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Shermer prefaces Why People Believe Weird Things with a brief anecdotal tour of his pseudoscientific and mystic encounters along with an introduction of what his book will entail. Science and skepticism is defined, not as an object, but as a process of discovering provisional and tentative truth. Science and pseudoscience is contrasted by their methods of change and manner in which ideas are supported. Ubiquitous logical fallacies and problems in pseudoscience are presented and defined.
Pseudoscientific concepts and superstitions are exposed as products of natural phenomena, chance, group think, and dogmatism. Near death experiences, alien encounters, and cult-like behavior are among the issues explored. The evolution and Creation controversy is given attention, not as scientific rivals, but as different modalities in supporting conclusions. The remarkable paralells drawn between Creationism and holocaust denial offer an avenue for a transition to the next section of the book.
Shermer investigates holocaust denial and describes the differences between history and pseudohistory. Photographic and documental evidence is provided within the book to serve as powerful evidence, in conjunction with the historical narratives and statistics, to support the notion that the holocaust happened as reported. Shermer's book closes with a discussion on how even highly intelligent individuals can still fall prey to irrational thinking; yet he provides an optimistic conclusion that hope can be channeled with reason to provide a better future.
One of the main strengths of Why People Believe Weird Things is that it can be digested by a wide audience, spanning from the layperson to the scholar. Shermer clears up misunderstandings concerning the naive opinions about science and history, as well as the misconceptions skeptics may possess about proponents for pseudoscientific and pseudohistoric claims. His non-confrontational but intellectually honest approach to many of these issues is likely to appeal to both the skeptic and believer. The book's greatest strength lies in the unbiased and rational assessment of differing convictions.
Conversely, the book's greatest weakness is that it primarily answers the "what" and not the "why" of weird beliefs, with the exception of the beginning and the end. An initial glance at the title might presuppose one to assume that a comprehensive psychological or sociological evaluation will be presented, when this is not the case. Shermer provides sufficient, but not an in depth, analysis of why people believe in weird things. Depending on one's expectations, this book may fall within the range of moderate to excellent.
Overall, one would be remised if they did not read this book and gain from its enlightening and informative content. I consider Why People Believe Weird Things to be such a triumph, that it is the closest possible text to serve as a skeptic's manual.
 Fighting for the Rights of the Non-Religious Submitted by admin on 23 November, 2007 - 13:04. IHN 2007.3 November | Separation of religion & state | International Humanist News
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) annual meeting on democratic institutions and human rights, held in Warsaw in September 2007, started with sessions on tolerance and freedom of religion and belief.. There were many contributors speaking on behalf of religious organisations, but the interests of the non-religious were represented only by the European Humanist Federation (EHF) and the British Humanist Association (BHA). Strenuous efforts are now being made by religious leaders at the international level to attack secularism and to protect religions against so-called “defamation”. No satisfactory definition of “defamation of religion” has been advanced, but secularists fear that this is simply an attempt to limit the right to criticise religion and abuses carried out or justified in its name. Although the initiative for this attack on free speech originated with Muslim leaders and groups, who coined the term“Islamophobia”, the Roman Catholic Church and other churches in Europe have leapt enthusiastically onto the bandwagon with accusations of “Christianophobia”. Religious groups, which already have privileged positions, and some of which vigorously suppress opposition when they are in positions of power, are now trying to cast themselves as victims. For example, the OSCE meeting heard the following contribution from Vatican representative, Monsignor Anthony R. Frontiero: Demonizing Christianity, or deliberately mocking and undermining central tenets of the Christian faith as a means to promoting the rights of other groups is a clear and flagrant contradiction to the religious freedom and mutual respect that all people should enjoy, not to mention to the work of building a more just and peaceful community. Such practices must be seen for what