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AASFSHNR

AASFSHNR

Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious

This group is named for the discussion group on http://www.kiva.org (founded by Peter Kroll) which shows that critical thinkers can (and do) act compassionately, without the need for magical sanction.

The idea for this room is to highlight the genius of the unwieldy name: a place to share and discuss content about issues of atheism/agnosticism/secular humanism from a truly skeptical and non-religious point of view.

It's difficult to label lack of belief (much like "not collecting stamps" doesn't work as a hobby). Names like "brights" are kind of lame, and neither "skeptic" nor "atheist" is comprehensive enough. Maybe AASFSHNR will catch on?
Tanath
Atheist billboard is moved after threats - UPI.com - http://www.upi.com/Top_New...
""Everything that has happened shows just how vital our message is," Shawn Jeffers, co-coordinator for the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason, said. "It proves our point, that bigotry against people who don't believe in a god is still very real in America."" - Tanath from Bookmarklet
Eivind
"Beware the man of a single book." — Bertrand Russell
Unless that book is the HGTTG - Edward Zwart
Yeah, but that's like five books actually, isn't it? - Eivind
You are speaking of H2G2 right? http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/ - Eivind
I prefer to think of it more as 5 testaments... - Edward Zwart
"Beware the man of a single book with no more than two testaments."—Me - Eivind
I just found one of my old FF threads (this one) when i did a google search. For some reason that made me feel good :) - Eivind
heh heh - Edward Zwart
*liked* a second time - Heather
Janice
Janice
The Winner: Evolution in Two Minutes - http://discovermagazine.com/contest...
The official winner of the Evolution in Two Minutes or Less video contest: "Evolution: The Song," by teacher Scott Hatfield, from Bullard High School in Fresno, California - Janice from Bookmarklet
The viewer's choice was really good, but the singing teacher was a bit too noisy for me (Get off my lawn! :) ) - Eivind
LOL Eivind! - Janice
Eivind
Italy’s New Swine-Flu Defense: High-Tech Holy Water Dispenser | Discoblog | Discover Magazine - http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discobl...
Italy’s New Swine-Flu Defense: High-Tech Holy Water Dispenser | Discoblog | Discover Magazine
"With a global pandemic afoot, the last thing many people want to do is put their hands in water that many other people have already touched, even if it happens to be holy water. But in Italy, where about 30 people have already died from swine flu, many Catholics will soon be able to get untainted holy water as part of church sacrament. Catholic churches around Italy are scrapping their traditional water fonts in favor of new automatic, motion-activated holy water dispensers invented by Luciano Marabese." - Eivind from Bookmarklet
How do they make holy water anyways? Is it blessed by a priest? How much chlorine is allowed? - David (slumrig)
parsonii
Tom Toles Political Cartoons - washingtonpost.com - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...
Tom Toles Political Cartoons - washingtonpost.com
parsonii
Under God: The Archdiocese's ultimatum - David Waters - http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith...
How awesome. - parsonii from Bookmarklet
The main message many Christians take from the Bible would fit on a post it note: "Don't tolerate gay people." - Eivind
Victor Kamutzki
Door-To-Door Atheists Seen As Neighborhood Nuisance | SD Headliner | Recent San Diego News Headlines - http://sdheadliner.com/religio...
Eivind
White T-Shirt > Jesus and Mo's Shop - http://www.cafepress.com/jmoshop...
White T-Shirt > Jesus and Mo's Shop
"Thank you for not provoking my uncontrollable lust" - Eivind from Bookmarklet
Richard ¿digame? Walker
Atheist Revolution: Yes, There are Atheists in the Military - http://www.atheistrev.com/2009...
