I mean, if I believed in God, and that hurricanes were an “act of god” and that the hurricane caused Romney to lose as he says, then …
Couple to Debate Right to Distribute Atheist Material
Rene and Anna Chouinard, who have three children, have been fighting with the board for more than two years to have an age-appropriate publication — Just Pretend: A Free Thought Book for Children and Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist — distributed to Grade 5 students.
The couple, who are humanists and follow a religion-free way of life, took their case to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario on Aug. 20 and were granted a hearing on the issue. While no date has yet been set for the proceeding, the tribunal allowed the Ontario Human Rights Commission and Canadian Civil Liberties Association to act as interveners in two-days of hearings.
The fight began after the Chouinards’ refused to sign a consent form for their daughter to distribute Gideon International Bibles at her school.
They then unsuccessfully sought to obtain permission to distribute Just Pretend, citing other groups should be allowed to have their publications distributed in Niagara schools as well.
“This is a solid decision by the tribunal that is good for society,” Rene said after being granted a hearing. “We would like to see religion completely removed from the classroom.”
He said the Niagara school board should focus on education and not religion or other issues.
The Chouinards alleged they were discriminated against “due to creed” and that no material from non-Christian religions were solicited or distributed in the district.
“If they allow Gideon Bibles in the schools, then why can’t other groups distribute their material as well,” he said on Tuesday. “This is not fair for people who may believe in other religions.”
He said Jews should be able to leave Torahs and Muslims their Koran in area schools.
It’s funny how as soon as other materials, besides Christian materials, are to be distributed that the school districts clam up and no longer say that they are simply distributing material based on who wants to distribute.
Funny indeed. Kind of like that Louisiana congressperson who flipped out and retracted support for school vouchers after they found out people can use them for Muslim, as well as Christian schools.
(Source: cnews.canoe.ca)
Appearing with televangelist Pat Robertson in the key swing state of Virginia on Sept. 8, Mitt Romney thrust God into the center of the presidential race. Photo: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
While campaigning Saturday in Virgina, Romney brought up the Dems’ convention-floor fight to re-insert “God” in their platform and suggested that Obama would strike the words “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency.
“I will not take God out of our platform. I will not take God off our coins. And I will not take God out of my heart,” he said.
Team Obama called the implied attack desperate, divisive, and “absurd,” with spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki quipping that Obama “believes as much that God should be taken off a coin as he does that aliens will attack Florida.”
Rubbing elbows with Pat Robertson? Wow.
(Source: theweek.com, via questionall)
(Source: stfueverything)
Of course there wouldn’t be a such thing as faith..it’s called ATHEISM.
The idea that faith trumps evidence…I can’t even begin to understand why that would make sense to people.
Because if everyone claps loud enough, Tinkerbell will come back to life.
(via skepticalavenger)
Those who grow up in an atheist household are least likely to maintain their beliefs about religion as adults, according to a study by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).
Only about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household remain atheists as adults. This “retention rate” was the lowest among the 20 separate categories in the study.I honestly find these results very surprising, the entire article is available at the link above.
I honestly wonder how much of that is due to social pressure, such as joining a church because one’s partner is part of the church.
I went to church up until I was about 12 or so, then my mother decided to let me make my own choice, she did the same with both of my brothers as well.
One of us joined a christian church after getting engaged to a member of the church, my other brother is agnostic, and I’m a complete skeptical non-believer but didn’t come to that until my early 30’s (I was pantheistic and then agnostic before that).
Again, it would be interesting to see the reasons behind atheists deciding to join a religion.
During a panel discussion at the SETIcon II conference in Santa Clara, Calif., over the weekend, scientists discussed the Big Bang and whether there was a requirement for some divine power to kick-start the Universe 13.75 billion years ago.
Unsurprisingly, the resounding answer was: No.
“The Big Bang could’ve occurred as a result of just the laws of physics being there,” said astrophysicist Alex Filippenko of the University of California, Berkeley. “With the laws of physics, you can get universes.”
I wonder if creationists know that there are two stories of creation in Genesis and that they completely contradict each other. From the get go, that’s not a good start, even for a holy book
I wonder if this dude knows that that is false.
In Genesis 1, God makes the Earth in 6 days, first creating light, then the sky, then the oceans, then land and plants, then the sun and the moon, then all other animals, and finally man and woman in his likeness. (Genesis 1:25-27).
In Genesis 2, God creates man before creating plants and animals and all other living things. Then he notices Adam needs “a helper” and creates woman out of his rib. (Genesis 2:18-22)
So it might seem like a small difference, but it’s pretty significant in the biblical schema of where man and woman fit into the world. In the first account, they’re equal creations; in the second, God clearly shows preference for man. In the first account, they are the last of his creations to rule over all other living things; in the second, animals are created to provide man (and not woman) with a helper.
Bible’d
But, but, but, these guys told me that the bible was the most historically accurate document ever in the history of all history ever!!!
If you ever expect a Cardinal to say anything logical you’ll be sadly disappointed.
(via lackofbelief)
If you have sex with your clone is it masturbation?
If you get a heart transplant is it cloning?
No, but Eve was made from Adam’s rib in the creation story, she didn’t get a “rib transplant”.
Eve wasn’t genetically identical to Adam, but if it must be so by virtue of a rib then a heart transplant would be like cloning.
1 - How do you know if Eve was genetically identical to Adam or not? It doesn’t say anything about that in the bible.
2 - The story says god took a rib and made Eve from it. He made an entire new person using material from the first person, it does not say he transplanted Adam’s rib into an already existing Eve.
3 - Even IF Adam and Eve were not genetically identical (which is not addressed in the creation story), all they had were sons, who did their sons have sex with to make more people?