they are: a subversive attempt to dismantle the progress made thus far in the promotion of tolerance and non-discrimination. This resembles some of the comments we have seen in the wake of the Danish, and now Swedish, cartoons of Muhammad. Yes, they argue, of course free speech must be upheld, but it must not go so far as to offend the sensibilities of religious believers. If it does, it is an attack on the human right of freedom of religion! “Respect” must be automatically accorded to religious beliefs and believers. In fact, away from the rarefied atmosphere of international conferences, religious leaders are often anything but respectful towards other religions. (This is hardly surprising in view of their conflicting doctrines.) An extreme example is found in Saudi Arabia, where no religion other than Islam is allowed to be preached or practised. And freedom of religion has little meaning in countries that still maintain a law against blasphemy or even apostasy. When it comes to atheists, agnostics and Humanists, almost no holds are barred. At the OSCE Conference, Vera Pegna of the EHF called attention to the fact that hate crimes were always preceded by hate language which, in turn, preceded and fed prejudice and stereotypes. The widespread use of hate language and stereotypes against Jews in Europe had justified centuries of persecution and made the Holocaust possible. A similar smear campaign against the non-religious had been going on for over 20 centuries and was still current. In a submission on behalf of the BHA, Hanne Stinson also took up this theme, referring to the Catholic Catechism and to the rhetoric and death threats emanating from some Muslim groups, in particular against apostates. She also instanced the many well-respected and moderate religious leaders who regularly declared that there could be no morality without religion, or who linked secularism with Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot. Hanne pointed out that, in work of the OSCE and many countries on social cohesion and inclusion, the focus tended to be on faith, faith communities, and faith leaders (who were rarely truly representative of the people they claimed to represent), and on interfaith and multi-faith considerations. We certainly had a multicultural society, and a pluralist society, but our society did not only include a variety of different faiths, but also a large number of people with non-religious beliefs. If we wished to work on social cohesion and address exclusion, hatred and hate crime, we needed to involve the whole community, not just the religious. David Pollock of the EHF made a similar point in his submission, which is reproduced as one of the succeeding articles. Diana Brown is the current editor of International Humanist News
Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious
Animal. He is the only animal that has the
True Religion—several of them. He is the
only animal that loves his neighbor as
himself and cuts his throat if his
theology isn’t straight.
~ Mark Twain
Those who can make you believe absurdities
can make you commit atrocities.
~ Voltaire Tentmaker Men never do evil so completely
and cheerfully as when they do it
with religious conviction.
~ Blaise Pascal
Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst.
~ C.S. Lewis
"As part of a two-month protest campaign, the Catholic League has called for a boycott of the film. They believe that while the religious elements of the film will be "watered down" from the source novels, it will still encourage children to read the series, which League president William A. Donohue says "denigrates Christianity" and promotes "atheism for kids", citing author Pullman as saying that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."  " The Golden Compass is a forthcoming fantasy film based upon Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in the US), the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, slated for release on December 7, 2007 by New Line Cinema." Watch the trailers ..."In October 2007, the Catholic League called for a boycott of the film. Several key themes of the novels, the rejection of organized religion and the abuse of power in a fictionalized Catholic Church, are to be diluted in the adaptation. Director Weitz said "in the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots" but that the organization portrayed in his film would not directly match that of Pullman's books. In an attempt to avoid a religious backlash, the Magisterium will instead be a critique of all dogmatic organizations. Weitz said that New Line Cinema had feared the story's anti-religious themes would make the film financially unviable in the US, and so religion and God will not be referenced directly."
Gone From My Sight
by Henry Van Dyke
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"
Gone where?
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"
And that is dying...
