The New Atheist

A New Religion for Tiger Woods?

2010-01-05T15:20:00.001-08:00

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The Best F**king News Team Ever - Tiger Woods' Faith

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Ruptured Capillaries, Jesus Style

2010-01-05T14:04:00.000-08:00

Via Friendly Atheist:

In New Mexico, Lizards Evolve "In a Blink of the Eye"

2010-01-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

A new headache for creationists. Well, not really, that would imply they think.

Via The New York Times:

The White Sands of New Mexico are a good place to study evolution in progress. One reason is that the terrain, gypsum dunes white as a sheet of paper, is so different from the surrounding area. Another is that the dunes formed only about 6,000 years ago.

“From an evolutionary perspective, that’s really the blink of an eye,” said Erica Bree Rosenblum, a professor at the University of Idaho who has been studying evolution at White Sands for much of the past decade. Her focus has been on three lizard species that elsewhere are dark skinned but in White Sands have each evolved a white-skinned variety that makes them hard to find. “It’s really obvious what’s happened,” Dr. Rosenblum said. “Everybody got white so that they could better escape from their predators.” It’s a great example of convergent evolution, of species independently acquiring the same traits.

Galaxies Seen in Toddler Universe

2010-01-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

Since light travels at a finite speed, it takes time for light travel large distances. So, when we look at distant objects in the universe, we are actually seeing light emitted from them a long time ago. We see them literally looking into the past.

Via MSNBC:

Astronomers on Tuesday released their most complete full-color picture of the early universe, gazing back as far as possible in time and distance. The photo shows galaxies with stars that are already hundreds of millions of years old, but with the unmistakable primordial signs of the first cluster of stars.

[...]

Astronomers said the image reveals galaxy shapes that appear increasingly chaotic at each earlier epoch, as galaxies grew through accretion, collisions and mergers. The galaxies range from mature spirals and ellipticals in the foreground to smaller, fainter, irregularly shaped galaxies, most of which are farther away and therefore existed farther back in time. These smaller galaxies are considered the building blocks of the larger galaxies we see today.

The full image shows about 7,500 galaxies across a slice of space that is equal to about a third of the diameter of the full moon, or 10 arcminutes. The foreground galaxies emitted their observed light about a billion years ago, while the farthest galaxies are seen as they appeared more than 13 billion years ago, roughly 650 million years after the big bang.

Brit Hume Says He Wasn't Proselytizing to Tiger Woods, Then Does it Again

2010-01-05T08:27:00.000-08:00

Could YOU be a GOP Presidential Candidate?

2010-01-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

Via Mad Atoms:

Click to enlargen.

Legos, Sharia Style

2010-01-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

Ha, I'm dating a girl named Ayesha! That better not be her!

Via Rabid Atheist:

Surprise, Atheist Nations are More Peaceful

2010-01-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

The production kind of sucks, but the message is what is important.

Via FFreeThinker:

A Colony in a Lunar Lava Tube?

2010-01-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

Man, I really want to live on the moon.

Via CNN:

Building a home near a moon crater or a lunar sea may sound nice, but moon colonists might have a much better chance of survival if they just lived in a hole.

[...]

More important, the scientists say, the hole is protected from the moon's harsh temperatures and meteorite strikes by a thin sheet of lava. That makes the tube a good candidate for further exploration or possible inhabitation, the article says.

"Lunar lava tubes are a potentially important location for a future lunar base, whether for local exploration and development, or as an outpost to serve exploration beyond the Moon," writes the team, led by Junichi Haruyama, a senior researcher with the Japanese space agency JAXA.

Fox "News" Tries to Convert Tigers Woods to Christianity

2010-01-04T08:27:00.001-08:00

Via Media Matters:

"The extent to which he can recover seems to me depends on his faith," Hume said. "He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger would, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

Watch it here:

Jesus also healed the sick, assholes.

Even God Himself Has Been Hit by the Foreclosure Crisis

2009-12-31T09:40:00.000-08:00

Rick Warren's OC mega-church is running out of money, and his messiah is predictably absent.

Via AZCentral:

LAKE FOREST, Calif. - Evangelical pastor Rick Warren appealed to parishioners at his Orange County megachurch Wednesday to help fill a $900,000 deficit by the first of the year.

Warren made the appeal in a letter posted on the Saddleback Church Web site. It begins "Dear Saddleback Family, THIS IS AN URGENT LETTER."

Not urgent enough for Christ, but what is? Well, besides appearing in various food stuffs that is. What does the omnipotent guy you've devoted your entire life to flattering owe you? Perhaps Warren should take a page from Oral Roberts’ playbook and claim God will kill him if he doesn't raise the money he needs. Go with what works, Rick.

