Sharklauncher

"I don’t think we’re here for anything; we’re just products of evolution. You can..."

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:58:23 -0800

“I don’t think we’re here for anything; we’re just products of evolution. You can say, ‘Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don’t think there’s a purpose,’ but I’m anticipating a good lunch.”

- Dr. James Watson, Co-discoverer of the structure of DNA (via Wallbase.net)

(via Atheist Media Blog) Oh boy, Fox News. A commenter on...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:01:33 -0800

(via Atheist Media Blog)

Oh boy, Fox News. A commenter on Atheist Media Blog makes a fun observation in noting that Fox’s analysis is more of a “How can we make this illegal?” stance than a report on its own.

I realize there’s opposition on both sides to Smut for Smut. Even atheists argue against the idea both from feminist and humanist standpoints, in opposition to the objectification of women that pornography promotes.

Personally, I’m a fan of Smut for Smut. I see very few ways to garnish this much attention to the immoral (by today’s societal standards) items in the bible without being at least mildly offensive. Regardless of what Fox News presents from the religious side, the campaign has people talking, which is exactly what it was intended to do.

(via Dump.com) Pinocchio is God.

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:48:43 -0800

(via Dump.com)

Pinocchio is God.

(via photofile.name) Still trying to figure this one out…

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:07:54 -0800

(via photofile.name)

Still trying to figure this one out…

(via RichardDawkins.net) These are only getting better.

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:58:08 -0800

(via RichardDawkins.net)

These are only getting better.

(video via Atheist Media Blog) Beck makes my head spin. This...

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:08:51 -0800

(video via Atheist Media Blog)

Beck makes my head spin.

This video, combined with Beck’s “9/12 Project” only helps solidify the idea that the man should never be taken as anything more than religion dressed in politics.

In case you haven’t seen the “9/12 Project”, you need only count to two on his mission statement:

1. America is Good.

2. I believe in God and He is the center of my life.

Yeah, right. I’m supposed to think you’ve carefully thought about political issues and base my policy opinions on you, even after “God is the center of your life”?

The Onion (via Friendly Atheist)

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:04:44 -0800

The Onion (via Friendly Atheist)

There are those who honestly believe this.

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:58:00 -0800

There are those who honestly believe this.

"Children are your responsibility, not your personal sheet of blank paper. They aren’t there..."

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:42:32 -0800

“Children are your responsibility, not your personal sheet of blank paper. They aren’t there for you to scribble on, crumple up, and throw away if you don’t like them. Isn’t it weird how the religious wackjobs can howl about how a fetus is a human being that must be granted the privilege of existence, but once it pops out, it reverts to being a possession, a thing that mommy and daddy can do with as they please?”

- PZ Myers, Pharyngula, Jan. 8, 2010

iamheathen: (via prologic) Too true. Word.

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:16:11 -0800

iamheathen:

(via prologic)

Too true.

Word.

(via godtoldmeto) AC Grayling is one of the most well spoken...

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:55:16 -0800

(via godtoldmeto)

AC Grayling is one of the most well spoken individuals I think I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.

Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:22:38 -0800

Atheist Ireland Publishes 25 Blasphemous Quotes:

From today, 1 January 2010, the new Irish blasphemy law becomes operational, and we begin our campaign to have it repealed. Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a €25,000 fine. The new law defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defences permitted.

This new law is both silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous because it incentives religious outrage, and because Islamic States led by Pakistan are already using the wording of this Irish law to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level.

[…]

In this context we now publish a list of 25 blasphemous quotes, which have previously been published by or uttered by or attributed to Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Mark Twain, Tom Lehrer, Randy Newman, James Kirkup, Monty Python, Rev Ian Paisley, Conor Cruise O’Brien, Frank Zappa, Salman Rushdie, Bjork, Amanda Donohoe, George Carlin, Paul Woodfull, Jerry Springer the Opera, Tim Minchin, Richard Dawkins, Pope Benedict XVI, Christopher Hitchens, PZ Myers, Ian O’Doherty, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and Dermot Ahern.

[…]

22. PZ Myers, on the Roman Catholic communion host, 2008: “You would not believe how many people are writing to me, insisting that these horrible little crackers (they look like flattened bits of styrofoam) are literally pieces of their god, and that this omnipotent being who created the universe can actually be seriously harmed by some third-rate liberal intellectual at a third-rate university… However, inspired by an old woodcut of Jews stabbing the host, I thought of a simple, quick thing to do: I pierced it with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus’s tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash, followed by the classic, decorative items of trash cans everywhere, old coffeegrounds and a banana peel.”

(via Pharyngula)

It’s a nice little collection of quotes, too! I’m so excited to see where this leads! Here’s to hoping we never see laws against blasphemy in the US. Happy New Year, everyone!

friendlyatheist: Top Ten Creationist Arguments (via...

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:21:01 -0800

friendlyatheist:

Top Ten Creationist Arguments (via TheThinkingAtheist)

Dead on.

