This week, Ryan and I talk about inspiration, why atheism isn’t weaksauce agnosticism, and why we’re different from crazy religious nutbags begging for money!
Holy shit, could it be true? Could we have finally released this sucker after weeks of putting it off? Not only did we do that, but we made Episode 100* something special, with almost 2 hours of content! We cover a huge range of topics; from copyright laws to the dangers of being open about your lack of faith, to why we lack professionalism, and what some of you have said about the show over the years. It’s a huge introspective episode, so if you’re a first time listener, save this one for later; you might be a little overwhelmed!
*(This is the 100th free show, but in fact was episode 147)
We’re back for another episode of The Good Atheist Bonus show, and this week we talk about what Morgan Freeman believes, how being an atheist can get you fired, and why building a mosque on ground zero is the height of tastelessness.
I’ve often been accused of “preaching to the converted”, and this video on YouTube explains my position on the matter perfectly; I’ve received countless personal correspondences from people who told me they grew more confident and self-assured about their non-belief simply because of the work I do, and I believe them. There’s a lot to be said for generating discussion and for putting the facts out there for people to simply reflect on. If it really was true people can never change their minds, why would we bother talking about anything at all? Better to shut down all other forms of discussion, from the political to the artistic if that were true, no?
If religionists offend us by calling atheists “immoral”, “scummy” or just plain “evil”, we do what any rational and confident person of sound judgement does: we ignore them (or if you’re like me, you write steamy vitriol in your pathetic blog). That’s usually the extent of our outrage, but for religious folks, who benefit from the tyranny of their majority, the inverse reaction to being offended is not so muted.
Take the example of Harry Taylor, who left sexually explicit images of religious figures in the prayer room of John Lennon Airport (the irony, it burns!). He’s been recently convicted of “aggravated intentional harassment” (is there any other kind of harassment other than intentional?). Although it might sound like a pretty mild charge, it carries with it a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. Yes, you heard right, Mr. Taylor could go to jail for almost a decade for offending a priest in an airport named after a guy who’s most popular song extols the joys of living in a world without religion. My head is officially about to explode.
The Crown Prosecution is trying to defend this draconian law, saying it looks at each case based on its own merits. What fucking merit is there in convicting a man for offending someone? No one has a right to “not be offended”. You live in a world where people have different opinions and ideas, and it’s inevitable some of those will offend you. Fucking deal with it.
The British government is cowardly for allowing such a law to exist, and it’s citizens should be ashamed such a case was even prosecuted. For a so-called “secular” country, you have a lot of house cleaning to do.
Welcome back to The Good Atheist podcast. This week, Carisa Hendrix is back to co-host the show, and we cover a bunch of topics from why death sucks to why atheists have to feel so smart all the time.
I took a few days off in light of my recent birthday, and while I was away, I received a ton of email concerning a study done by evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa that linked IQ with atheism, liberalism, and monogamy. I figured I should probably talk about it a bit.
Kanazawa believes the reason this is true is human beings are designed by natural selection to be more conservative (and therefore more religious) and care only for our kin. Intelligence itself was a fairly recent development meant to help us solve complex problems, but because the changes happen gradually over time, there were some who possessed more raw brain power than others, who tend to take on values such as liberalism, atheism, and monogamy (which actually might explain why religious folks have a higher divorce rate than atheists).
I read his book: “Why Beautiful People Leave More Daughters“, and although it was interesting and offered some pretty unique explanations to human behavior through the lens of evolutionary psychology, it’s important to note this is also the same man who believed that poor health was the result of lower IQ. This study was criticized for failing to take into account the fact people with lower IQs also tend to live in poorer neighborhoods, and their intelligence is more a sign of poor education rather than anything inherent about their brain power.
If you want to cling to the study to make yourself feel good, I’m not going to stop you. Intelligence is notoriously hard to measure, but as far as I’m concerned, the correlation is a lot simpler; atheists, agnostics and non-theists are more likely to have been exposed to a larger variety of ideas in the course of their lives (since they aren’t afraid to read religious and philosophical materials of other cultures), and that in itself may account for the difference in intelligence Kanazawa measured. Let’s not all pat ourselves on the backs just yet; one study doesn’t prove shit; besides, do you really need some excuse to feel smarter than your religious counterpart?
Welcome back to another episode of The Good Atheist. I’m in Calgary, Alberta for a few weeks, which means the amazing Carisa Hendrix will be on hand to help me record the show. This week, we talk about the Vatican forbidding priests from marrying people at sea, why young people aren’t as religious as their parents, and why atheists are apparently ‘brainwashed’.