 Conservative War on Good Education October 29, 2007 by Neal McCluskey Neal McCluskey is a policy analyst at Cato's Center for Educational Freedom, and author of Feds in the Classroom: How Big Government Corrupts, Cripples, and Compromises American Education. Last month we marked one year since the U.S. Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education released a report castigating America's ivory tower and setting out a "national strategy" to overhaul it. Also in September, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI)—a conservative higher education watchdog—throttled some of America's best universities for their performance on a test that seemed designed to fail them. And in Congress right now, many Republicans are pushing for bill that would publicly shame colleges that raise their prices too fast. Conservatives, it appears, are at war with the one system of American education that actually works. Let's start with ISI. This is the second year that it has given a U.S. history test to freshman and seniors at a sampling of American colleges and universities, and the results, by ISI's account, were both abysmal overall, and worst at prestigious institutions. Read more... Submitted by Prof. D. Showley
 Democrats are trying to find a way to end the occupation of Iraq, but George Bush wants to keep the occupation going... forever. That's why it's essential for all of us to see No End in Sight, a remarkable and powerful film that will give you the facts you need to demolish Bush's latest lies.  Watch the TrailerRecently in Salon, noted correspondent Sidney Blumenthal wrote that the film 'No End In Sight' "has the White House spooked" by the prospect of former high level officials like Colin Powell being inspired by the insiders in the film to speak out against the shortsightedness of the disastrous Iraq policy, destroying the last vestiges of the administration's credibility.
Time Magazine has called the film "Without a doubt the most important film you are likely to see this year," and it is possibly the best reviewed film of the entire year, as you can see from the selection of critic quotes below. The film is playing in theatres in most major cities nationwide. For a list of dates and locations, visit www.noendinsightmovie.com. If you care about where we're headed as a country, you owe it to yourself to see, what the NY Times calls, "an absolutely vital" film. "PREPARE TO BE RIVETED. NO END IN SIGHT IS WITHOUT QUESTION THE MOST IMPORTANT MOVIE YOU ARE LIKELY TO SEE THIS YEAR." - Richard Schickel,Time "THIS POWERHOUSE OF A MOVIE SHOULD BE REQUIRED VIEWING FOR EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS. Lucid, without partisan rhetoric, and not to be missed." -David Ansen, Newsweek "**** STAGGERING! A DAMNING POLITICAL THRILLER." - Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
October 24, 1809 “The assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence. But this is a rash argument, as we should thus be compelled to believe in the existence of many cruel and malignant spirits, only a little more powerful than man; for the belief in them is far more general than in a beneficent deity.” Wikipedia
November 9-11
New York Academy of Sciences overlooking
the World Trade Center Memorial  Join Christopher Hitchens, Alan Dershowitz, Peter Singer, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ann Druyan, Wendy Kaminer, an unannounced Very Special Guest, and many others for this historic event.
Themes will include: - The Age of American Unreason
- The Next Islamic Enlightenment
- Science and the Public
- Student Freethinkers Speak Out
- Secularism through History: from Spinoza to JFK
- VIP Reception and Awards Presentation (with the International Academy of Humanism)
A Time of Challenge and Opportunity The world is finally waking up to the dangers of religious faith. Books defending reason and religious skepticism top the bestseller lists. Secular Muslims are standing up for freedom of thought. The secular perspective has finally gained currency in the media and in cross-cultural dialogue. Young freethinkers and secularists are organizing and speaking out on campuses, ready to carry the torch of secularism into the new millennium. Yet religious fervor in the United States and abroad remains at an all-time high. Science education suffers from the constant onslaught of creationist activists. Democratic politicians have joined Republicans in pandering to religious prejudices. The American courts are stacked with judges who openly denigrate the nation’s vital and historic separation of church and state. Islamic radicalism is on the rise in Europe as well as in the Middle East. In many ways, societies the world over face the ominous threat of de-secularization. How do we seize this moment of opportunity to address secularism’s many challenges? How can secularists build a lasting movement? What political and rhetorical strategies should the reality-based community employ? Does vocal criticism of religion help or hinder the cause of secularism? Hear the thoughts of the world’s leading minds on these and many other questions. Be a part of this historic event. Register today!
