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Cobourg Atheist - News and Resources from Canada
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Written by John Draper
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Friday, 27 August 2010 07:27 |
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As Sam Harris says, there is no word for not being an astrologer - so why is there a word for not being a theist? Labelling people who don't believe in something does not make them members of a religion. For atheism to be a religion, it would have to have some kind of philosophical position and some content - but it doesn't. And the word itself can be applied to almost everyone - all religious people are atheists about everyone else's god. I would go further than Harris and say that since almost everyone rejects parts of what their pastor, priest, imam says, then there are about as many religions and versions of god as there are people (see Custom religions).
Atheists are accused of being dogmatic and arrogant, just like religions are with their dogmas. But for an atheist to be accused of being dogmatic for calling the bible ridiculous is the pot calling the kettle black - any Christian would say Zeus is ridiculous . And "people of faith" claim humility while at the same time they claim to know more about cosmology, physics, chemistry and palaeontology than any scientist - talk about arrogance. I'd be more inclined to accept what people like Stephen Hawking say on Cosmology - he has never accepted creationism nor tried to reconcile his work with Genesis.
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Written by Bill Broderick
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Friday, 27 August 2010 07:21 |
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Most of us live in our own little world. Occupied as we are with our families, our friends, our jobs, our lives, we tend not to think very much about what is going on in the world at large. Some of us, of course, are in jobs that take us to other parts of the world, or we do volunteer work that may take us to other parts of the world. But in general, the great majority of human beings just try to live their lives the best they can and don't concern themselves very much with what goes on elsewhere.
A small few of us may remember that some years ago, in the late 1960s, there was a book with the title The Population Bomb, by Paul R. Ehrlich, that warned of mass starvation in the later decades of the twentieth century due to overpopulation. Ehrlich advocated immediate action to limit population growth. Another book around the same time, The Limits to Growth, also warned that there were limits to the number of human beings that the Earth could support.
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Written by John Draper
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Thursday, 26 August 2010 07:36 |
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A recent poll by Pew Forum shows that compared to 2005, the American public has a less favourable opinion of Muslims now – 30% favourable now compared to 41% favourable in 2005. Their view that Muslims are more prone to violence dropped slightly from 38% to 35%. However, 51% said the Islamic centre and mosque should not be built near the World trade Center compared to 34% who think it should be allowed. Attitudes to Muslims depend on your age and political views. The older (and I say wiser!) you are, the less favourable; 41% of democrats view Muslims favourably but only 21% of republicans.
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Written by John Draper
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Wednesday, 25 August 2010 06:44 |
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It's hard for me to believe, but there are actually people who think that God created the world 6400 years ago - "Just like the Bible says". Further, they believe that there really was a flood that covered the whole world. (Where did the water come from? Or did God shrink the mountains for a while?) Further, Noah built an ark to save all the animals! (Did he travel to Australia to collect the kangaroos?)
Maybe I'm too isolated here in Canada and I don't talk to people like this. Mostly I think that this is funny - but I suppose people living in the Bible Belt think it's serious - these people really do exist.
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Written by John Draper
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Tuesday, 24 August 2010 07:12 |
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There have been several honour killings over the past few years in Canada with the worst one involving four murders at once in Kingston. But can we blame the religion of the murderers for their crime? People in other countries and other cultures believe things that are more characteristic of any human than religion as such. Many cultures, especially macho Latin cultures place a high value on keeping face and even WASP Canadians will refuse to admit an error to avoid having to "eat crow". So if a common human attribute is "saving face" or wanting to preserve one's honour, how is that different to an honour killing? The obvious answer is that keeping quiet or bragging is quite different to killing someone - especially someone in one's own family.
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Written by Larry R. Lawson
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Monday, 23 August 2010 07:08 |
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Reading, in recent weeks, some very interesting blogs on atheist sites and the comments that get written on these blogs, one thing has gradually been borne in upon me. Odd as it may seem, I'm becoming convinced that those who claim to be religious "believers", do not, in fact believe what they say they believe. They do not believe in a god.
Many of them show little or no signs of having any clear idea just what it is they do believe; each indicating a different, sometimes much different, concept of a "god". Since their idea of what and who their god is, is the basis for their other ideas about religion and faith, it is not at all surprising that those other ideas will also show a marked difference from person to person and from church to church when their very concept of god is different.
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Written by Salim Mansur
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Sunday, 22 August 2010 07:08 |
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A grasp of this elementary fact could provide a better understanding for, and empathy with, a small country besieged by hostile powers on its borders.
Yet this fact often escapes people living in countries of continental dimensions with large spaces empty of inhabitants — as in Canada, the U.S., Russia, Australia and the E.U. — and they may, ironically at times, display a chauvinism reflecting the size of their country.
The fact of how small Israel is territorially, and how this fact deepens its sense of vulnerability, weighs down upon anyone who visits the country.
As I write sitting at a cafe on Tel Aviv’s waterfront, I remember how this city and Haifa to the north were targets of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf War.
Israel is merely a dot relative to the Arab world, and yet made responsible, in the logic of the anti-Zionist bigots, for the problems of the Middle East and the inability of the Arab-Muslim culture to deal with the challenges of the modern world.
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Copyright © 2010 Cobourg Atheist. All Rights Reserved.
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News Update
Sept 8, 2010
1. I just received my copy of the new book by Stephen Hawking that everyone is talking about - I'm a slow reader so it will be a while before I comment on it!
2. The Koran burning planned in Florida by the nutty pastor is in the same boat as the mosque at ground zero - both legal but both are stupid deliberate antagonizing of the religion you don't happen to believe in.
Quote of the Day
A quote from Catch-22 by Joesph Heller - from the web site Unreasonable Faith "And don't tell me God works in mysterious ways,"..... Why in the world did He ever create pain?... What a colossal, immortal blunderer!... His sheer incompetence is almost staggering" and lots more - here. Priceless! |
A Recent Poll
Attitudes to Religions - Time
Aug 19, 2010
Americans unfavourable towards:
| Muslims |
43% |
| Mormons |
29% |
| Catholics |
17% |
| Jews |
13% |
| Protestants |
13% |
Support "gound zero" mosque?
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