Atheist Revolution: Yes, There are Atheists in the Military
"During a radio address in which President Obama spoke about the recent murders at Fort Hood, he made a point to acknowledge the existence of atheists in the military. This marks the second time Obama has mentioned nonbelievers. This certainly is a pleasant change from most previous occupants of the White House. Referring to the diversity of U.S. military personnel, President Obama said something we all know but are still not used to hearing a president acknowledge. That's right, he mentioned nonbelievers again, saying, They are Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and nonbelievers. So our President recognizes that atheists serve in the military. I feel sort of silly for thinking that this is a big deal, but dammit, it is a big deal!" - Richard ¿digame? Walker from Bookmarklet
It certainly is a big deal. - Edward Zwart
Yep, I was a nonbeliever and in the Air Force. - Alex Scoble
Very big deal. Actually the percentage of nonbelievers (or at least those claiming no religious affiliation, which is of course a different animal, albeit related) showed up on a slide deck I edited just this week. It's the third largest group, behind Protestant Christians and Roman Catholics. Over 20%. - Sarah is Novembery
According to http://www.adherents.com/Religio... there are around 1.1 billion non-believers. It's surprising we've been so ignored and hated on. - Tanath
Thank you for your service, Alex! :) - Richard ¿digame? Walker
Christopher A Carr
Fwd: Imagine if you were a Catholic, and had to worry about being attacked in retaliation every time some Jesus-loving wacko murdered an abortion doctor, raped little kids in the name of God, or opened fire on government agents. (via http://friendfeed.com/aswang...)
Looks like I finally killed that thread :) - Eivind
Congrats :P - Heather
Mark
Err, Frankenstein was the doctor not the monster! - Neil de Haan
Just think "Frankenstein('s monster)." - Tanath
Tanath
Global Times - Islamists in Somalia stone man to death for adultery - http://world.globaltimes.cn/africa...
"Hussein's girlfriend, who is now said to be pregnant, will also be executed by stoning after she gives birth." - Tanath from Bookmarklet
I mean, okay, adultery is douchey, but not death penalty douchey. - Brian Chang
But what's worse is that his pregnant girlfriend is to be stoned to death as well (what was her "crime"?). - Tanath
Yeah, I guess we don't really know if she was a knowing participant in his adultery. Not that it would warrant being stoned to death in any event. - Brian Chang
Obviously the "adultery" in question is between this Hussein dude and his girlfriend. How can she not be a knowing participant? - Haris bin Ali
At first, I was thinking the adultery was that he cheated on her, but then I realized that they also consider any sex outside of marriage to be adultery. If he had cheated though, then she'd have nothing to do with his adultery and it would be all the more absurd. I've seen news reports of them doing that kind of thing though. - Tanath
It's very thoughtful of them to let the baby live before killing both its parents. - Edward Zwart
Tanath
The Blog for WhyWontGodHealAmputees.com » People are better off without false hope - http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/blog...
"We are told that people need to “fight cancer” and that people with long-term diseases should pray fervently and “never give up hope” because God may deliver a miracle. But is that true?" - Tanath from Bookmarklet
Eivind
P.H. Gosse's Failure to Untie the Geological Knot : Laelaps - http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps...
P.H. Gosse's Failure to Untie the Geological Knot : Laelaps
"Without a doubt, Philip Henry Gosse's Omphalos is one of the strangest books I have ever read. Published in 1857, two years before Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species would cause the public and academics alike to take evolution more seriously, Gosse's book was an attempt to rescue Creation itself from the perceived threat of science denuded of Christian authority. Gosse fervently believed that God's word and works were in accord, but if there was any conflict between the two it was because naturalists had been looking at the world in the wrong way. Gosse attempted to mend the increasing tear between a literal reading of Genesis and the facts of geology in a very peculiar way. If you found the skeleton of an extinct animal, Gosse proposed, you would naturally assume that the bones must have given form to an animal that lived at some distant period. But what if you were mistaken? What if, instead, the bones had been created already in place in the ground and had never been clothed in flesh and blood?" - Eivind from Bookmarklet
"For Gosse fossils were just components of the earth that implied history without actually possessing it. God, in other words, had created the world " already in progress." The first plants and animals were all adults, ready to reproduce "after their kind" and bearing the marks of age that they would be expected to bear. This rule applied to the first humans, too; Adam and Eve had been... more... - Eivind
Richard ¿digame? Walker
Intelligence Squared Debate - Hitchens & Fry vs Catholics (BBC World News) - Other - Soft Machine³ - Arts Tech and Other - http://www.softmachinecubed.com/other...
Intelligence Squared Debate - Hitchens & Fry vs Catholics (BBC World News) - Other - Soft Machine³ - Arts Tech and Other
Intelligence² occupies a unique position in London’s social and intellectual landscape. It is the only institution in town - aside from Parliament - to provide a forum for debate on the crucial issues of the day; but unlike Parliament, its debates are consistently exciting, witty, provocative… and comfortable, held as they are at the Royal Geographical Society’s Ondaatje Theatre and other venues. Intelligence² takes information and analysis as its raw material, and translates this into discussion, conversation, and sexy debate. - Richard ¿digame? Walker from Bookmarklet
Edward Zwart
Intelligence Squared debate: Catholics humiliated by Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry – Telegraph Blogs - http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news...