Freedom From Religion Foundation co-presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor after the unveiling of the Foundation's new billboard in early October in Madison, Wis. FFRF Puts Up Its First-Ever Nontheistic Billboard! The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is the nation's largest association of atheists and agnostics, is unveiling what is believed to be one of the first nontheistic billboards erected in Madison, Wis. The whimsical full-color 48-foot billboard mimics a stained-glass window and warns, "Beware of Dogma." "We are launching a campaign to place freethought billboards up around the country, wherever an irreverent billboard is needed--which is practically everywhere!" says Annie Laurie Gaylor, Foundation spokeswoman. "We don't go to Mass, but we can go to the masses," adds Dan Barker, Foundation co-president. "We think it is time for the rest of us to use the mass media to counter the ubiquity of religious messages on roadsides everywhere!" (Madison, Wis., locals can look for it on the feeder road off the West Beltline next to Culver's Restaurant, facing west, Oct. 2-16, 2007.) The Foundation will be erecting another billboard to greet attendees of its 30th national convention, meeting on Oct. 12-13 in Madison. A smaller billboard on East Johnson Street by Fordem Avenue (passed by nearly everyone coming in from the airport) will carry the "Beware of Dogma" message on one side, while the other side will sport the stained-glass motif and the words "Imagine No Religion."
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 Anthony M. Stevens-ArroyoDirector, Research Center for Religion in Society and Culture Religious Utopias Gone Amuck “No” the problems of 2007 in the Middle East are not based on religion; rather, these are the results of bad politics. Doubters will howl in protest at my answer, but then some people still believe that the Protestant Reformation was mainly a religious event and not a wrenching sociological change in 15th century Europe. Read more ...
Born on this day in 1795 ... "a path-blazer of unparalleled brilliance." 
“. . . so far from entrenching human conduct within the gentle barriers of peace and love, religion has ever been, and now is, the deepest source of contentions, wars, persecutions for conscience sake, angry words, angry feelings, backbitings, slanders, suspicions, false judgments, evil interpretations, unwise, unjust, injurious, inconsistent actions. . . .”
In America, Nonbelievers Find Strength in Numbers
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 15, 2007; Page A14 A legion of the godless is rising up against the forces of religiosity in American society. "People who were ashamed to say there is no God now say, 'Wow, there are others out there who think like me, and it feels damned good,' " said Margaret Downey, president of the Atheist Alliance International, whose membership has almost doubled in the past year to 5,200. It has a 500-person waiting list for its convention in Crystal City later this month.
David R. Koepsell
Associate Editor of Free Inquiry"The Council for Secular Humanism, its spokespersons, and Free Inquiry's editors and authors are often forced to respond to theists enraged over court decisions and legislation that aim to ensure the separation of church and state. Consistently, we have sought to uphold the establishment clause of the First Amendment in its most literal sense. Our arguments in favor of the clear separation of church and state are based upon sound constitutional and historical grounds. The opponents of separation have often focused on two claims: (1) that the United States is a "Christian nation" because it was "founded by Christians" and (2) that the United States is a Christian nation because its civil and criminal laws are "Judeo-Christian in origin." Both claims are illogical and historically inaccurate. Our Constitution only refers to religion where it seeks to actively exclude it from the government. The secular nature of the United States is clear. Continue ... David R. Koepsell is the executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism and an associate editor of Free Inquiry. This Op-Ed is from Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 25, Number 3.
FAITH 2008 "Will faith play the role in the 2008 election that it did in 2004? How will candidates articulate their personal beliefs? How will they relate them to public policy issues ranging from education and social policy to terrorism and the war in Iraq?
"The Faith 2008 database is designed to address these questions. It tracks references to religion in the speeches and statements of the major candidates of both parties. Users can filter results by party and topic, compare statements across candidates, and explore the evolution of controversies over time. "The database is now in a start-up phase." "Faith and..." topics: Church/State, Education, Foreign Affairs, Morality, Social Policy, Tolerance Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
 "It might seem obvious to you that contractual societies are good, modern, creative and free, whereas beehive societies reek of feudalism, fascism, and patriarchy. And, as a secular liberal I agree that contractual societies such as those of Western Europe offer the best hope for living peacefully together in our increasingly diverse modern nations (although it remains to be seen if Europe can solve its current diversity problems).  MORAL PSYCHOLOGY AND THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF RELIGION By Jonathan Haidt, author of
The Happiness Factor: Finding
Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom "I just want to make one point, however, that should give contractualists pause: surveys have long shown that religious believers in the United States are happier, healthier, longer-lived, and more generous to charity and to each other than are secular people." Full article JONATHAN HAIDT is Associate Professor in the Social Psychology area of the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia, where he does research on morality and emotion, and how they vary across cultures.
