath" (coverage of the Scopes Trial), The Baltimore Evening Sun, September 14, 1925.

In my experience, Christians don't usually talk that much about fearing god. Probably because any Christian talking to me is trying to convert me, they usually emphasize big sky daddy's eternal love. I'd say the fear is much more understandable. If I believed in the petty, mean, jealous, violent and destructive god of the bible, I'd be scared of him. After all, he's demonstrated that he is happy to wipe almost everyone off the face of the earth on a whim, massacre untold numbers of people, let the Devil tormet people to win a bet, and he is apparentlly going to personally cast me into a fiery pit for enternity if I do (or maybe even think) anything he doesn't like. If I believed in him, I'd be scared to breathe.

The old testament has all the gory bits.

The one sin that the Christian God apparently cannot ever forgive is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Present both sides of the argument and let people make up their own minds. That sounds like a very fair and rational thing to say, doesn't it?

I've written before about feeling uneasy about the idea of having 'respect' for other people's religious beliefs. Respect for religion seems to mean that religion is beyond criticism. All our other beliefs and opinions are considered fair game for argument, but religious beliefs have special status in our society.

What is truth? A common definition is 'agreement with fact or reality'. Religions claim to be able to provide truth about the universe. But do religious people really understand the meaning of the word?

One of the central tenets of Christianity is that Jesus was crucified for the sins of humanity and then rose from the dead three days later. Rising from the dead is a pretty spectacular stunt. In fact, many Christian apologetics site hold this up as the singular reason for believing Christianity is true. So what makes people believe that a Jewish Rabbi pulled it off 2000 years ago?

Factually maybe, but philosophically no.

There was a very interesting reader comment today on Andrew Sullivan's blog about Atheism & Mystery. My interpretation of the situation is the exact opposite. (Go read the comment now, I'll wait).

Thus spake wikipedia. It means fear of the number 666. Obviously that particular fear originates from the Bible, where the book of Revelations clearly reveals to us the danger:

Thus spake wikipedia. It means fear of the number 666. Obviously that particular fear originates from the Bible, where the book of Revelations clearly reveals to us the danger:

Scott Adams is the guy who writes the Dilbert cartoons. He also has a very entertaining (and sometimes thought-provoking) blog and has written some very funny and interesting books (which I'll write about some other time). This is just a random collection of some of his soundbites that I enjoy the most:

When I was in Standard 2 at primary school we had Bible Study classes for two hours every week. The first time, a few students went away to another room and the rest of us were ushered down to sit on the mat. A very smiley woman named Mrs Brown came and perched her ample backside on one of our tiny chairs and told us stories about Jesus. I don't remember any of the stories, but I do remember singing a song about how "Jesus is the apple of my eye, and that's why I'm bananas for the Lord".

Whenever I'm feeling particularly masochistic, I read websites like answersingenesis.org, a young earth creationist fundamentalist christian apologetics site. I highly recommend their article called 'What’s the best “proof” of creation?'. It is aimed at christians, teaching them the best way to argue with and convert evolutionists. They start off with some useful information about which arguments not to use - specifically a few famous ones that are fairly widely known to be hoaxes or lies. Then they explain that the difference between creationists and evolutionists is not in the facts, but in the interpretation of the facts - a very useful perspective on the issue.

“Secularism means food and fireside, roof and raiment, reasonable work and reasonable leisure, the cultivation of the tastes, the acquisition of knowledge, the enjoyment of the arts, and it promises for the human race comfort, independence, intelligence, and above all liberty. It means the abolition of sectarian feuds, of theological hatreds. It means the cultivation of friendship and intellectual hospitality. It means the living for ourselves and each other; for the present instead of the past, for this world rather than for another.”

“Secularism means food and fireside, roof and raiment, reasonable work and reasonable leisure, the cultivation of the tastes, the acquisition of knowledge, the enjoyment of the arts, and it promises for the human race comfort, independence, intelligence, and above all liberty. It means the abolition of sectarian feuds, of theological hatreds. It means the cultivation of friendship and intellectual hospitality. It means the living for ourselves and each other; for the present instead of the past, for this world rather than for another.”

I’m going to be reading “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar (under the pen name of Harun Yahya). The Introduction is called “The Scientific Collapse of Materialism”.

I’m going to be reading “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar (under the pen name of Harun Yahya). The Introduction is called “The Scientific Collapse of Materialism”.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1 and Part 2.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1 and Part 2.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8.

This is part of a series about the book “The Creation of the Universe” by Adnan Oktar. View Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8.

I’ve started listening to the Quran. Quran means recitation and was originally transmitted orally until it was written down after the death of Muhammad, so it is apparently better to hear it than to read it. Muslims believe that the Quran was dictated to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel and was then memorized and recited to others. Of course, Muslims believe it can only be properly appreciated in Arabic, so listening to it in English is not really the same, but hopefully I can understand the general meaning.

This is also quite a long one. The first verse is “Alim. Lam. Mim”, which are basically 3 arabic letters. This seems to be quite a common pattern for the first verse, however, nobody actually knows what they mean.

When I was writing about the Muslim apologetics, pretty much all the arguments kept coming back to the fine tuning argument. Basically, this argument says that if some fundamental parameters of the universe were different, the world wouldn't look the way it does and we would not exist in our current forms. Creationists extrapolate from that to the idea that therefore the parameters must have been specifically set that way by some intelligent, conscious entity in order to generate a universe that can house us. Then they generally then make a wild leap to assuming that this hypothesised intelligent, conscious entity still watches us, meddles in the world, wants a relationship with us and cares deeply about how and when we have sex.