Intelligence Squared debate: Catholics humiliated by Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry – Telegraph Blogs
Sure hope there's video! - Edward Zwart from Bookmarklet
There probably is, but it doesn't seem to be online yet. - Tanath
Nice! thx Tanath - Edward Zwart
Oh my, those voting results are fun to watch, aren't they? :) - Edward Zwart
Christopher A Carr
Friendly Atheist by @hemantmehta » Voicemail Responses to Nashville Atheist Billboard - http://friendlyatheist.com/2009...
Friendly Atheist by @hemantmehta    » Voicemail Responses to Nashville Atheist Billboard
"Earlier this week, a billboard went up in Nashville for a group called Secular Life. An offensive, hateful, evil billboard. One so awful, a number of people denounced it! Which makes sense, I guess… just look at all the blasphemy:" - Christopher A Carr from Bookmarklet
So the message is that apparently theists can't read. - Colby
So much love in the responses. - Rene Wirtz
Couldn't stop laughing at the dude repeatedly saying 'Believe in god or burn', failed brainwashing ftw! - Jeremy˚H
Tanath
Christopher A Carr
Fwd: Hilarious homeopathy horseshit: YouTube - Homeopathy with Dr. Werner - http://www.youtube.com/watch... (via http://friendfeed.com/cacarr...)
Fwd: Hilarious homeopathy horseshit: YouTube - Homeopathy with Dr. Werner - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0c5yClip4o&feature=player_embedded# (via http://ff.im/b2iFo)
Play
and such - Edward Zwart
hard to argue against that very convincing anecdotal evidence 'squeaky knee went away' - Eureka! - David (slumrig)
I'm just going to pick on the fact that she didn't know his name is Hawking, not Hawkings. The rest of the stupid hurts my brain too much. - Mark
right? ... okay? ... right? ... okay? ... NO! ...RONG! wtf is she talking about that bomb? - Dickbuttkick
I don't think I understood a thing she said. Although taking "m" out of E=mc2 somehow turns into E=c? And then you can get E=c+strings? Oman, my sensible hurts. - Heather
It's best to watch this pounded way down on ethanol or something...otherwise, it's sooo painfully stupid, it hurts. - Christopher A Carr
Sorry you were mentally abused like that, Heather. :-( - Christopher A Carr
Try to replace it with a good trip to the zoo, or a great dinner, or a fabulous drunk. - Christopher A Carr
Tanath
First Kiva Team to Reach $1 Million! - Kiva Blog - http://www.kiva.org/about...
First Kiva Team to Reach $1 Million! - Kiva Blog
"The first Kiva Lending Team to reach $1,000,000 in loans is the Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious!" - Tanath from Bookmarklet
It's not long before we reach two now :) - Eivind
Nearly double the Kiva Christians, nice. - Tanath
Victor Kamutzki
Atheist billboards, ads, and signs of 2009 - A pictorial retrospective - http://www.examiner.com/examine...
Mark
The new crybaby theists | Michael Brull | The Age - http://www.theage.com.au/opinion...
Mark
A plague of atheists has descended, and Catholics are the target - http://www.theage.com.au/opinion...
The Vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University shows that he can be just as hateful as his apparent antagonists. - Mark from Bookmarklet
Wow, this guy is MAD! I like his style, even though he's somewhat lacking in content :) (I guess this must be the respectful tone I keep hearing about,) - Eivind
Richard ¿digame? Walker
6 - 12 dead, dozens wounded at Fort Hood Video - http://vodpod.com/watch...
