Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins discuss
Who Says Science has Nothing to Say About Morality?
Taped at
The Sheldonian Theatre
University of Oxford
04.12.2011
Who Says Science has Nothing to Say About Morality?
5
Category Archives: Education
New York Times reports on Catholic Charities pull-out [no pun intended] in Illinois
For the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, the outcome is a prime example of what they see as an escalating campaign by the government to trample on their religious freedom while expanding the rights of gay people. The idea that religious Americans are now the victims of government-backed persecution is now a frequent theme not just for Catholic bishops, but also for Republican presidential candidates and conservative evangelicals. . .
But now most of the Catholic Charities affiliates in Illinois are closing down rather than comply with a new requirement that says they can no longer receive state money if they turn away same-sex couples as potential foster care and adoptive parents. . .
Society is evolving, but the Catholic Church is refusing to evolve with it. These states have chosen to recognize some of the basic civil rights of their LGBT citizens. They have also decided it is not legal or appropriate for a state to be funding discrimination against them.
But I heard a voice tell me to kill my sons
Source: Whoa or No
Religion vs IQ, The Numbers Don’t Look Good
Pope says: Be stupid
The pope said more in his homily than “look behind the pretty sparkly glitter.” He said . . .
Anyone wishing to enter the place of Jesus’ birth has to bend down. It seems to me that a deeper truth is revealed here, which should touch our hearts on this holy night: if we want to find the God who appeared as a child, then we must dismount from the high horse of our “enlightened” reason. . .
There’s the voice of the cleric telling you to ditch the best thing about you so that you can be stupid and ignorant so that he can go on wearing expensive robes.
No we must not, you evil bastard.
Book Review: Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights, 1750-1790
The great names one learns at school — Voltaire and Rousseau, Newton and Locke, Leibniz and Kant — turn out never to have been willing or able to think themselves through to the new. Israel’s real heroes were hard-nosed atheists, materialists and revolutionaries who brooked no compromise with the status quo.
Israel traces the lineage of this Radical Enlightenment to Baruch Spinoza, the 17th-century philosopher who serves here as the father of all atheists and “one substance” materialists who rejected the suspiciously spiritualist dualism of mind and body. Spinoza was certainly a radical critic of Scripture, who denied miracles and seemed to equate “God” with nature.
Have a Godless New Year: Atheist New Year Resolutions
. . . There are good reasons to think that making a conscious effort to be open and deliberate in your godlessness would be better for you and those around you. So perhaps it’s worth considering some new year’s resolutions related to being atheist, secular, and godless today.
Young Goethe in Love: In fact, just another love story
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832), poet, novelist, dramatist, philosopher, naturalist and physicist, was a towering figure in German and world culture. . .
In the film’s production notes, [German filmmaker Philipp] Stölzl writes: “Goethe is Germany’s most famous and important poet and philosopher, yet there has never been a relevant feature film about this extraordinary personality. There’s a reason for this, too: Goethe could do everything and was everything! He was handsome, came from a wealthy family, wrote successful novels, theater plays and poems, was an accomplished horseback rider and fencer, invented roller skates and discovered the pharyngeal bone, and he was a natural scientist, privy councilor, traveler, artist, minister, lawyer, and much, much more—all in all, a universal genius and thus a completely non-dramatic character for a feature film.”
Quote: Al Stefanelli
Al Stefanelli
Author, Journalist, Outspoken Atheist,
Blog, “A Voice Of Reason In An Unreasonable World”
Reason is to examine a statement, ponder the validity of it, consider the source of it, question the authority of it, search for the truth behind it and make an intelligent assessment of it.
The Reason for the Season — and It’s Not Jesus
Dec[ember] 25 is not [Jesus’ — or Joshua’s for those people who like to be historically correct] birthday. Biblical scholars have debunked the blind belief that Jesus was born on Dec. 25 time and time again. Instead, through scientific, historical and astrological calculations, they’ve pinpointed September of the year 3 B.C. as a more accurate date. . .
Many people are familiar with the Winter Solstice, and for those who are not, it’s when the sun reaches its lowest point in the sky on Dec. 21, actually appearing to stop moving for three days, then rising again on Dec. 25. With just a cursory examination, one can understand that the “Birth of the Son” is actually the “Return of the Sun.”
Always Question Authority 