Fun with Tracts

Every now and then, I find a religious tract lying around… a movie theater, a restaurant, the top of a urinal at an all-inclusive resort in the Mexican Riviera (seriously). I always pick them up because they usually provide a fair amount of amusement. Chick Tracts are the most amusing with their over-the-top cartoons, but …

It’s all fun and games until…

My new favorite web comic is xkcd. It’s a sometimes geeky, almost always insightful, and always funny comic drawn with mostly stick figures by Randall Munroe, a CNU graduate with a degree in physics. Who knew physics geeks could be funny? So the comic below was just brought to my attention by a friend who’s …

Neil deGrasse Tyson on ID and Fine Tuning

I just came across this today. Neil deGrasse Tyson is speaking about intelligent design, including the “fine tuning” argument for the existence of God. He’s not so much debunking it as he is making fun of it. It’s been debunked by most rational people and the court system, so that would just be a rehash. …

Ray Comfort Responded Predictably

Ray Comfort has responded to the counter offer from Richard Dawkins regarding Comfort’s debate challenge. In a predictable statement, Comfort said… Richard Dawkins told a news reporter that he will debate me for $100,000 per hour. He is afraid, and he thinks he’s safe because I won’t pay that much money for an hour of …

Hope Springs Eternal

I mentioned earlier that Ray Comfort has challenged Richard Dawkins to a debate about the existence of God and why Evolution is scientific. Comfort was even offering to pony up $10,000 to Dawkins (or the charity of his choice) as an incentive. My hope was that Dawkins would refuse the offer with an appropriately scathing …

Attack and Defense

One annoyingly common accusation levelled against atheists is that they “preach” atheism with evangelical fervor and promote atheism in an attempt to rid the world of religion. There are various versions of this claim, but a common thread is an implication that atheists have suddenly decided to make their lack of belief known by attacking …

Dawkins vs. Comfort? I hope not.

It seems that the logic-challenged evangelist, Ray Comfort, has challenged Richard Dawkins to a debate about the existence of God and why evolution is scientific. Comfort is also “sweetening the offer” by offering $10,000 (win, lose, or draw) to Dawkins, either to him or to the charity of his choosing. From the article: “Sadly, I …

Hitting the Nail on the Head

Nicholas Gotelli, a professor of Biology at the University of Vermont, evidently received an invitation to debate someone from the Discovery Institute on evolutionary science and intelligent design. PZ Myers posted about it on Pharyngula, including the original invitation and the response from Professor Gotelli. It’s one of the best responses I’ve seen to the …

This is encouraging.

Here’s a short video of President Obama speaking about science and once again putting it at the top of our agenda as a nation. It’s so nice to hear a president speak about the importance of science with what seems to be at least some modicum of understanding of the scientific process and what it …

Freedom of Speech… for Everyone

I just read this piece by Ebomuse over at Daylight Atheism and was moved. Free speech needs to apply equally to everyone, regardless of religious, political, or ideological persuasion, and it seems that Islam, even more than Christianity, tries to curtail that freedom of expression when it comes to their religious views. Ebonmuse cites Johann …