This morning there was a knock at my door. When I answered the door I found a well-groomed, nicely dressed couple. The man spoke first.

John: “Hi! I’m John, and this is Mary.”

Mary: “Hi! We’re here to invite you to come kiss Hank’s ass with us.”

Me: “Pardon me?! What are you talking about? Who’s Hank, and why would I want to kiss his ass?”

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Chris Tse presenting his poem at the Poetry Slam Vancouver. He was the 1st place winner on the 21st of December 2009.

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In an essay written in 1890, Ingersoll discusses the purposeful absence of God in the Constitution.

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Sam Harris elaborates on his theory of scientific morality, in a rebuttal to a critique by physicist Sean Carroll.

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Through cleverly designed experiments, psychologists tease out the innate sense of morality possessed by babies.

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Barack Obama discusses the inherent variance of religious belief and the presence of non-belief in America today. He acknowledges the critical role of reason in policy making, stating, “...I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons…but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice I can’t simply point to the teachings of my church or invoke God’s will.” Video is edited to concentrate on the most pertinent moments.

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Antony Flew, a prominent atheist philosopher who famously renounced his atheism in his 80’s, passed away on April 8, 2010.  A long article in The New York Times Magazine from 2007 suggested that Mr. Flew, his mental faculties in decline, had been manipulated by his co-author and other Christian proselytizers.

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Professor Antony Flew, the rationalist philosopher who died on April 8 aged 87, spent much of his life denying the existence of God until, in 2004, he dramatically changed his mind.

Congress loves abstinence-only programs so much it has thrown big bucks at them. The public? It’s got better ideas.

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Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can—and should—be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life.

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Ingersoll describes in detail why he does not find the Bible to be a moral guide.  He illustrates his point with examples from various books and teachings within the Old and New Testaments.

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“We hear much about His patience and forbearance and long-suffering; we hear nothing about our own, which much exceeds it. We hear much about His mercy and kindness and goodness—in words—the words of His Book and of His pulpit—and the meek multitude is content with this evidence, such as it is, seeking no further; but whoso searcheth after a concreted sample of it will in time acquire fatigue. There being no instances of it.”

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Richard Dawkins calls for atheists to come out of hiding and cease being timid about their convictions.  He highlights and rejects stereotypes associated with atheism, and notes that only when they organize, will they have a voice loud enough to hear.

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Considerable debate has surrounded the question of the origins and evolution of religion. One proposal views religion as an adaptation for cooperation, whereas an alternative proposal views religion as a by-product of evolved, non-religious, cognitive functions. We critically evaluate each approach, explore the link between religion and morality in particular, and argue that recent empirical work in moral psychology provides stronger support for the by-product approach. Specifically, despite differences in religious background, individuals show no difference in the pattern of their moral judgments for unfamiliar moral scenarios. These findings suggest that religion evolved from pre-existing cognitive functions, but that it may then have been subject to selection, creating an adaptively designed system for solving the problem of cooperation.

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Excerpt from a memoir of life in an Israeli Kibbutz with discussion of the author’s growing disillusionment with Labour Zionism. “What I did, however, come quite quickly to understand if not openly acknowledge was just how limited the kibbutz and its members really were. The mere fact of collective self-government, or egalitarian distribution of consumer durables, does not make you either more sophisticated or more tolerant of others. Indeed, to the extent that it contributes to an extraordinary smugness of self-regard, it actually reinforces the worst kind of ethnic solipsism.”

An in-depth and surprisingly personal interview of Richard Dawkins by Riz Khan.

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Russell Blackford stands up for the “new atheism”. Blackford explains why in his view the resurgence in atheist literature and the movement in general, are gaining traction and why open criticism of religion should not remain taboo.

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The Indian gods are everywhere!

New York Times obituary for Oral Roberts, the Pentecostal evangelist whose televised faith-healing ministry attracted millions of followers worldwide. He was the patriarch of the “prosperity gospel,” a theology that promotes the idea that Christians who pray and donate with sufficient fervency will be rewarded with health, wealth and happiness.

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A new Pew survey finds that large numbers of Americans engage in multiple religious practices, for example blending Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs such as reincarnation, astrology and the presence of spiritual energy in physical objects. And sizeable minorities of all major U.S. religious groups say they have experienced supernatural phenomena, such as being in touch with the dead or with ghosts.

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