Detroit Tigers to Catholics: Where’s Your Messiah Now?

2009-03-27T11:32:00.001-07:00

Surprise! Christian are Upset About Something Nobody Cares About...

For the last 30 years, the Detroit Tigers have had their season opener at 1 or 2pm eastern time. Given the climate of Detroit, it doesn’t make much sense at all to schedule a night game. This year is just like any other year and the Tigers kick off their 2009 season April 10th, at 1:05 eastern. This has lead to some controversy as Catholics claim they are insulted by the opening day tradition, as April 10th is Good Friday. But wait, the issue isn’t that it is Good Friday, but rather that its between the hours of 12-3pm. This is the time, allegedly, that Jesus hung from the cross. Never mind that if anyone actually was crucified on this day 2000 years ago, it wouldn’t have been on eastern standard time, so regardless the staunch believers still will have missed the so-called holy hours. Let me also say this: I was born and raised Roman Catholic, I went to Catholic school most of my life. I’ve been around for many Good Fridays, and I don’t ever remember observing holy hours. But to be fair to the Catholics, I knew it was all BS back then, so I didn’t pay any attention what-so-ever. Literally, I passed all my religion classes with two or three uniformed answers, “read the bible”, “pray for forgiveness/help/answers”, “attend mass weekly”. This is by no means an exaggeration. But, I am getting off topic.

"It's sort of an insult for Catholics," said Michael Ochab, who will miss the first opening day game in 20 years to observe his faith. Michael went on to say he would spend the time [watching] “the Passion of the Christ and eating Gordon’s Fish Sticks, not Tyson’s Fish Sticks because every good Catholic knows Tyson was a protestant heretic.” Ochab paused and reflected, “If there is any justice, Tyson is shoveling shit in hell, soon enough he will have Bud Selig for company. This is outrageous!”

Where is your Messiah Now?

2009-12-07T15:46:00.000-08:00

Flordia QB Tim Tebow sure loves him some Jesus. It is just too bad Jesus doesn't love him back.

Maybe Jesus is a 'Bama fan?

"For His Unceasing Advocacy on Behalf of Science"

2009-12-31T08:49:00.000-08:00

Foreign Policy Magizine has named its 2009 "Top 100 Global Thinkers". New atheist, scientist, lecturer, and author, Richard Dawkins is number 18. Thanks Alex!

Via Foreign Policy:

If you believe the human body is the design of an omnipotent god rather than a result of the perfectly imperfect way living beings reproduce, Dawkins -- a retired Oxford University professor who pens cleanly worded but never dumbed-down explanations of evolutionary biology -- has no time for you. "Evolution is a fact, and this book will demonstrate it," he writes in The Greatest Show on Earth, released this year for the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. "No reputable scientist disputes it and no unbiased reader will close the book doubting it."

With sharp prose and lucid thought, Dawkins demonstrates how the cudgels commonly taken up by the faithful to beat down evolution (gaps in the fossil record, for instance) are at best innocent misunderstandings and at worst willful attempts to mislead. Building upon arguments laid out in 2006's The God Delusion, he shows how religious argument sometimes perverts scientific truths -- making him the strongest, smartest advocate for Darwinism in our time.

Now, before you go thinking Foreign Policy magazine is the bee's knees (to use the parlance of our times), you should take note that il Papa, the ex-Hitler youth, is number 17. Assholes.

Clever "Sightings" Headline # 99834384

2009-12-31T08:30:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Mother of God.

State Religiosity

2009-12-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised to see Arizona so low.

Via Pharyngula:

Click to enlarge

Russia Thought Armageddon Was a Pretty Good Movie

2009-12-30T13:43:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot about Ben Affleck's existance, and I still don't think Liv Tyler is hot.

Via Yahoo News:

Russia's space agency chief said Wednesday a spacecraft may be dispatched to knock a large asteroid off course and reduce the chances of earth impact, even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely.

[...]

When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated its chances of smashing into Earth in its first flyby, in 2029, at 1-in-37.

Further studies have ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 18,300 miles (29,450 kilometers) from Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters.

NASA had put the chances that Apophis could hit Earth in 2036 as 1-in-45,000. In October, after researchers recalculated the asteroid's path, the agency changed its estimate to 1-in-250,000.

NASA said another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact.

Critical Thinking by Qualia Soup

2009-12-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

Theist Argument Bingo

2009-12-23T09:18:00.000-08:00

Via lol god

Reverend’s Wife Rapes Teen While He Watches

2009-12-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

And the Lord said “Go forth my sheep and be kinky pedos.”

