All entries by this author

A whole future spread out before me

Sep 6th, 2011 5:52 pm | By

There are a lot of them – which is good, because it means some escape, but bad, because it means this is happening to a lot of people. There’s Sierra at Non-prophet Message. She is amusing on the subject of Jezebel and makeup and faking it.

 Shaping your eyebrows can go a long way towards that neat, meticulous, hyperfeminine look that screams, “I read my Bible so much, my eyebrows shape themselves!”

When she finally went to school – which was a community college – she discovered that she had a brain.

I turned in my final math exam with the lightest heart I’d felt since I was a little child, since before I’d ever heard of the

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: ,


Being a Skeptic in Africa

Sep 6th, 2011 | By Leo Igwe

I was not born a skeptic. I grew up to find out that I am one. What makes it most interesting is that I was born in a country and continent where most people are not inclined to skepticism, where doubting, questioning and challenging recieved wisdom is frowned on by most people. Mine is a society where most people are inclined to blind belief, to uncritical acceptance of doctrines and dogmas.

I was born 41 years ago in a remote village, Mbaise, in South Eastern Nigeria. I was born into a religious home and to parents who were born animists but were pressured to embrace Christianity. My father told me that he embraced Christianity in order to get formal education. … Read the rest

Posted in Articles


Breaking a daughter

Sep 6th, 2011 3:36 pm | By

One way crazy religion is crazy is in putting massive pressure on people to distort their own natures and aptitudes and wants. The fancy name for this sadistic habit is “dying to self.” A “broken daughter” tells us what it feels like.

Some people don’t seem to bother that much, but it’s always been hard for me to be as selfless as I was expected to be. You see, I’m a very private, calm, introvert kind of person. Though I grew up in a big family, I always liked being alone. I’m not much of a team player, I prefer doing things all by myself. I didn’t hate having a big family where there was always somebody, quite the

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: , ,


Broken Daughter on “dying to self” *

Sep 6th, 2011 | Filed by

” I grew angrier and angrier with the God who hated me so much for wanting a few minutes of peace and silence.”… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Titles

Sep 6th, 2011 12:31 pm | By

PZ wants help finding the right adjective for the title of his book…but I don’t think it can be done. I think The _______ Atheist is a boring title no matter what ________ turns out to be. I think this because I tried to think of something interesting and then I read other people’s attempts and there’s just no spark, no matter what. This tells me that the formula is a dud – at least, it’s a dud if they (the publishers) want a buyer-thrilling title, which of course they do.

The Something Atheist. I just don’t think there’s a word that can make that sound exciting.

Unless they go absurdist or something. The Ruritanian Atheist. The Pioneer … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags:


Fully shit

Sep 6th, 2011 12:04 pm | By

The Vatican and equivocation…it’s always been a dab hand at it. Michael Nugent points out another example.

The most significant sentence in the Vatican’s response to the Irish Government about the Cloyne Report comes on the second-last page, just before the concluding remarks. It says: “From the foregoing considerations, it should be clear that the Holy See expects the Irish Bishops to cooperate with the civil authorities, to implement fully the norms of canon law and to ensure the full and impartial application of the child safety norms of the Church in Ireland.”

This sounds reasonable on the face of it. But it conceals a vital distinction that the Catholic Church has already used to mislead people in Ireland

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: , ,


The Skeptic’s Dictionary Newsletter *

Sep 6th, 2011 | Filed by

Quack of the month award to Michael Longo for his “pages of truth,” his “centering tree chair,” and especially his neo-Hegelian page of truth art charts.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Molly Ivins can’t say that about Rick Perry, can she? *

Sep 6th, 2011 | Filed by

“Now he’s trying to disguise the fact that the schools are in free-fall by proposing that we teach creationism in biology classes.”… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Scientology attacks The New Yorker *

Sep 6th, 2011 | Filed by

“Everybody had forgotten about the New Yorker piece, but now they’ve brought it all up again for everyone to think about.”… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


It is time you resigned as chairman of the universe

Sep 5th, 2011 4:44 pm | By

Here’s a pretty item from Michael Pearl -

A woman wrote to him about her devastation at a miscarriage.

