americanatheists

http://atheists.meetup.com/530/Rally and Demonstration @ the Supreme Court Wednesday February 28, starting @ 9:30 am RSVP at Meetup.com: Beltway Atheists on Meetup.comWhere: Supreme Court BuildingCapitol Hill, First Street Washington DCWashington , DC 20559More info call me: 571 214 8620 Description: Demonstration to support Freedom of Religion Foundation as the Supreme Court hears arguments as to the legality of President Bush’s “Faith Based Initiative Program” in regards to Separation of Religion and Government.

We’ve seen the Mormons ignoring the “Giggarish gold tablet inscriptions” and the “Indians-not-really-Jews” things and yet still believe the rest of the pablum they are fed. But Jesus’ dead remains are a pretty good argument against the bodily ressurection to Heaven. Can it ever be proven, and what would it do?http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0207/400762.html

Filmmakers and researchers on Monday unveiled two ancient stone boxes they said may have once contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but several scholars derided the claims made in a new documentary as unfounded and contradictory to basic Christian beliefs. “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and scheduled to air March 4 on the Discovery Channel, argues that 10 small caskets discovered in 1980 in a Jerusalem suburb may have held the bones of Jesus and his family.One of the caskets even bears the title, “Judah, son of Jesus,” hinting that Jesus may have had a son, according to the film.”There’s a definite sense that you have to pinch yourself,” Cameron said Monday at a news conference. He told NBC’S “Today” show earlier that statisticians found “in the range of a couple of million to one” in favor of the documentary’s conclusions about the caskets, or ossuaries.Simcha Jacobovici, the Toronto filmmaker who directed the film, said that a name on one of the ossuaries – “Mariamene” – offers evidence that the tomb is that of Jesus and his family. In early Christian texts, “Mariamene” is the name of Mary Magdalene, he said.The very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

I’d love to get this verified. The congressman denied it but a “constituent says” he did it under authority. Hmmm…

www.ajc.comAnti-evolution memo stirs controversyBy Jeremy Redmon | Thursday, February 15, 2007, 01:37 PMThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionThe Anti-Defamation League is calling on state Rep. Ben Bridges to apologize for a memo distributed under his name that says the teaching of evolution should be banned in public schools because it is a religious deception stemming from an ancient Jewish sect.Bridges (R-Cleveland) denies having anything to do with the memo. But one of his constituents said he wrote the memo with Bridges? approval before it was recently distributed to lawmakers in several states, including Texas, California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio.?Indisputable evidence ? long hidden but now available to everyone ? demonstrates conclusively that so-called ?secular evolution science? is the Big-Bang 15-billion-year alternate ?creation scenario? of the Pharisee Religion,? the memo says. ?This scenario is derived concept-for-concept from Rabbinic writings in the mystic ?holy book? Kabbala dating back at least two millennia.?The memo calls on lawmakers to introduce legislation that would end the teaching of evolution in public schools because it is ?a deception that is causing incalculable harm to every student and every truth-loving citizen.?It also directs readers to a Web site www.fixedearth.com, which includes model legislation that calls the Kabbala ?a mystic, anti-Christ ?holy book? of the Pharisee Sect of Judaism.? The Web site also declares ?the earth is not rotating ? nor is it going around the sun.?

“Imagine if the religious right’s beloved “war on Christmas” was a year-round affair. Legions of lawyers ready to pounce on school and civic administrators, the persistent neon buzz of ACLU-paranoia in the air, Pat Robertson and the Bill O’Reilly Persecution Complex (nice band name…) pressuring corporate America to replace every “gesundheit” with a “God bless you.” Now, imagine if the leaders of the effort weren’t just the Jerry Falwell Admiration Society, but instead the full weight and force of the Department of Justice, training lawyers and enlisting supporters across the country ready to blow the whistle on any perceived slight to religion. Got the picture?” wrote Don Byrd, of the Baptist Joint Committee On Religious Liberty.