Via True Crime Report:

The Rev. Jeff Kilburn seems to fancy himself as one of those hip ministers. In addition to being pastor of Believer's Ministries, he also ran the Clark HomePlace, which gave away food, helped the homeless, and was home to Kilburn Wildgrass, the good reverend's band...

But if you believe the cops in South Lebanon, Ohio, that coolness extended to taking liberties with a 15-year-old boy. According to both criminal and civil files, Jeff and his wife Alice Kilburn plied the boy with drink and drugs back in July, then Alice had her way with the juvenile [while the good reverend watched]. Jeff was accused of being an accessory to rape.

Natural, Jeff blamed his haterz.

Jeff Kilburn maintains his innocence, arguing that some people were jealous of his Godly work and started spreading unfounded rumors.

There has been a lot of "Black Collar Crime" lately, must be holiday stress.

Debating Female Genital Mutilation

2009-12-22T13:32:00.000-08:00

Some highlights:

It has been scientifically proven that all whores have been circumcised.

[...]

In Egypt we have four and a half millions spinsters. The definition of a spinster is a woman who has reached 30, without ever receiving a marriage proposal. We have a spinster problem in the Arab world, and the last thing we want is for them to be sexually aroused.

Virgin Mary Makes an Ironic Appearance

2009-12-17T09:12:00.000-08:00

Via lol god

Priest Tells Flock to Steal

2009-12-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

Hypocrisy abounds in Christianity, it is something we all know and expect. Even so-called moderates know it, arbitrarily choosing to take some biblical passages literally, while flat out ignoring others. But, a priest telling his church to steal raises the bar, if for no other reason than its blatancy. After all, “thou shall not have sex with children” didn’t make God’s top ten.

Via MSNBC:

"My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift," he told parishioners in the northern England city of York.

[…]

"I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices."

The bobbies weren’t impressed.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police described Jones' sermon as "highly irresponsible," while the British Retail Consortium also condemned the clergyman's views.

Saudi Arabia to Execute Foreigner for Sorcery

2009-12-21T14:43:00.000-08:00

The "Crime" That Earned a Death Sentence Didn't Even Happen in Saudi Arabia.

OMG, a religion of peace, cultural relativism, standard liberal/pseudo intellectual cliché #3!

Via NRP:

A Lebanese man who hosted a popular TV show where he gave callers advice and sometimes predicted the future was sentenced to death by a court in Saudi Arabia last month. His charge? Sorcery.

[...]

"They took him to prison," Khansa says, "and after that they took him to the court many times, asking him, you have to say that you have done something against religion, and after that we will release you and take you to your country."

The Saudi government then reneged on their promise to free the Lebanese national.

Sibat confessed to Saudi authorities that he consulted spirits to predict the future. But the authorities didn't release him. Instead, they brought him to a TV studio and told him to confess again. The conversation was broadcast on a Saudi program about religion.

"How do you rate yourself among magicians?" an interviewer asked Sibat.

"What?" said Sibat, clearly nervous. "I have failed. I confess in front of God."

Sibat was then tried in court, and the confession was used against him. He was sentenced to death on Nov. 9. Saudi justice officials would not respond to several requests for comment about his case.

Saudi Arabia sure hates Harry Potter.

Human rights groups say such cases are on the rise in the strictly religious country. Saudi officials have arrested Saudis and non-Saudis, Muslims and non-Muslims on sorcery charges.

In recent months, a Saudi man was arrested for smuggling a book about witchcraft into the country. An Asian man was accused of using his powers to solve marital disputes. And a third man was given a death sentence for trying to learn magic.

In 2007, Saudi authorities executed an Egyptian pharmacist for sorcery.

Pastor Sexually Assaulted Teen; Sexted Another

2009-12-21T13:54:00.000-08:00

Theism teaches us to question nothing, no matter how absurd.

Via Deep Thoughts:

Shane Garrett Horning, the 29-year-old former Santa Margarita Methodist Church youth pastor, was convicted today of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female parishioner and sending sexual text messages to her 15-year-old female relative.

The San Jose resident pleaded guilty to four felony counts of oral copulation with a minor for his crimes against the then-16-year-old and one felony count of attempted oral copulation of a minor under 16 for the messages to the then-15-year-old.

Youth pastor Shane “Horny” Horning work for Santa Margarita Methodist Church. There is no sign of him on the website. It is as if he never existed.

[...]

While working at the Santa Margarita church, he had the 16-year-old come to his home several times between January 2005 and September 2006 to orally copulate him. He was 25 at the time. The girl did not report the sexual assault until this year, when Horning, who left the church in 2006 and moved to San Jose, sent explicit sexual text messages to the 15-year-old female, who is related to the first girl. Included were graphic statements about oral copulation. The 16-year-old informed her parents about the previous sex assault and the new text messages, and the authorities were called.