Hello darlings: you’re all Nazis

Sep 16th, 2010 12:25 pm | By

So the pope, feeling somewhat backfooted by all this fuss about a few children being groped or cuddled or raped by priests and bishops, goes on the attack in his friendly pastoral visit to the UK.

Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live. I also recall the regime’s attitude to Christian pastors and religious who spoke the truth in love, opposed the Nazis and paid for that opposition with their lives. As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth

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Transcript of the pope’s disgusting speech

Sep 16th, 2010 | Filed by

“We can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society…”… Read the rest



“Temporary marriage” in Iran *

Sep 16th, 2010 | Filed by

The man pays the woman to “marry” him for an hour or more; no adultery, no stoning, no problems.… Read the rest



Ratzinger compares atheists to Nazis *

Sep 16th, 2010 | Filed by

“As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget” to libel atheists every chance we get.… Read the rest



Pope in UK, continues attack on secularism *

Sep 16th, 2010 | Filed by

Urges UK to “maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate.”… Read the rest



The community’s understanding of truth

Sep 15th, 2010 6:02 pm | By

There was also the Presbyterian minister who commented (and replied to comments, in an obliging and patient way) on Jerry’s post yesterday. He’s the liberal kind of minister, which is good in its way (less likely to persecute sinners and doubters, that kind of thing), but not convincing. What he said sounded merely evasive and empty to me (and to others). It sounded like what you would say if you were a liberal minister in an age of science; it sounded more like excuses than like theology.

For instance:

There are lots of priests, pastors and theologians in the Catholic Church and in many other denominations who would describe the resurrection as mystery or metaphor. What is essential in

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A look into the Psychology of Dictators

Sep 15th, 2010 | By Jahanshah Rashidian

The behaviour of dictators like Ahmadinejad, Ghadafi, Idi Amin etc., is not solely a funny subject for people, a witty personage for media, and a caricature for satirists; such behaviour has the potential of catastrophes for a whole nation. They represent an Islamic, authoritarian or even totalitarian regime which is morally bankrupt and thus can commit any wrongdoing.
While many psychopaths are incarcerated in psychiatric hospitals and penal institutions, it has been recognised that a few of them were clever enough to enter the history of mankind, creating catastrophes. All these misfits need to rule is an insane ideology or belief system through which they surround themselves with mad people, devoted followers and blind killers who are equally clueless about … Read the rest



Oley oley olsen freeo

Sep 15th, 2010 3:52 pm | By

I’m an expert on the hidden god, so I’m interested in what Rabbi Alan Lurie has to say about it.

This notion, that God’s presence is hidden, is a significant dilemma for many, and for some is clear proof that God does not exist…Many site the Holocaust, for example, as clear proof of God’s impotence or indifference.

No not proof; evidence; reasons. The notion that God’s presence is hidden is a reason to think god either doesn’t exist or is a nasty trickster.

The first step, then, is to let go of a literal vision of God, and to begin to know that the search for God is more akin to the search for love and connection than

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Sweden: center-right government likely to win *

Sep 15th, 2010 | Filed by

Support for the government sharply picked up along with the economy’s performance, sending Reinfeldt’s alliance past Mona Sahlin’s opposition bloc.… Read the rest



US to sell $60 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia *

Sep 15th, 2010 | Filed by

Yes, Saudi Arabia.… Read the rest



Third Iranian diplomat resigns and seeks asylum *

Sep 15th, 2010 | Filed by

Farzad Farhangian joins Hossein Alizadeh and Mohammed Reza Heydari in Green Wave protest over 2009 election.… Read the rest



Which invisible beings does our Leader believe in? *

Sep 15th, 2010 | Filed by

Obviously we cannot know what the supreme leader truly believes deep in his primary blood-pumping organ.… Read the rest



An open letter to Facebook founder on Namazie and Ahadi

Sep 14th, 2010 | By Maryam Namazie

Mr Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook Headquarters
156 University Avenue
Palo Alto
California 94301-1605

Dear Mr Zuckerberg,

I am writing to ask that you reinstate the Facebook accounts of Maryam Namazie and Mina Ahadi as a matter of urgency. Their accounts were disabled without warning on Monday 13 September 2010. As well as reinstating these accounts, we ask that an explanation is provided as to why they were disabled.

Maryam Namazie and Mina Ahadi are well known human rights campaigners who have worked globally to end the barbaric practice of stoning, as well as other human rights abuses. Both have been awarded Secularist of the Year by the National Secular Society (UK) and named in the top 45 ‘women of the year’ … Read the rest



Open letter to Facebook on Namazie and Ahadi *

Sep 14th, 2010 | Filed by

Their campaign to save Ashtiani is vital, so their accounts must be restored as a matter of urgency. [Namazie’s now has been, but Ahadi’s has not.]… Read the rest



Those bloodthirsty New Atheists

Sep 14th, 2010 2:21 pm | By

I saw this article by Chris Mooney yesterday but I couldn’t summon the will to comment on it. I waited for Jerry to do so instead. If I had commented I would have said something brisk about the silly word “spirituality,” but mostly I would have pointed out how heavily Mooney always leans on war-language when he talks about overt atheists, and how invidious that is. He leans especially heavily here.

We hear a lot these days about the “conflict” between science and religion — the atheists and the fundamentalists, it seems, are constantly blasting one another. But what’s rarely noted is that even as science-religion warriors clash by night, in the morning they’ll see the battlefield has shifted beneath

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Ben Goldacre on the pope and Aids *

Sep 14th, 2010 | Filed by

Sabotaging an effective intervention which prevents a disease that kills 2 million people a year makes you a serious global public health problem.… Read the rest



LRB on the Institute of Ideas gang *

Sep 14th, 2010 | Filed by

A Trotskyist splinter turned libertarian splinter.… Read the rest



Polly Toynbee on the poisoned heart of religion *

Sep 14th, 2010 | Filed by

Only by suppressing women can priests and imams hold down the power of sex, the flesh and the devil.… Read the rest



Are you calling the pope a witch?

Sep 13th, 2010 6:26 pm | By

The Freethinker tells us of an unusually idiotic outburst even for the Institute of Ideas (which is a refuge for the old Living Marxism gang, who apparently converted from “Revolutionary Communism” to libertarianism as a group and overnight) and Claire Fox. It’s about how the (wait for it) new atheists are demonizing that nice man the pope and (yes really) engaging in a witch hunt.

A New Atheist witch-hunt – in stark contrast to their own professed views on tolerance.

What professed views on tolerance? I, for one, have said many times that I don’t believe in blanket “tolerance”; it depends what is being tolerated and what the tolerance consists in. I don’t profess to tolerate everything. I don’t think … Read the rest



God, Goodness and Morality

Sep 13th, 2010 | By Leo Igwe

An opening address delivered by Leo Igwe at the 2nd Annual conference of the Free Society Institute of South Africa, co-hosted  by the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Date: September 11 2010 Venue Cape Milner Hotel, Cape Town South Africa

Once again the FSI has demonstrated its commitment to the mission of promoting free thought and free speech in South Africa. Last year we all met in this hall for the first conference of this Institute co-hosted by the International Humanist and Ethical Union. And I must say that last year’s event remains one of the best humanist programs I have attended in Africa. I was deeply impressed by the quality of the presentations, debates, and discussions. I was inspired … Read the rest