And

“Expecting the Bush administration to defend religious liberty is a little like asking Col. Sanders to babysit your pet chicken,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United.

Peter Nuhn

Explicit Recordings Disrupt MassAPSANTA FE, N.M. (Feb. 22) – Three CD players hidden under a cathedral’s pews blared sexually explicit language in the middle of an Ash Wednesday Mass, leading a bomb squad to detonate two of the devices. Authorities determined the music players were not dangerous and kept the third one to check it for clues, said police Capt. Gary Johnson. The CD players, duct-taped to the bottoms of the pews, were set to turn on in the middle of noon Mass on Wednesday at the Roman Catholic Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The recordings, made on store-bought blank discs, featured people using foul language and “pornographic messages,” Johnson said. He would not elaborate because of the ongoing investigation.

Because you guys are itching to debate each other. Make and accept your challenges here!Enjoy!

Oy! I’m on the Radio in Israel, hopefully getting the Atheists there to speak up a bit louder. Listen on-line at www.IsraelNationalRadio.com at 10:30 am tomorrow (Tuesday).

I was reading The God Delusion today (finally) and I came on a passage which, well, disappointed me. Dr. Dawkins wrote:”…reason alone could not propel one to a total conviction that soemthing definitely does not exist. (snip) I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about faries at the bottom of the garden”Dawkins is not a man of cowardice, so I assume his argument is not based on pussyfooting around the issue, rather is the result of the logical genius for which he is famous. However, I disagree with his statement.Somewhere, we have to define zero. Most of my readers are familiar with the Matrix, where the entire universe as we know it was an illusion that was implanted in our brains by extraterrestrials. Good (though not too original) fiction – but nobody can PROVE with 100% certainty that it’s not true. This goes for everything in the universe.How can we say that ANYTHING is definite? If we are to assert that ANYTHING in our lives is 100% true, then by Dr. Dawkins’ standards, we are wrong.I can’t live like that, and I can’t abide by that logic. Some things MUST be given a 100% probability, beyond the fiction on the movie screen or behind the pulpit. We are alive. Life is not a dream. Matter and energy exist — gods do not.Is this a “personal zero” or an absolute? Am I rounding for comfort (or ego, or any other reason), or is Dr. Dawkins employing philosophical methodology for a scientific argument?

Kansas Repeals Anti-Evolution GuidelinesBy JOHN HANNAAPTOPEKA, Kan. (Feb. 13) – The Kansas state Board of Education on Tuesday repealed science guidelines questioning evolution that had made the state an object of ridicule. The new guidelines reflect mainstream scientific views of evolution and represent a political defeat for advocates of “intelligent design,” who had helped write the standards that are being jettisoned.

Now, the Kids of Kansas will not have a disadvantage when they apply to college. They will actually know what everyone else knows — that the idea of a “designer” is scientifically ludicrous.

RIPON, Calif. (Feb. 12) – For nearly a decade, members of Ripon’s First Congregational Church bared their souls to Pastor Randall Radic. But clearly it didn’t work both ways. There were certain things he wasn’t telling them.That became obvious a year ago, when Radic pleaded guilty to betraying his flock and secretly selling the church and its rectory out from under them. He used the money to buy himself a brand-new black BMW and a laptop – exploits he later chronicled in a cheeky, almost gleeful blog about his double life as a sinner. “We didn’t know anything until we got a call from the bank that he had bought a BMW,” said David Prater, who led the church board during Radic’s tenure. “He drove that car right down Main Street.”

Once again, I make my case that most preachers are actually mean-spirited Atheists trying to take money from a flock of gullible fools. There is no way a person who feared Hell would sell a church and keep the money.Yes, there are bad Christians, and there are bad Atheists. Bad Christians will lie and cheat to push their hateful mythology. Bad Atheists, well, it’s a pretty good scam to claim to be a preacher just to steal money.