Critical/Flawed Thinker Out To Lunch About Atheists

I was browsing through one of my favorite new resources, POPURLS, when I came across a post named Atheists vs. Agnostics vs. Religionists- Or Are They All The Same?

The post is full of flawed premises, half truths, and revisionist history. The blog writer of Duly Consider prides himself on being a Critical Thinker. He even taught Critical Thinking abroad. This self acclaimed intellectual calls atheism a religion. He is apparently an expert Flawed Thinker. But he invents meanings for words, so maybe critical=flawed to him just like atheism= a religion to him.

Without slaughtering the post line by line (the Hippie movement for example may not have been churchgoing, but they were all about "God Is Love; not Pacifist atheists for the most part), I've decided to just explain why atheism has gained popularity of late.

Up until recently, few would dare state they were atheist. Rob Reiner's character (Mike Stivic), was probably the first TV atheist, though very little story line revolved around it. Back then more than now, atheists tended to use the rejection of the God in the bible as a defense. Personally, I don't bother with that stuff, because as more evidence comes out due to scientific breakthroughs and archaeological discoveries, not only do all the bibles have nonsensical contradictions, but most of the events that supposedly took place could never have happened...like the Ark and the Exodus. The word of God is just the word of man written hundreds of years after the "fact."

TV was full of religious programs on Sunday mornings in the 60's. God was everywhere (though rarely mentioned in popular sitcoms like Gilligan's Island, Batman, Bewitched, etc.) How come they never prayed to get off the Island? OK, I'm getting off topic.

It was really television and real science that has created today's atheist movement.
Star Trek got everyone thinking about life on other planets and the size of the universe, and really the meaning of everything. In fact, for me, I can say that Marvin the Martian got me thinking too. As a kid, it got me wondering why is religion needed, what miracles did God perform on Mars? What church did Marvin go to?

Lets not forget that the Big Bang, is a fairly new theory that came about in the early 60's. Shows like Nova constantly contradicted the idea of any biblical God. As all the facts came about, including all discoveries that confirmed evolution throughout the 70's and 80's, more and more atheists were being created (I was probably agnostic until I hit my early 30's). I became an atheist because of information.

Atheists actually had evidence versus lack of evidence to make them feel more comfortable about their overall gut feeling about the bibles being fiction.

The Christian Right started to offend a more defiant group of non believers. The more they stated evolution didn't happen, the more I personally read about evolution, and the more sure I became that THEY ARE JUST PLAIN WRONG. And when they want to push their nonsense into schools and other public places, the more offensive they became.

The thing is that ATHEISTS KNOW THEY (me included) ARE RIGHT.

The article states that the religious war (Christians versus Muslims) Iraq war caused angry atheists to become outspoken today. Wrong. I'm an atheist, and I realize that the war with Iraq is not a religious one, but a cultural one. It was inevitable that the West was going to fight a Muslim country, just like it was inevitable that someone was going to use the A-bomb when it was discovered.

The reason atheists have become outspoken today is because of the internet. The internet has given us a platform to point out views, and the flaws of religious thought and most importantly, action.

Fun With Generators

I like going to The Generator Blog once in a while to see what is new. After seeing a few fellow bloggers post their South Park character and Simpson's character, I decided to do mine.


I didn't see any way to make me an adult with the South Park generator, but I didn't look too hard, and apparently there is more than one site that does it according the sidebar on The Generator Blog, but then again, I wish I was 14 again anyway. I had perfect eyesight back then, so the glasses wouldn't have been needed, oh yeah, I almost forgot, I had hair then too.

Dear Fundamentalists:

I decided to do a short video asking religious Fundamentalists (anyone who thinks that a belief in God, or the ultimate existence of God, is needed to stop them from being evil and wicked. I used the ultimate atheist song in the background:


What else?