'Shoplifter Priest' Hit With Bucket of Pasta - Parishioner expresses his objections with ravioli

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:34:45 -0800

'Shoplifter Priest' Hit With Bucket of Pasta - Parishioner expresses his objections with ravioli:

A British priest who said the poor should consider shoplifting things like tinned ravioli had a bucket of pasta dumped over him by an irate parishioner. The man lay in wait for Father Tim Jones outside his church in York, northern England, and then sloshed half the messy spaghetti and ravioli over the priest’s robes. Jones stopped to allow the parishioner to pour the remainder. “I was offended by what he said,” the parishioner told the York Press. “I got this thing in my head where I thought I would make my own little protest.” Jones—who stands by his comments—says he was “frightened and humbled” by the experience, but he doesn’t plan to press charges.

See, when I first heard of this guy, I thought, “Thou shalt not steal… sometimes… unless it’s convenient or something…”

Now when I think of this guy, the only image that comes to mind is a bit from Dane Cook:

You know what I’d like to be able to do more than anything else? I’d love to be able to shoot spaghetti out of my fingertips. *Pppthhh.* ‘Cause no one wants to be covered in spaghetti. No. If I’m on a date with a girl and she’s very rude I’ll be like, you know what? *PPpptthhh* Enjoy your spaghetti, you’re very rude. Enjoy your spaghetti, ‘cause you’re rude. *Pppttthh*

(via orbitalteapot)

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:45:20 -0800

(via orbitalteapot)

The Spiritual Explanation of Snow | Unreasonable Faith Har har...

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:06:43 -0800

The Spiritual Explanation of Snow | Unreasonable Faith

Har har har.

Religion 2010 Wish List

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:28:37 -0800

Religion 2010 Wish List:

Christianity

1. Abandon the mythology of Genesis. God did not make the world in 6, 8 or 1000 days or 1000 days of years. Stop squabbling over Hebrew syntax and what you think the Biblical writers meant. They meant what they wrote and they were wrong. We know far too much about how things really came about to believe any of the nonsense written by a Hebrew-speaking priest of the sixth century BCE who thought things came about by a direct act of his hereditary deity.

[..]

Muslims

1. Give up the idea that the Quran is the most beautiful poetry ever written, the most perfect Arabic ever set to ink, the closest we can approach God in the scheme of time. Are you inhaling this stuff or just smoking? You have two hundred poets whose Arabic is better, any one of which could have won in a slam-down with Gabriel.

[..]

Judaism

1. There are no chosen people. There are just people. It is depressing, isn’t it? We all want to be special.

(via friendlyatheist.com)

Like Hemant says on Friendly Atheist, #4 under Judaism might require a bit of an exception, but otherwise this is a pretty dead-on accurate list.

An 11-year-old boy’s parents say that he has been having...

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:49:00 -0800

An 11-year-old boy’s parents say that he has been having memories of a WWII pilot killed in battle 60 years ago. (via CNN.com)

Really?

Their logical conclusion is to say the kid’s nightmares are from a past life, and there is no other explanation for his statements?

You’re really going to label your child like that, and force him to grow up thinking he’s really someone else?

Do you even know what that could do to your kid, psychologically and emotionally?

The Mystery Of The Pagan Origin Of Christmas: Jesus Was Not Born On December 25th But A Whole Bunch Of Pagan Gods Were

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:47:47 -0800

The Mystery Of The Pagan Origin Of Christmas: Jesus Was Not Born On December 25th But A Whole Bunch Of Pagan Gods Were:

Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25th? Most people assume that it has always been a Christian holiday and that it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus. But it turns out that Jesus was not born on December 25th. However, a whole bunch of pagan gods were born on that day. In fact, pagans celebrated a festival involving a heroic supernatural figure that visits an evergreen tree and leaves gifts on December 25th long before Jesus was ever born. From its early Babylonian roots, the celebration of the birth or “rebirth” of the sun god on December 25th came to be celebrated under various names all over the ancient world. You see, the winter solstice occurs a few days before December 25th each year. The winter solstice is the day of the year when daylight is the shortest. In ancient times, December 25th was the day each year when the day started to become noticeably longer. Thus it was fitting for the early pagans to designate December 25th as the date of the birth or the “rebirth” of the sun.

The truth is that thousands of years before there was a ”Santa Claus”, there was another supernatural figure who would supposedly visit a tree and leave gifts every December 25th.

His name was Nimrod.

The celebration of December 25th goes all the way back to ancient Babylon.

Please continue reading by clicking here.

This is one of the most in-depth summaries of the origin of Christmas I’ve seen online. Definitely a read worth your time.

There is nothing dogmatic about the Winter Solstice. It is...

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:36:31 -0800

There is nothing dogmatic about the Winter Solstice. It is reality. It is the shortest and darkest day of the year.

(via WhyWontGodHealAmputees)

Only Fox News seems to think there’s a “War on Christmas”. I can’t handle how ignorant Laura Ingraham is during this whole thing; it’s almost as if she’s training to be the next O’Reilly.