The Atheist Mama

During Richard Dawkins’ reading of The God Delusion at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, a member of the audience posed a very interesting question: in effect, he asked Dawkins what evidence he would need to conclude that God exists.

Regretfully, Dawkins went on to address another part of the audience member’s question, and never got around to answering it.

So I put it to you, all you atheists and agnostics, heathens and humanists, unbelievers, nonbelievers, and disbelievers:

What evidence would you need to conclude that God exists?

I’ll give you my answer in a future post.

–Allen

Very much by accident, I came across a rare television series about atheism, Jonathan Miller’s A Rough History of Disbelief, produced for BBC 4 in England. It’s a three-part program in which Miller explores the origins, development, and current implications of atheism through conversations with scientists, historians, writers, and philosophers. Miller himself is articulate and insightful, and his personal observations bind the series together in a very compelling way.

One minor criticism I have is the captioning; not only is it distracting, but often inaccurate. If you can get past that, however, it is an hour well-spent.

Part 2 can be found here, but part 3 seems to have disappeared since I first found it a month ago. This really is a shame; perhaps someone out there can make sure it finds its way back.

Enjoy!

Allen

It’s a bitter-sweet morning for this central Ohioan voter.

I am ashamed to admit that I voted Straight Democrat. Why is this embarrassing to me? Well as most of you know, I’m not a Democrat - I’m a Libertarian. I was quite happy with my Libertarian choice for governer - Bill Pierce. But I didn’t feel comfortable with the overwhelming possibility that the Republicans would remain in control. So I voted democrat, all the way across the board. I feel that I wasn’t true to my beliefs, but I’m satisfied with the outcome.

I am happy to say that I voted “NO” on all Ohio issues, but disappointed in the fact that several of them passed. “Smoke Free Ohio” is one of those issues. Of course, I also voted no on “Smoke Less Ohio” as well. I just don’t support a smoking ban. Period. But apparently most Ohioans do support the idea of the government making yet another law. So it goes.

I was also disappointed in the fact that Ohioans voted to “Raise the Wage.” I’m not a supportive of a minimum wage hike. I don’t think that it can do anything but harm the economy. Small businesses have a hard enough time making ends meet. Now they’ll have to pay employees more, and as a result some of them may end up unemployed. A better idea would be to fix the heath insurance issues! Bring the price down so that people can afford it and employer can afford to help their employees pay for it. Anyway, this is a whole different post.

The only issue that I was unsure of how to vote for was Ohio’s Learn and Earn. Learn and Earn? Ha…
Let’s just call it what it is - Gambling in Ohio. Anyway, I voted no, but I tossed that one around a bit. I don’t like the idea of telling people whether they can gamble or not. But that’s not what this is about. I guess I would just rather they not do it here. There are plenty of places in this country that allow gambling. I have no problem with that. I enjoy it myself occasionally. But is it really necessary here?

I am cautiously optimistic. I really hope that “the change” all of our democratic candidates were talking up is something that we will see. They need to show the American people that they made the right choices!!

Why didn’t Jesus write His own life story?

I mean, if we are to believe He is God, all-powerful and such, why couldn’t He be bothered to produce and preserve a clear, first-hand narrative and explanation about His life and message to humanity? Why, in His infinite wisdom, did He leave the details of the most significant event in the history of the world in the hands of fallible humans?

–Allen

The picture of Ted Haggard in the post below was just asking for it!!

But be warned, this picture isn’t very safe for work.

You know, this is just so big that I don’t even know what to say that hasn’t been said already. But I’ve come across some really great pieces written by others, so I’ll start there.

This one is from Secular Rebellion on Myspace. He listed this under “Parties and Nightlife” LMAO! I loved the title.

Evangelism is SUPER, thanks for asking!

It seems that no matter how many of these mega-church pastors and evangelists make grave and outright lies to their congregations… the sheep that are under their control just lie down and take it as some sort of a ..test of faith.. or ..the influence of Satan… Jim Bakker, David Koresh, Jim Jones, Robert Tilton and now Rev. Haggard are all cheats, liars, deviants and philanderers- yet somehow through their ..higher calling.. they are forgiven by the sheep which they lead.

This came from Gary Lenaire, also on Myspace. He posted this as a bulletin.

Please notice […] that Ted Haggard has been lying and then changing his story. He lied and said he DID NOT KNOW the gay escort Mike Jones. Once Haggard found out that Jones could prove his affiliation with Haggard, Haggard changed his story. Now, being forced to tell the truth, Haggard is saying that he does know Jones, paid him for a “massageâ€? and bought meth from him. Haggard is now saying that he didn’t have “sexâ€? with Jones and that he bought meth but “threw it awayâ€? without using it.

PLEASE NOTICE: Haggard knows that there may be no way for Jones to prove the sex acts or that he actually used the meth. It seems to me that becuase of that Haggard is again lying about the allegations that cannot be proven. I mean, he bought meth and threw it away? Received a “massage� from a gay escort but didn’t have sex? Yeah right.

He then listed a few quotes from articles that are floating around. I also want to mention that Gary Lenair recently wrote An Infidel Manifesto. It’s coming out on December 11th. Check it out!

Here’s my thought about the meth. Haggard says, “I was tempted but I never used it…”
He was tempted to buy and use meth?? I don’t know about you, but I don’t go around fighting my meth temptations. Let me be honest, I’ve done my fair share of experimenting. But the typical person doesn’t just jump into speed without some past drug use. I’m sure it happens, but if a person is tempted to use meth, odds are they smoke a little bit of pot, or do a little coke, before asking to get hooked up with a “$100 or $200 supply.”

But I must say, Haggard’s choice in male prostitutes is quite good! Mike Jones is a hottie! Check out those muscles. I’m sure he gives one hell of a “rub down.”

CP @ GifS

So check this out - I got an email this morning (a long with several others) with a subject that said there there was a new post at Multae Sententiae.

Here is the link:

www.multisententiae.blogpot.com

Thanks!

Marco

I thought that it was strange to get an email like this from Marco, but I followed the link anyway. I was confused when I arrived at the site. Take a look to see what I mean. I had to go back to the email and look at the link closely.

So of course, I had to do some investigation and I figured that I would post this public information here.

blogpot.com

Registrant:
Doug Powell (DME) use this one (BLOGPOT-COM-DOM)
PO Box 10142
St Petersburg, FL 33733
US
+1.7275428374
amazingbible@verizon.net

Domain Name: BLOGPOT.COM
Status: PROTECTED

Administrative Contact:
Doug Powell (DME) use this one amazingbible@verizon.net
PO Box 10142
St Petersburg, FL 33733
US
+1.7275428374

Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Doug Powell (DME) use this one amazingbible@verizon.net
PO Box 10142
St Petersburg, FL 33733
US
+1.7275428374

Record last updated on 22-Aug-2006.
Record expires on 30-Oct-2008.
Record created on 30-Oct-2002.

Domain servers in listed order:

Name Server: ns1.ebibleonline.com
Name Server: ns5.dnsmadeeasy.com
Name Server: ns6.dnsmadeeasy.com

Feel free to drop him a line!

Update:
I guess this guy has been around the block a few times.

By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard about the Ted Haggard/male prostitute scandal. What a scumbag.

The Rev. Ted Haggard stepped aside as senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church and resigned today as president of the National Association of Evangelicals amid allegations by a former gay male escort that the two had a three-year sexual relationship.

Here’s a short clip from Jesus Camp - Ted Haggard talks about homosexuality.

I was shocked at the number of emails and messages I got about hiding the zodiac on Myspace. Since the hack, I lost that file and the link that is out there was broken.

So here it is! Let me know if you run into any issues.