I just found out I got Punk'd by an internet site called Net Authority. I noticed I got a few hits on my Judeophobe Watch blog from Net Authority, so I checked out why:

Judeophobe Watch

Added: 08/02/2007 - 19:39:51

This website has been investigated by Net Authority, and has been found to be in violation of the Internet Acceptable Use Policy by posting the following kinds of content:

* Hateful material
* Blasphemy
* Offensive political material

Be cautioned! This website contains strongly offensive material and is not suitable for young children. Click the link below at your own risk:

http://judeophobewatch.blogspot.com/

I checked out Net Authority's Violation Rule page. This rule made me laugh, but it still seemed like a legit Fundy site:

Example #2: Children's Dinosaur Stories. You might think that a site that contains stories about dinosaurs for children would be innocent—but let's stop and think about that for a moment. If you read the bible (you should, it's great!) you know that dinosaurs never actually existed, and that God put those fossils and bones there to test our faith in Him. While the stories themselves may not contain any offensive material, the simple fact that they are about dinosaurs may cause a child to question his faith in the one true God. By blaspheming, this site is in violation of the Internet Acceptable Use Policy and should be added to our database.

I decided to bring this to the attention of Raving Atheist and asked "Is This A Joke?"

A couple of RA members came to my aid, and proved the site is total satire. The guy who runs the site is an atheist. He is demonstrating Poe's Law:

Similar to Murphy's Law, Poe's Law concerns internet debates, particularly regarding religion or politics.

"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."

I became familiar with the Poe's Law when someone left a comment on my Youtube video (More Proof Evolution Is Wrong) where I made mocked the video Peanut Butter: The Atheist's Nightmare. I Punk'd quite a few non believers with my video. What goes around, comes around, I guess.

The guy from Net Authority also has a comic strip. Very funny. Check it out.

Is Youtube Really Atheist Tube?

I've noticed a big trend on Youtube: When an atheist video comes out, the video is usually highly rated and has many views, but when a creationist bs video comes out, it get a very low rating and usually a lot less views, unless it is ridiculously funny as well as just ridiculous.
Here is an example of what I'm talkin bout. Pat Condell, the British comedian, has been gaining a large following. His latest video, "God Bless Atheism" was released on August 3rd and now (as of 7 am EST on Aug 5th) has received close to 20,000 views and almost 1500 ratings, mostly 5 out of 5's:

H/T God Is For Suckers

He is funny and charming and very likable overall, but 20,000 views in two days? Either Youtube has become taken over by us atheists, or there are a lot more atheists in the world and especially the USA than what the surveys have to offer.

Theory one is plausible, since it is a well known fact that many Jews and gays took off to Hollywood to both escape persecution and be with their own kind almost since the birth of Hollywood. It was a place that didn't judge a Jew or gay for being a Jew or gay, as long as the Jews changed their names and gays didn't come out in the media. So it makes sense that atheists have congregated to Youtube, though we are often judged by the theist minority there.

Theory two is also plausible. I think there a lot more people who have figured out that there is no evidence of God and that it is highly probable that God does not exist (the true definition of an atheist). There is still a stigma attached to admitting to someone doing a poll that one is an atheist. Though the stigma is starting to disappear thanks to the likes of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens, oh and YOUTUBE.

Check out Youtube Atheists.

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE MADE EASY

This is Abiogenesis For Dummies. In other words, even I understand it. What a great job Aussie James Hadfield aka Potholer54 did on this video. As Calpurnpiso, from the Raving Atheist Message Board mentioned in a video reply, 'this video should be seen in every church, synagogue and mosque just before they do the services.' Watch this video, it is fantastic:



OK, the one thing theists have been using lately is the "how did the universe start?, and how matter got started." This is not addressed in the above video, because it is a different "matter" altogether. Sorry for the pun...no I'm not.

Potholer54 only has done one other video, and it too is well done. Here, he explains how intelligent design is just plain ridiculous. It is called "God and DNA Made Easy":



Oh, and if you are curious about the big A on my sidebar, Pharyngula explains what it means.