So the debate with Joe Puckett went off without a hitch last night. It was a cordial exchange of views. The church seats 800 people and I estimate that there must have been about 500-600 people there. Mark Tiborsky, the person who initially acted as the intermediary between Joe and me and who is very well connected in the local skeptical community and had advertised it widely, said that the number of people he knew who had signed up to attend numbered around 60-70, so most of the attendees were religious folk, which was what I expected. Mark recorded the whole thing and will be posting it on YouTube soon
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The UK is kind of a mess when it comes to church-state separation. Because they don’t have anything like our Establishment Clause to set boundaries on how much the government can be involved with religion, those decisions are essentially political ones. So while the British public is far less overtly religious than people in the US, their government funds religious schools even when they teach in quite a sectarian way. Meanwhile their current prime minister David Cameron and before him the odious and unctuous Tony Blair both make public statements of their religion, with the former saying that England is a Christian country.
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If there is one Christian doctrine that I think is deeply pernicious, it is that of original sin. For those unfamiliar with it, it essentially says that the first sin was committed by Adam and Eve when they disobeyed god and ate fruit from the tree of knowledge. This act resulted in them being banished from the Garden of Eden and became the ultimate cause of all the suffering in the world today. Thanks, Adam and Eve!
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The Cleveland Plain Dealer had an article promoting my debate with Joe Puckett tomorrow (Saturday) at 6:00 pm at the Northwest Church of Christ located at 3904 38th Street NW in Canton, Ohio. It appeared on their website yesterday and in the print edition today. I have no idea if the local TV news stations will now pick it up and cover the event.
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In the US, crooks are drawn to religion like flies to honey. The combination of not having to pay taxes or even open up their books for close scrutiny, combined with a population that is both needy and highly gullible, provides an irresistible attraction for frauds and conmen.
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First the bad news about the upcoming debate with Joe Puckett where I will be affirming the proposition ‘God Does Not Exist’: Plans for livestreaming the event fell through. So if you want to see it live, you will have to come to Northwest Church of Christ, 3904 38th Street NW, Canton, OH on Saturday, June 21, 2104 at 6:00 pm. The good news is that the entire debate will be posted later on YouTube.
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I found this news report interesting. It says that in a study done with having purported students send out resumes for jobs, those who mentioned having been involved in some sort of religious activities resulted in them being less likely to receive a response.
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Two Christian children produce a home-made rap targeted at ‘pagan atheists’, asking us to see the light. It is kind of cute actually. What I would like is to have someone follow-up on these children say ten years from now to see if they are still believers.
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There seems to be a whole class of people who like to call themselves atheists but seem to go out of their way to praise the virtues of belief. Francis Schaeffer rose to prominence as one of the creators of the Christian right as a powerful political fore. His son Frank Schaeffer was once a vigorous member of that movement but then became disillusioned and moved away from evangelical Christianity to join the Orthodox church.
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