6 - 12 dead, dozens wounded at Fort Hood Video
Play
"Local TV report on the Fort Hood shooting rampage. My heart goes out to the victims' families. A few hateful, racist and politically extreme Americans are exercising their right to free speech on YouTube. Ironically, this right includes equating Islam and Muslims with terrorism, insulting President Obama, betraying a lack of basic respect for government and the citizens, and attempting to use a horrible tragedy to score whatever sick political points their puny minds can imagine. Speak up, America, it seems I don't know you very well any more. We will not throw out "freedom of religion" or start persecuting people because of one horrible tragedy. We will not stone him to death. He will have legal counsel, a military court proceeding, and we will learn more hopefully." - Richard ¿digame? Walker from Bookmarklet
Frankly, I'm wondering how much further the extreme right can go. Did Beck or Bachmann reel back the rhetoric? Or are they going to use the tragedy to whip up more extremist anger? - Richard ¿digame? Walker
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan refused orders to deploy to a war zone. Did he do this shooting out of sympathy for islamist causes or out of anger about multiple deployments in unwinnable wars? The answer will say much about the army culture under stress. If the Fort Hood shooting is a terrorist political attack and Hasan is acting as a proxy for AQ or others then it really begs the question of... more... - WarLord
Warlord - I agree with you. I think someone said Hasan had lost confidence in the Afghanistan effort. Do you know if he volunteered to go to war? I understand he was at Walter Reed... which raises the possibility of his having PTSD-by-proxy. Since Fort Hood is a staging area for deployment, I assume he was going to get combat zone training at least. I'm unclear on whether military psychiatrists ever get "basic training".even. - Richard ¿digame? Walker
Eivind
Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks: Europe is dying from secularism -Times Online - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol...
Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks: Europe is dying from secularism -Times Online
"The Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks of Aldgate, warned today that Europe was dying because the growth of secularism had made people too selfish to have children. Its loss of a tolerant religious culture made it vulnerable to the advance of fundamentalism, he argued. Comparing its decline to that of ancient Greece in the third century of the pre-Christian era, he said the answer lay in the rediscovery of the continent's Judeo-Christian religious roots. Tolerant religion was “the only strong enough defence with some of the religiosity that is coming our way with the force of a hurricane", the Chief Rabbi said." - Eivind from Bookmarklet
Trying to out populate the people we disagree with is such a good idea, I mean there are way too few people on this planet anyway. Bah! I'm not sure he got it right about the decline of Greece either. - Eivind
He is right about fundamentalism and separation of church and state though. Someone sent me this link awhile back about religious population statistics. I checked the birthrates and they appear to be accurate. It's is definitely fear based and a similar tact to the Rabbi. http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Eric Logan
Separation of church and state should be a given. It hasn't happened in Norway yet, sadly. I have a theory that, ironically, the state church has contributed to almost eradicating Christianity in Norway, as the state church has always had to bend over backwards to fit into a secular society. It became so secular that people just stopped bothering about it all together, and now it is... more... - Eivind
Babies aren't as cute as everyone says either... - Edward Zwart
True :) And having a lot of babies isn't an unselfish act. - Eivind
Eivind
Creationism, Without a Young Earth, Emerges in the Islamic World - NYTimes.com - http://www.nytimes.com/2009...
Creationism, Without a Young Earth, Emerges in the Islamic World - NYTimes.com
"AMHERST, Mass. — Creationism is growing in the Muslim world, from Turkey to Pakistan to Indonesia, international academics said last month as they gathered here to discuss the topic. But, they said, young-Earth creationists, who believe God created the universe, Earth and life just a few thousand years ago, are rare, if not nonexistent. One reason is that although the Koran, the holy text of Islam, says the universe was created in six days, the next line adds that a day, in this instance, is metaphorical: “a thousand years of your reckoning.”" - Eivind from Bookmarklet
Do we consider this progress? - Edward Zwart
Nope. Not in the case of Turkey anyway. - Eivind
"Saudi Arabia, for example, does not let foreigners see the biology textbooks." How retarded is THAT? - Edward Zwart
Edward Zwart
Scientist Genie Scott's Last Word to Creationist Ray Comfort: There You Go Again - God & Country (usnews.com) - http://www.usnews.com/blogs...
Scientist Genie Scott's Last Word to Creationist Ray Comfort: There You Go Again - God & Country (usnews.com)
"Birds do it; bees do it; even educated fleas do it" - Edward Zwart from Bookmarklet
Edward Zwart
Heads up on book exposing Scientology - from New Humanist - http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2009...
Heads up on book exposing Scientology - from New Humanist
"The Cruise-related madness has the celeb-factor, but Headley also has lots to say about the more sinister things he observed during his time in Scientology, including the violence perpetrated by Church boss David Miscavige against employees, which we first heard about in the St Petersburg Times exposé, and the lengths the Church is willing to go to in order to stop members speaking out." - Edward Zwart from Bookmarklet
Eivind
Fwd: Dinesh D'Souza promised me an afterlife, and all I got were the same old cheap lies : Pharyngula - http://scienceblogs.com/pharyng... (via http://friendfeed.com/cacarr...)
LMAO re Coulter! - Edward Zwart
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