The Old Testament: The First Book of Moses, called Genesis - w/ music

A small win for secularism in Italy

Italy school crucifixes 'barred'



"The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against the use of crucifixes in classrooms in Italy.

It said the practice violated the right of parents to educate their children as they saw fit, and ran counter to the child's right to freedom of religion.

The case was brought by an Italian mother, Soile Lautsi, who wants to give her children a secular education.

But the ruling has sparked anger in the largely Catholic country, with one politician calling the move "shameful".

The Strasbourg court found that: "The compulsory display of a symbol of a given confession in premises used by the public authorities... restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions.""

Bravo to the European Court of Human Rights for protecting secularism in the school system. However, I imagine that there are still religious schools in Italy, just as there are in Canada and the United States. The real news will be when public funding is completely cut to any faith-based school.

Is God worth believing in?

On a trip to Europe this summer I decided to visit the town of Oswiecim in Poland. Oswiecim, also known as Auschwitz, was the site of Auschwitz I, and Auschwitz II - Birkenau Concentration and Extermination camps. As I stood in front of the blown-up remains of one of the large crematoriums, I wondered how anyone could still believe in a God. What God would allow a million people to be systematically exterminated? Some went straight from the railway cars to the gas chambers. Others endured immense hardship before they finally met the same end, and only a small percent would go on to actually survive the horrors. Why do people believe that God helps professional athletes win sporting events? Why would God answer trivial prayers, while letting millions die an excruciating and pitiful death. There are people who, admittedly, say that everything is part of God's divine plan and that there is a greater purpose for everything. Well, I for one do not want to be part of this plan if it involves planning the mass suffering and extermination of millions of people. I don't believe the plan or the creator is worthy of any respect at all. Even if there were a God a rational person would have to reject him for being a callous, uncaring, and genocidal entity. To the deists that believe god doesn't answer miracles and doesn't interfere at all, I ask to you question his stance of creating deeply flawed beings that can inflict enormous amounts of pain and suffering on their fellow creatures. Why would he not step in to correct the fault that he created in the first place. Why didn't he create them perfect?

God, if he created everything, can either intervene or not intervene. In both situations, no respect is deserved. If he is able to intervene and does so regularly, why did he not intervene in the camps? Why allow this to take place and only answer trivial prayers which have no bearing on life and death? If he is not able to intervene then what good is he to us? He created imperfect beings which he knew would inflict immense pain and suffering on each other. Such a callous figure deserves nothing but the disgust of rational people.



The most logical solution is that God does not intervene because he does not exist. The creatures on this earth are imperfect and have to fight daily for their survival. Horrible pain and suffering is inflicted and received, and we are ourselves responsible. We, as human beings, can at least accept our faults and mistakes, and aim to prevent them from happening again.

Believing in a God is not just a false belief, but a morally reprehensible one.







This last picture shows the room where people were told to undress to get ready for their "shower". They were told to remember where they put their clothes so they could claim them afterwards.

University Debate: Dr. Arif Ahmed

A great voice for Atheism that I just became aware of.

A little about him here.


"Dr. Arif Ahmed of Cambridge University is a philosophy professor and atheist. Here he debates Gary Habermas of Liberty University over the validity of religion and Jesus rising from the dead."

That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic A&E

Pseudo-science shouldn't be let off the hook either. In a sense it is worse than religious superstition because it masquerades as being scientifically legitimate.

A strange thought

As strange as it sounds, I respect the fundamentalist more than I respect the moderate religious person. (Not that I bestow large amounts of respect on either that I wouldn't give to any other human being). The fundamentalist is a bible literalist that takes the bad parts along with the good. They, in my opinion, suffer from an enormous delusion, but at least they are consistent. I have more trouble with the moderate because he or she picks and chooses what to believe literally and what to take symbolically. They are deluding themselves. They cut off their religious thoughts from the rest of their life which is infused with reason and common sense. At least the fundies (fundamentalists) live the life they preach. While I feel as though the fundies are a lost cause and not worth wasting time over, the moderates are otherwise sane people that should know better. To see the moderates build up the invisible wall in their brain is truly disheartening. A feeling of hopelessness comes over me when I think that humans may never be able to break these ancient bonds. I hope for a time when rational thought and common sense are the pillars of our civilization and are as highly regarded as they deserve to be. When they penetrate all our sensibilities and thoughts, not just the ones we allow them to enter.

Does faith deserve respect?

Pat Condell sure doesn't think so. It's an old one but still relevant.