 On "Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion" By Jonathaaidt
David Sloan Wilson, Michael Shermer, Sam Harris, PZ Myers
DAVID SLOAN WILSON: Alas, even the best minds can fall under the spell of a cherished cause, and so it is with the new atheists. Jonathan Haidt's article has special force because he is a scientist at the forefront of the study of morality and religion. His critique therefore represents the scientific process in action—scientists holding each other accountable for their factual claims. [...more] MICHAEL SHERMER: Although I have been actively (and emotionally) involved in combating some of these religious intrusions into social life (e.g., the teaching of intelligent design creationism in public school science classes), I find myself in agreement with Haidt in his conclusion that "every longstanding ideology and way of life contains some wisdom, some insights into ways of suppressing selfishness, enhancing cooperation, and ultimately enhancing human flourishing."[...more] SAM HARRIS: The point is that religion remains the only mode of discourse that encourages grown men and women to pretend to know things they manifestly do not (and cannot) know. If ever there were an attitude at odds with science, this is it. And the faithful are encouraged to keep shouldering this unwieldy burden of falsehood and self-deception by everyone they meet—by their coreligionists, of course, and by people of differing faith, and now, with startling frequency, by scientists who claim to have no faith. [...more] PZ MYERS: I entirely agree with Haidt that many religious people are good people, that religion has incorporated moral systems that contribute to people's well-being, and that there are kernels of wisdom in religious thought. Where I disagree is that I see the superstition and dogma and error of religion as separable from those desirable elements — that religion is not synonymous with morality and is actually an unfortunate excrescence of the human condition that does not have to be and should not be respected. [...more] **Thanks to Prof. D. Showley for bringing this article to my attention.
Quote of the Day: Ronald Reagan on Dubya
'A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.'
~ From the just published REAGAN DIARIES. The entry is dated May 17, 1986.
**Contributed by my friend Prof. D. Showley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ I did not vote for George Bush either time. ~ BlogHer
 "At the end of the day, if there was indeed some Body or presence standing there to judge me, I hoped I would be judged on whether I had lived a true life, not on whether I believed in a certain book, or whether I'd been baptized. If there was indeed a God at the end of my days, I hoped he didn't say, "But you were never a Christian, so you're going the other way from heaven." If so, I was going to reply, "You know what? You're right. Fine." Wikipedia "If there was a god, I'd still have both nuts."Wikiquote, ET Magazine 2004 Wikipedia, Consequences of Cancer flickr photo
New York Times book review of THE STILLBORN GOD: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West. This Review, titled, “The Political and the Divine” by REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN, September 16, 2007, " indicates that this might be an interesting work for those asking the question: Why are religions and gods still playing significant roles in our cultures, politics, and philosophies?" **Excerpts from Ms. Goldstein’s review in the NYTimes: "Some of us have been taking the European Enlightenment a little bit for granted. We’ve assumed that, just as natural philosophers like Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler ultimately prevailed in overturning the geocentric model of Ptolemaic cosmology, so, too, moral philosophers like Hobbes, Spinoza and Locke ultimately prevailed in removing ideas of divine revelation and redemption from politics. Progress in both spheres, the scientific and the political, was not only analogous and linked, but also, in some sense, inevitable, at least once rigorous standards of clear thinking were adopted. Let people freely and rationally pursue physics, and eventually they’d draw the conclusion that the Earth moves. Let people freely and rationally think about how best to organize human society — with a view toward diminishing turmoil and augmenting the realization of individual potential — and eventually they’d separate church and state. We’ve assumed the matter has been thankfully settled, at least in the Western intellectual tradition. No wonder, then, that recent years have brought a spate of incredulous “neo-Enlightenment” books — along the lines of Christopher Hitchens’s “God Is Not Great” — all of them barely able to contain their dismay that they even have to be arguing what it is they are arguing." "The sophisticated story that Mark Lilla, a professor of the humanities at Columbia University, presents in “The Stillborn God” adds nuance and complexity to the intellectual account we tell about the West’s thinking on religion and politics, and how it managed to separate (sort of) the one from the other. Lilla wants to challenge the view that the “Great Separation” — the prying apart of political