Man, I hate the accusation that just because I don’t believe in a sky-deity I suddenly don’t possess any morals whatsoever. Who decided the only way to “be good” was by blindly accepting the moral edicts of a 6000 year old manuscript? Did everyone suddenly forget the fact things were pretty fucked up back then? What parts of the Bible are still moral by today’s standards? How about selling your daughter into slavery, or murdering your family members if they didn’t believe in the same God as you? Talk about a great moral tome!
Religionists are going to lose their shit when they read this: a new Pew poll conducted recently found today’s younger generation isn’t as religious as their parents, and a full 1/4 of those interviewed identified themselves as either atheist, agnostic, or simply “non-religious”.
I’m not entirely surprised by these results, although I did like how the CNN article tries to reassure readers by saying people tend to become more religious with age. It kind of sends the message that “well, they’ll wise up eventually and embrace God”, but I think they underestimate just how non-religious we really are. The reality is without religion being shoved down our throats, fewer and fewer individuals are subscribing to it. If it’s up to 25% now, what happens when these young people have kids? I’m not suggesting it’ll mean the end of religion, but it’s interesting to consider just how fast people are jumping off the religious bandwagon.
Does that mean that within my lifetime a significant portion of the population will cease to believe in fairy tales? Probably not, but it’s good to know we’re all getting a little bit wiser.
Here’s a great video about how one Christian slowly came to realize his religious beliefs were entirely a human invention, and not the result of divine will. Having never believed myself, I find this kind of thing totally fascinating. Also, the music is totally trippy. Be sure to watch it!
Welcome to another episode of The Good Atheist Bonus Show. This week, Ryan and I talk about why religions are misogynistic, why Canada is slowly becoming ‘Post-Christian‘, and why being an atheist isn’t elitist!
Welcome to another episode of the Good Atheist. This week, Ryan and I discuss the latest video game, Dante’s Inferno and why they love titties more than Christian literature, as well as talk about a hilarious article by CARM (The Christian Apologetics Research Ministry) and their thoughts on ‘atheist morality’. I assure you, it’s worth a listen just to hear their worthless analysis.
Another day, another study proving what every single one of us already knows: atheists are just as moral as their religious counterparts. Yep, apparently there’s an inexhaustible amount of time and research monies available to prove what should be clearly obvious to everyone. I think these kinds of studies should focus more on why religious folks seem unable to accept the fact you certainly don’t need religion to act morally or ethically. Do they feel uncomfortable with the notion, or are they unable to fathom the possibility we don’t inherit our ethical code from old Bronze Age religions? That’s a study I would die to see.
In the 1960’s, an pioneering atheist by the name of Madalyn Murray O’Hair fought to have mandatory prayer banned from public schools, arguing this was a clear violation of the separation of church and state. 1963, the Supreme Court voted in her favor, and since then, classrooms around the country have stopped forcing kids to pray (it’s a common misconception people aren’t allowed to pray, but the ruling was simply to no longer make it mandatory). Since that time, many Christians feel a great amount of animosity towards this woman, and blame the “decline” of America on the fact prayer is no longer being forced on kids. This accusation is ridiculous, of course, but you can’t seem to convince them otherwise. Take this pathetic article here*, accusing Madalyn of being an immoral adulterous atheist who wanted nothing more than revenge on religion:
Those of us who believe in God and the power of prayer, recognize that if the courts had not banned prayer in schools, these tragedies [Columbine] may not have happened in the first place. Moreover, those of us who attended public school know that prayer could only help the train wrecks our public schools have become in America.
One school in Philadelphia, PA, fifteen minutes from the Abington High School, built a cement wall down the middle of the school, hoping to cut down on the ‘violence between the students’. This particular high school went through twenty principals in two years because of the violence. In addition, the wall did not help.
Therefore, I suggest that instead of cement walls, we build walls between ourselves and those trying to wipe out God altogether, and begin praying in school again.
The author of this post also suggests the murder of Madalyn is further proof violence is escalating in America, despite the fact crime is actually been going down for over a decade. This is what I love about religious folks; not only do they love dealing with insane hypothetical situations that have no basis in reality, but they make up facts (like claiming crime is more rampant now prayer is out of schools) to support their bullshit claims. The author also seems to delight in the fact Madalyn was the victim of a grisly murder, which had nothing to do with Abington School District v. Schempp. Oh the compassion: it burns!
*(UPDATE: the website and article are no longer hosted)