Even now I have nightmares every night. I dream that my baby is crying and when I go to take care of him, I can’t find him. I look everywhere but I can’t find my baby. I have even woken up my husband asking him to help me find our baby. I have dreamed that my baby was beautiful and healthy. I would wake up deciding how my baby and I are going to spend the day and I realize that there is no baby.

He set her straight.

Your anger is based on the assumption that you know better than

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: , ,


Cameron “won’t back” Dorries’s plan *

Sep 5th, 2011 | Filed by

Dorries says he’ll change his mind.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


More new 9/11 conspiracy books *

Sep 5th, 2011 | Filed by

David Griffin, a professor of theology, has written nine books purporting to prove that the September 11 attacks were “masterminded from inside the American state apparatus.”… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


9/11 conspiracy theories debunked *

Sep 5th, 2011 | Filed by

One by one.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Jamaat-e-Islami had Hijab Day yesterday *

Sep 5th, 2011 | Filed by

It is time that Hijab culture should be promoted through social media and networks to eliminate vulgarity from society.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Charlatans preying on the vulnerable

Sep 5th, 2011 11:08 am | By

Oh hey, a good idea.

Chanting to cure snakebites, claiming to be a reincarnated spouse to obtain sex, and charging for miracles could soon be banned by an Indian state seeking to stop charlatans preying on the vulnerable.

Many superstitions are widely held in India but a campaign group  is lobbying hard for a new law in the western state of Maharashtra  to outlaw several exploitative activities, with penalties of fines or up to seven years in jail.

But………not so fast, pardner.

But the push to pass the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication  of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil Practices and Black  Magic Bill has not received unanimous support.

Some Hindu nationalists fear the legislation seeks to move  beyond

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: , , , ,


Indian state considers ban on “black magic” *

Sep 5th, 2011 | Filed by

One right-wing association, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, called  it “a draconian law targeting faith” and denounced its proponents as “atheists.”… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Redacted v unredacted

Sep 5th, 2011 10:33 am | By

One WikiLeaks staffer says why he felt he had to leave.

The final straw for me came on Friday. By drawing attention to, and then publishing in full, the unredacted cache of documents, WikiLeaks has done the cause of internet freedom – and of whistleblowers – more harm than US government crackdowns ever could.

Before the first publication of carefully redacted cables, human rights activists, NGOs, and organisations working with victims of horrific crimes contacted WikiLeaks begging us to take steps not to publish any names. To be able to assure them details would be protected was an immeasurable relief.

These cables contain details of activists, opposition politicians, bloggers in autocratic regimes and their real identities, victims of crime

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: ,


“Why I felt I had to turn my back on WikiLeaks” *

Sep 5th, 2011 | Filed by

Dismay mounted with the arrival of Israel Shamir, a self-styled Russian “peace campaigner” with a long history of antisemitic writing.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


More Debbi Pearl

Sep 4th, 2011 5:38 pm | By

More from “how to be a really high-quality doormat for God.”

This past week the local Preparing class invited two older mothers to share their experiences in marriage. It was quite sobering, and some of the girls came away from class unnerved by the burdens of marriage. What the mothers wanted to convey to the girls was, “Learn now while you are young to honor your husbands. Learn patience to continue in your role as a Help Meet, and commit yourself to God now while you are young so you can avoid some of our trials and errors as we struggle to find our way.”

Great. The girls were “unnerved” by the prospect of lifelong slavery, and what “the mothers” … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags:


Women are faint copies of men

Sep 4th, 2011 4:14 pm | By

Libby Anne’s parents always taught her that women and men are equal…sort of.

My parents taught me that men and women were different and had different roles to play, but that men and women and their roles were also equal and of equal worth. The male role is to provide for his family and protect them, to engage in politics and spiritual warfare, to have a career and make the decisions for his family. The female role is to keep the house and home, raise and teach her children, exercise hospitality and offer service to others, and support her husband. I was taught that these two roles are equally important and that men and women were thus different, but equal.

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog
Tags: , ,