theories from theology — was analogous to, say, the Copernican Revolution, that it constituted a discovery at which those thinking well would eventually arrive and that, once discovered, was secured in intellectual history’s linear progress." "In Lilla’s telling there was, first of all, nothing inevitable about the Great Separation. In fact, it is political theology that comes most naturally to us: “When looking to explain the conditions of political life and political judgment, the unconstrained mind seems compelled to travel up and out: up toward those things that transcend human existence, and outward to encompass the whole of that existence. ... The urge to connect is not an atavism.”" **Thanks to my friend, Prof. D. Showley, for his words and bringing this article to my attention. Mark Lilla at Wikipedia
 January 2, 1920 ~ April 6, 1992**I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so we suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.
~ Isaac Asimov, in "Free Inquiry," Spring 1982, vol.2 no2, p. 9 If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul.
~ Isaac Asimov, I Asimov: A Memoir
Intellectual positions
"Isaac Asimov was a Humanist and a rationalist.[6] He did not oppose religious conviction in others, but he frequently railed against superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs that tried to pass themselves off as genuine science. During his childhood, his father and mother observed Orthodox Jewish traditions, though not as stringently as they had in Petrovichi, and they did not force these beliefs upon young Isaac. Thus he grew up without strong religious influences, coming to believe that the Bible represented Hebrew mythology in the same way that the Iliad recorded Greek mythology. (For a brief while his father worked in the local synagogue to enjoy the familiar surroundings and "shine as a learned scholar" versed in the sacred writings. This experience had little effect upon Isaac beyond teaching him the Hebrew alphabet.) For many years, Asimov called himself an atheist, though he felt the term was somewhat inadequate, describing more what he did not believe than what he did. Later, he found the term "humanist" a useful substitute. "In his last autobiographical book, Asimov wrote, "If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul." The same memoir states his belief that Hell is "the drooling dream of a sadist" crudely affixed to an all-merciful God; if even human governments were willing to curtail cruel and unusual punishments, wondered Asimov, why would punishment in the afterlife not be restricted to a limited term? Asimov rejected the idea that a human belief or action could merit infinite punishment. If an afterlife of just deserts existed, he claimed, the longest and most severe punishment would be reserved for those who "slandered God by inventing Hell". As his Treasury of Humor and Asimov Laughs Again record, he was amply willing to tell jokes involving the Judeo-Christian God, Satan, Garden of Eden, and other religious topics, expressing the viewpoint that a good joke can do more to provoke thought than hours of philosophical discussion. "Asimov became a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party during the New Deal and remained a political liberal ever after. He was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, and in a television interview in the early 1970s he publicly endorsed George McGovern. He was unhappy at what he saw as an irrationalist track taken by many liberal political activists from the late 1960s onwards. In his autobiography In Joy Still Felt, he recalls meeting the counterculture figure Abbie Hoffman; Asimov's impression was that the 1960s' counterculture heroes had ridden an emotional wave which, in the end, left them stranded in a "no-man's land of the spirit" from which he wondered if they would ever return. (This attitude is echoed by The Wave Speech in Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.) His defense of civil applications of nuclear power even after the Three Mile Island incident damaged his relations with some of his fellow liberals. In a letter reprinted in Yours, Isaac Asimov, he states that though he would prefer living in "no danger whatsoever" than near a nuclear reactor, he would still prefer a home near a nuclear power plant than in a slum, on Love Canal or near "a Union Carbide plant producing methyl isocyanate" (referring to the Bhopal disaster). He issued many appeals for population control, reflecting a perspective articulated by people from Thomas Malthus through Paul R. Ehrlich. Asimov considered himself a feminist even before Women's Liberation became a widespread movement; he joked that he wished women to be free "because I hate it when they charge". More seriously, he argued that the issue of women's rights was closely connected to that of population control. Furthermore, he believed that homosexuality must be considered a "moral right" on population grounds, as must all consenting adult sexual activity that does not lead to reproduction (Yours, Isaac Asimov)." More about Isaac Asimo at Wikipedia Quotations from Positive Atheism** Thanks to my friend, Prof. D. Showley, for turning my attention to this great man.
