Evidence, Schmevidence

This was prompted by an exchange under my recent piece, Militancy. I get so sick of being promised evidence and given moonbeams, that I thought I'd write a little guide to anyone wanting to try to present me with evidence for their god's existence. Want to convert an ebil atheist to to Path Of Righteousness?™ Here's some major pitfalls to avoid.

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A Message For Bob Hutton

Bob.

As you've repeatedly ignored private requests to this effect, I'm going to say this publicly, in hopes that embarrassment might work where politeness has failed.

You have nothing more to say which might interest me. You do not attempt to engage, but rather prefer to spout meaningless platitudes and Biblical claptrap. You talk at people, not with them. Until you change this attitude, please do me the favour of—how can I say this politely?—fucking off, and stop using the private message form on my About page as a way to spam my personal email with links to your ill-thought-out and nonsensical blog posts.

Besides, it's already well-established that you're not really interested in saving anyone's putative soul. You merely like to spout off.

Do you really get so little traffic that you feel the need to resort to spamming folk's email? I suggest you stop a while and think about why that may be.
—Daz

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On Fundamentalism And Intellectualism

Some weeks ago, I posted a piece on what appears to be a growing trend of anti-intellectualism, which I rather (ahem) tactfully titled Is The USA On The Verge Of Becoming A Third-World Country? I've always felt a little uneasy about it, given that I could be seen as little more than an outsider taking a snide cheap shot, though that was never the intention.

Then I came across this gem by an American, Max Gross, who seems to feel much the same way, and also—damnit!—writes rather better than I do. If you have a few minutes, I heartily recommend it.
—Daz

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The Biblical Creationist’s Bong

Okay, so I was checking the site-stats and I misread the title of my article, The Biblical Creationist's Song. I only misread one letter, mind, but here's the result:

The biblical creationist's bong
Gives a smoke that is cool and strong.
It warps your brain
'Til you're nearly insane.
Common sense says 'good-bye, so long!'

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Doubt

Some leaping salmon. No, I'm not going to explain. Either you got it or you didn't.
[Image via Wikipedia]

I've written a few times, about faith and why it's a vice, not the virtue that religions promote it as (most notably here). I'd like to discuss the opposite now, Gentle Reader, and consider the idea that doubt is a virtue, rather than the vice which religion portrays it as. And I'll start with a short digression about the killjoy who 'tried to ban Christmas' and yada yada, Oliver Cromwell.

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Pea-Eating Infidels!

A quick question for those who think same-sex marriage is sinful and should be banned by law…

If I belonged to a religion which preached that eating peas on a Thursday is sinful, would you support my attempt to have the eating of peas on Thursdays made illegal?

No? Then you're a hypocrite.

Yes? Then you're either a liar or a fool.
—Daz

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Militancy

I blog on atheism.

This makes me a loudmouthed, militant, fundamentalist atheist, apparently.

In 'real life,' if asked my views on religion, I will give my view: that religion is based on an unevidenced—and in all likelihood unprovable—premise, that the promotion of faith in place of reason is inherently harmful and suchlike statements, depending how deep the conversation, if any, gets. If asked. I don't shout my disbelief on streetcorners, or hawk it door to door. I'm merely honest about my disbelief in gods if the topic arises.

This makes me a loudmouthed, militant, fundamentalist atheist, apparently.

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Initially Sceptical?

[Edit, 22^nd May: Since searches for "eugene cernan initials" and the like are still landing many visitors on this page, I should point out that the article below was based on a a misunderstanding by yours truly. The short of it is: yes he did do it. He mentions it in this article. For those interested in my view on the subject, I posted a more thoughtful piece on it a few days later.]

Since a couple of regular, completely unspammy comments got inexplicably marked as spam the other week, I've been checking my site stats a lot, even when I don't have time to reply to comments and so on, so as to catch such errors early. Which means that I notice a lot more, now, when a trend appears in search-terms that lead to a particular item. Which means that I spotted a weirdness which I shall now share with you, Gentle Reader.

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One Four Seven

I just noticed that my last post was number 146, which means—obviously—that this one is number 147; a number with a certain ring to it, in certain circles…

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No Sex Please; We’re Prudes

What the hell is it with religious folk and sex? Even many of those of the least fundamentalist religious persuasion still seem to have Views on promiscuity and the 'proper reasons' for having sex, though to be fair, with the milder sort it's more of a personal code, and they're quite happy to let others act according to their own views on the matter. Of course, the closer someone's belief approaches to fundamentalism, the more likely it is that they'll both judge others by that belief, and hold an equally strong belief that their religion-derived customs should be forced on others by law.

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