A new study shows that the states that consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption.(ABC News Photo Illustration)A new nationwide study (pdf) of anonymised credit-card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider finds little variation in consumption between states.”When it comes to adult entertainment, it seems people are more the same than different,” says Benjamin Edelman at Harvard Business School.However, there are some trends to be seen in the data. Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds.”Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by,” Edelman says.

Thanks Alex,BTW, stay tuned tomorrow for a fun tidbit.

LIVERPOOL, England, Feb. 27 (UPI) — Officials at England’s Liverpool Cathedral Friday said the church’s bells will play the late John Lennon’s “Imagine” for the North West’s Futuresonic festival.The Liverpool Daily Post quoted cathedral leaders as saying they took into consideration the song’s lyrics, “Imagine there’s no heaven” and “no religion, too,” but also noting they hope the bells performance would inspire those who hear it in May.Lennon, a Liverpool native and former member of The Beatles, once described his signature song as “anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional and anti-capitalistic.”

Please join us at the American Atheists National Convention for group sing-alongs of “Oh Holy Night” and “Onward Christian Soldiers”.The church says the song has a message which brings people together, and they are right — but it brings people together by eliminating religion (and possession, etc). I think this is one where we get to sit back and giggle.

It was reported that Bishop Richard Williamson, now known as the “Holocaust-Denying Bishop,” has apologized. As is well known by now, Williamson has denied that gas chambers were used to kill Jews. Further, he has said that only about 250,000 Jews were killed rather than the estimated 6 million.According to a report by the Associated Press, the Bishop said in a statement Thursday, “[i]f I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them.”He went on to apologize “before God,” saying that he regrets making the statements because he can see the harm his statements have caused.However, this is no recant, as was called for by the Pope. It should be noted that Williamson did not say that he has changed his mind. He is merely sorry that his statements caused harm.

This is along the lines of the Pope apologizing for the pain caused by “people in the church” by protecting pedophiles, but not being personally sorry for assisting in the cover-up (actually BEING one of the “people in the church”). The funny part is how the pope is supposedly miffed at this, when he has behaved the same way himself.Pope. Nazi. Bishop. Holocaust. Somehow these words keep getting mushed together in the headlines. I wonder why.

Atheist Richard Dawkins has rejected an offer of $10,000 for an hour-long debate with Christian author Ray Comfort, telling WND he would participate in the argument only on a list of conditions, including a $100,000 donation to his foundation.Dawkins also is demanding that a staff member for his website be allowed to film the event and then distribute it as a DVD, “if he thinks it is funny enough.”As WND reported, Comfort, author of the new book “You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence but You Can’t Make Him Think,” offered Dawkins $10,000 for a debate on creation, evolution and life. A spokeswoman for Dawkins’ website earlier told WND Dawkins doesn’t debate people from “the flat-earth society.”The challenge from Comfort, who also is co-host with actor Kirk Cameron of the award-winning TV show “The Way of the Master,” wasn’t taken seriously by Dawkins.”Ten thousand dollars is less than the typical fee that I am ordinarily offered for lecturing to a serious audience (I often don’t accept it, especially in the case of a student audience, because I am a dedicated teacher),” he wrote in response to a WND question about the challenge.”It is not, therefore, a worthwhile inducement for me to travel all the way across the Atlantic to debate with an ignorant fool,” he wrote. “You can tell him that if he donates $100,000 to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (it’s a charitable donation, tax deductible) I’ll do it.”

I don’t think I’d call Dawkins a guru, but I’d sure like to watch him make Comfort stop talking. Ray has published a dozen or so books on the same formula: Insult nonbelievers, claim the first cause argument trumps logic and science, and don’t forget the “we can feel god all around us” fluff. This is all he says, over and over again, with an occasional banana story.I HATE to give Comfort any legitimacy, but he has a good publicist, and so here goes. If Ray will debate me, I’ll do it for half price: 5K (plus travel), anywhere, any time. I’ll do it, I’ll win, and then I’ll play the video of me winning over and over again just to revel in it.I will donate the money to the Dave Silverman Foundation, which buys nice things for Dave Silverman. Wadaya say Ray?

JUDGE WHO REFUSED COURT WITHCRUCIFIX ACQUITTED, WILLSPEAK AT AACON XXXV APRIL, 2009http://www.atheists.org FOLLOWING A THREE year legal battle, an Italian judge who had been sentenced to seven months in prison and suspension of judicial privileges because he refused to hold court under the Christian crucifix has been acquitted (see story below). Judge Luigi Tosti will be speaking at the 35th National Convention of American Atheists in Atlanta, Georgia April 9-12, 2009. Tosti will be telling the story of how he defied the illegal promotion of sectarian religious symbolism in the otherwise-secular Italian judicial system, and was helped, in part, through an international campaign of conscience on his behalf. Full StoryJudge Luigi Tosti will be speaking at the 35th National Convention of AMERICAN ATHEISTS April 9-12 in Atlanta.