 “Gog-U-Magog” is a documentary that combines the wisdom of Jewish teachings including Kabalah, Talmud and Books of Prophets together with the ideas of leading political pundits. “Gog-U-Magog” illuminates the current affairs [2005] in the Middle East and the rest of the world in a light that you probably never saw before." Watch the Video (2005)Why The War Of Gog-U-Magog?"G-d created His world. This includes ourselves, the whole beautiful universe around us, and even the human intelligence to write, to read, and to print these very sentences. But where is G-d, the most important One in the world? He is hiding his presence." Is George Bush the famous Gog of the biblical Gog & Magog?(IsraelNN.com) February 2005: "End of Days researcher, Dov Bar Leib, tells us why so many respected rabbis believe that U.S. President George Bush is indeed Gog, from the biblical "Gog & Magog". Are we in the last big war? Is this the end of Mankind, or a new wonderful beginning?" Also see...
Article by Michael CarmichaelIsraelNationalRadio (Live)
 Order your Armageddon Survival Kit
Without Delay
September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002
Stephen J. Gould “We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a 'higher answer'--but none exists.” Freedom From Religion Foundation~ Stephen J. Gould, interview, Life (December 1988). Cited in Who's Who in Hell edited by Warren Allen Smith.  ~ BlogHer: As agnostic and ex-Christian it is still difficult for me to shake the theory that something started it all. Certainly religion is bunk and so if there is a 'something' that started the process of evolution it has nothing to do with religion.
 Susan Jacoby
Author and reporter The Theodicy Problem: No Problem for An Atheist "This question is really the only question for anyone who believes in God (loving or otherwise), and its unanswerability is the main reason why I, and every other atheist I know, can never accept the existence of any deity. "The only answer offered by believers is that God gives man free will and that it is our fault--not God's--when bad things happen to good people. This is not an answer at all because it does not address the question of why the innocent should suffer for the exercise of "free will" by the guilty. And of course, natural disasters are completely outside the scope of the free will argument--unless you believe that God gave wind, water, and rocks free will. "People always ask atheists how they can get through the pain and hardships of life without believing in a God who will one day wipe away all tears. After one of my lectures, I had a conversation with a woman whose son had died of cancer at age twelve, and she spoke eloquently on this point. She said that she had joined a support group for parents grieving over the deaths of their children and that she soon realized she was better off, as an atheist, than the religious parents who kept asking why God would take the lives of their innocent youngsters. "I saw cancer as a malignant, random act of nature," she said, "but I never had to ask why, because I don't believe in a benevolent being who oversees the universe. I didn't ask, `Why him?' or `Why me?' because there is no reason. I didn't have to be angry at God, as these people were, on top of my grief." "The gulf between believers and atheists on this point is unbridgeable. Whenever I hear survivors of natural disasters thanking God for sparing their lives and their homes, I feel nothing but amazement and incomprehension. How can anyone possibly see his neighbor's house destroyed by a tornado and think that a deity had something to do with sparing his own house? What utter arrogance is embodied in such beliefs! As for the victims, the idea that "God must have his reasons" is the embodiment of utter passivity, a survival from the infancy of the human race. There are reasons, and they have nothing to do with gods and everything to do with the human capacity for evil and the indifference of nature. "If there were a deity responsible for both human evil and impersonal natural disasters, I would hate him. I would prefer to go to hell rather than to make bargains with such a cruel, capricious Master of the Universe."  “On Faith” panelist Susan Jacoby is the author of Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, (2004) which was named a notable nonfiction book by The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, and cited as an outstanding international book by the Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian. She began her writing career as a reporter for The Washington Post, and has been a contributor to a wide range of periodicals and newspapers for more than 25 years on topics including law, religion, medicine, aging, women's rights, political dissent in the Soviet Union and Russian literature. Jacoby has been the recipient of grants from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2001-2002, she was named a fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Jacoby’s other books include Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984, and Half-Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Past. She is working on a book about the relationship between American anti-intellectualism and political polarization, to be published by Pantheon in 2008. Her photo is by Chris Ramir." Susan Jacoby ~ Wikipedia
____December 29, 1973____  Teresa, Bright and Dark
The nun's leading critic argues that her crisis of faith—revealed in newly published letters—was brought on by the crushing unreasonableness of the Roman Catholic Church.
By Christopher Hitchens Newsweek ~ August 29, 2007
"Now, it might seem glib of me to say that this is all rather unsurprising, and that it is the inevitable result of a dogma that asks people to believe impossible things and then makes them feel abject and guilty when their innate reason rebels. The case of Mother Teresa, who could not force herself into accepting the facile cure-all of “faith,” is that of a fairly simple woman struggling to be honest with herself, while also—this is important—striving to be an example to others. And I believe I have a possible explanation for the crisis. It derives from something that Lord Macaulay said, when reviewing Leopold von Ranke’s "History of the Popes." The Roman Catholic Church, he wrote, “thoroughly understands what no other Church has ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts” [my italics]. Wise bishops have long known to beware of the fanatical and the overzealous. After being lectured on doctrinal matters by the ultraconservative convert Evelyn Waugh, the pope is said to have concluded the audience by murmuring, “Yes, Mr. Waugh. I am a Catholic, too.” When Mother Teresa first rebelled against the quiet life of the Loreto Sisters in 1946, and sought permission from her superiors to start a new order—The Missionaries of Charity—she was at first turned down and told to stay in her allotted place of humility. The local archbishop, a man named Ferdinand Perier, then found he had a true believer on his hands: a woman hungry for humility and yet fantastically immodest. (“Come Be My Light,” the slightly sickly subtitle of this book, is what Mother Teresa claims, not that she said to Jesus, but that He said to her.) Only after she had wearied the diocese with demands that her ambition be referred to the Vatican did she finally, after two years of pleading and cajoling, get her way. And then, two months after she started her own show in Calcutta in 1948, the demons checked in and, in effect, never quite checked out again. She got what she wanted, and found it a crushing disappointment." Full Article The Washington Post
On FaithThe Sacrifice of Reason By Sam Harris "And now we learn that even Mother Teresa, the most celebrated exponent of this dogmatism in a century, had her doubts about the whole story—the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the existence of heaven, and even the existence of God: "Lord, my God, who am I that You should forsake me? The Child of your Love — and now become as the most hated one — the one — You have thrown away as unwanted — unloved. I call, I cling, I want — and there is no One to answer — no One on Whom I can cling — no, No One. — Alone ... Where is my Faith — even deep down right in there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness — My God — how painful is this unknown pain — I have no Faith — I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart — & make me suffer untold agony. "So many unanswered questions live within me afraid to uncover them — because of the blasphemy — If there be God — please forgive me — When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven — there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives & hurt my very soul. — I am told God loves me — and yet the reality of darkness & coldness & emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart? ~ addressed to Jesus, at the suggestion of a confessor, undated" Full Article Wikipedia, Mother Teresa
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