Head-to-Head with Islamic “God did it” claims

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Right now I am having a semi-friendly “discussion” in a Facebook group with a bunch of rather committed Islamic folks. It’s their thing, they have this concept called Da‘wah. That literally means “issuing a summons” or “making an invitation”. If this is not something you are aware of, well think of it as being similar … Read more

Mr Stanley has a daft Telegraph article – In response I’d argue that secular morality is superior

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Tim Stanley writes in the UK’s Telegraph a rather strange religious blog posting entitled “Christianity is neither Left nor Right, but radical and daunting“. I guess this is perhaps the time of year when the religious go into overdrive … here are a few extracts with my thoughts (in red) … I’ve always found Easter … Read more

Gods as Topological Invariants

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A very interesting paper is available from the Cornell University Library entitled “Gods as Topological Invariants“. The abstract reads … We show that the number of gods in a universe must equal the Euler characteristics of its underlying manifold. By incorporating the classical cosmological argument for creation, this result builds a bridge between theology and … Read more

The word “Atheist” is a very odd word

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It strikes me that the word “Atheist” is indeed a rather odd word, because it is used to describe people who do not believe in something quite specific – the reality of a god or gods. There are of course various flavours, for example there is “Implicit and explicit” atheism to differentiate between those who have not … Read more

The ‘Smut for Smut’ Campaign Returns – Students offer to exchange a bible for some porn

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Last week, some students at the University of Texas at San Antonio ran their now-annual “Smut for Smut” campaign. The deal is that holy books could be exchanged for hard-core pornography. <you can insert your “???” comment here> Is this a joke? Nope, it is a real offer, so what is this all about? The … Read more

Bizarre News: Catholic Gay Porn slide show by priest

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There is a rather odd story in today’s Guardian about an Irish Priest who gave a rather surprising Powerpoint presentation to the parents of children in his care. It was supposed to be all about their upcoming first confessions. It all happened at St Mary’s Primary School in the Northern Ireland village of Pomeroy, County … Read more