More Sunday Atheist Readings

Linking posts are like cruise control for good-blogging-habits. Why write your own blog when you can point to others? Though an atheist-centric linking post on Sunday morning seems strangely fitting, does it not? I guess, that depends on what your particular religion’s holy day happens to be. I mean, the Abrahamic religions can’t even decide on Saturday or Sunday between them, and they all have the same root.

PZ has a letter from a student describing “balance” in his biology classroom — having never been taught at all about evolution despite promises to eventually balance out his learnings, but having had a long, illustration-rich lecture in creationism, he graduated without the merest inkling what evolution was. That’s a good way to win converts for the other side, theists. FYI.

The month of Ramadan is upon us, having started yesterday, and Mike Haubrich had a disturbing episode at work wherein, despite being himself admonished to keep his atheist books at home, someone went out and got a DQ cake for a Muslim celebrating Ramadan. This imbalance in avoiding religion at the workplace resulted in our compatriot foregoing DQ cake, and I know exactly what kind of sacrifice that is.

Here’s a nice cheat sheet in case you want to compare and contrast Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Scientology. Don’t get caught taking this into your Comparative Religion classes though, you might get zero on the test for cheating, which is a sin in academia as dire as plagiarism.

The Teapot Atheist has an unhealthy habit: collecting theist propaganda. Go check it out. He even has as his crown jewel, the Atlas of Creation by Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar).

In case you wonder why people consider evangelical Christianity to be both scary and irritating simultaneously, here’s an excellent example. Julie over at Rational Behavior posted someone’s Left Behind letter, for just in case they get bodily Raptured up to heaven. For those two of you that don’t know, the Rapture doctrine is the invention of John Nelson Darby circa 1830 CE, wherein several Bible passages are reinterpreted to mean that on Judgement Day (which will happen whenever God gets around to it), the holy rollers down here on Earth will get beamed up physically to Heaven, leaving food uneaten, babies un-tended-to, and airplanes unpiloted and doomed to crash. How inspiring! And the letter at Julie’s is just plain off the wall wacky, with Zdenny-level conspiracy theories and technobabble (what the fuck is this BlueBeam craziness?).

Since consigning Zdenny to the moderation bucket, it’s been incredibly peaceful around here. It’s a shame it took borderline censorship to achieve that peace. But it’s okay, for those of you still looking for people to put him in his place, he’s hanging out over at Relatively Unrelated, getting eviscerated by the indefatiguable Dan J, repeatedly and with precious little remorse. It is truly a thing of beauty, watching Dan at work.

Here’s a few more quick links in case the above hasn’t yet whetted your appetite:

Mormonism for Dummies — I’d never wear underpants like those. Ever. Not even after being posthumously baptised into Mormonism.
Proof the 10 Commandments are not the basis of US law — only three out of ten are constitutional and enforceable
A Christian analysis of Atheism — make no mistake, this is not nearly as fair as the last such sermon I put up on my last linking post.
A Feint and a Ruse: a story of betrayal and naïveté on the part of a science booster who honestly thought his theist friends would come to his defense.
10 Myths and 10 Truths about Atheism, by Sam Harris, from 2006. Worth bookmarking and spamming to your misinformed friends / commenters.
Look out evildoers, here comes Bibleman! Lamest superhero on the block.

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More Sunday Atheist Readings
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8 thoughts on “More Sunday Atheist Readings

  1. 1

    Thanks for the linkage, Jason. 🙂 It’s not that I enjoy beating up on the ill-informed, but when nothing else works, it seems to be the best option.

    A Feint and a Ruse: a story of betrayal and naïveté on the part of a science booster who honestly thought his theist friends would come to his defense.

    That’s one story that the “accommodationist” camp should read. They need to take a long hard look at who they’re trying to accommodate, and think for a moment about what might happen if we “loud-mouthed”, “uncivil” atheists actually took their advice and kept our mouths (both real and virtual) shut.

    Trust the words of the great Chinese general and military strategist, Sun-Tzu, on this one: “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” (Keep in mind that his wisdom comes from about 400 years before some virgin [yeah, riiiight] gave birth to the Xtians’ savior.)

  2. 3

    Careful, Mike. Certain people along those lines tend to think that by mere virtue of having made contact online once, they are now officially and forevermore your friend and can name-drop you in all sorts of craziness.

  3. 4

    On the subject of Ruse, I have also been getting e-mails from one xxxx xxxx who, having attended Frank McCourt’s funeral (with a mass,) said that the atheist Malachy McCourt promoted that the funeral should include a Mass. As far as I know, Frank McCourt was also an atheist; but back on the point the e-mailer (who has an unhealthy obsession with denouncing PZ Myers and I am not going to reveal the name because it was a private e-mail but you know who I mean,) is that xxxx xxxx since he experienced the eucharist for himself he know is even more upset with Myers over Crackergate.

    I just don’t get it. I have told the guy that the reason that people laugh at him is because of this obsession, with which he tried to take over the The Intersection’s comment thread in re: Unscientific America. Now, I know you know who I mean.

  4. 5

    Dan – I will neither confirm nor deny whether it is “Valentine Michael Smith.”

    What I don’t get about him is that he keeps on asking me to ask PZ to stop making fun of him, and also pesters me to “re-friend” him. I finally relented.

  5. 6

    Thank you so much for the referral! That letter was both funny and scary at the same time; couldn’t pass up publishing it 🙂

  6. 7

    “Since consigning Zdenny to the moderation bucket, it’s been incredibly peaceful around here.”

    I was thinking this morning that the list of rules you wrote for men on feminist blogs could apply to Theists on Atheist blogs with a few word substitutions.
    Subsitute Theists for Men, Atheists for Women, and Conversion for Rape and I think you’ve got it.
    Hell, you apply the same technique for just about any set of opposites. Give it a try!

  7. 8

    Oh, I didn’t write that list. That’d be Comrade PhysioProf, with whom I have a few problems as relates to his rule-making and inability to form a coherent thought. I just rewrote it so it didn’t sound like it was coming from someone gibbering on a street corner. The thing here is, I don’t really mind people being theists, or even challenging my beliefs, as long as they’re intelligent about it. I don’t want to hear the same chapter-and-verse repeated over and over from a document I have no belief in whatsoever, as though it proves anything but that you’ve read that chapter and verse and think it’s some kind of knockout argument that’s going to make me find Jebus.

    I dunno… I think my rules are much more simple than CPP’s. Piss me off for long enough, and I might make you have to do something possible, simple even, but probably outside your personal ability to do because of a fundamental lack of empathy, morals, or some other quality I note is missing in you, in order to earn your right to keep pissing me off. If you’ve passed the challenge, it’d take something big to make me go back on my word and revoke your rights for real.

    I’ve also been considering unmoderating him and letting all hell break loose just to see what would happen. He comments on every single post still, despite them going into moderation. I think he knows I read them all. He might even think he can eventually convert me. Deluded fool.

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