So obviously he wasn’t resurrected. While we’re at it, God isn’t a supernatural being, there is no life after death and the Bible describes myths.
Fittingly, his church is named the Exodus Church: that’s what his congregation should do as soon as possible.
He is not alone. According to a study by the Free University of Amsterdam, one-in-six clergy in the Protestantse Kerk in Nederland and six other smaller denominations are either agnostic or atheist.
Here he is.
More here.
Received via email:
The President of the British Humanist Association has pulled out of debating renowned Christian apologist William Lane Craig. Polly Toynbee, Guardian columnist and prominent critic of religion, initially readily agreed to a debate on the Existence of God with Craig in April but withdrew her involvement last week saying “I hadn’t realised the nature of Mr Lane Craig’s debating style, and having now looked at his previous performances, this is not my kind of forum”.
Dawkins and Grayling (who have also refused to debate with Craig on his forthcoming UK Tour) are both Vice-Presidents of the British Humanist Association which describes one of its core values as “engaging in debate rationally, intelligently and with attention to evidence”.
William Lane Craig is Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, California. He has debated leading atheists the world over including Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, who described him as “the one Christian apologist who has put the fear of God into my fellow atheists.”
More information can be found at the Reasonable Faith Tour 2011.
The press release goes on to note this comment from Richard Dawkins:
Richard Dawkins, who has been publicly accused of cowardice for refusing to debate the arguments he presents in The God Delusion, recently described Craig as a “deeply unimpressive…ponderous buffoon”, who uses logic for “bamboozling his faith-head audience.” Yet he still has not responded to the actual content of the arguments presented by Craig.
Dawkins, the self proclaimed champion of reason, doesn’t want to expose himself to logic for fear of being bamboozled. What does that remind me of? Oh, I know:
Six, including a deputy sheriff. In fairness to the police officers, she was armed with a pretty menacing placard.
From here:
TORONTO, August 4, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – LifeSiteNews reporter and managing director Steve Jalsevac was live-blogging and taking photos from the Mogentaler abortion mill on Hillsdale Ave in Toronto this morning as pro-life activist Linda Gibbons was arrested. Gibbons has spent 8 of the last 14 years in jail for breaking a 1994 ‘temporary’ court injunction which forbids pro-life presence outside various abortion centers in Toronto.
Gibbons arrived at the Morgentaler abortion mill this morning shortly before 9am and was arrested just after 11am. As is her normal practice Gibbons paced back and forth silently in front of the mill carrying a sign with a live baby’s photo reading: “Why Mom When I have so much Love to Give”.
She spoke to several women entering the centre to offer them aid to carry their pregnancies to term.
Six police officers took part in the arrest, including the sheriff and deputy. Gibbons was read the injunction and led to the squad car peacefully. While in years past she sat immobile allowing the officers to carry her to the vehicle, the 69-year-old grandmother walked with them this morning.
I’m still trying to untangle whether for a Unitarian Universalist sexologist, when it comes to sex, Unitarianism takes precedence – in which case one has sex with a singularity – or Universalism, one must try to have sex with absolutely everything.
In the case of Rev. Haffner, I suspect the latter since she boasts that she has counselled thousands of women faced with unintended pregnancies to view abortion as a “moral” decision: presumably the sex was neither unintended nor particularly selective.
In a stunning example of weasel reasoning, devious Debra tries to make the case that we should abort unborn babies because life is sacred. Rather than being intrinsically sacred, life is only imbued with sacredness when it is our intention that it should be sacred – leaving us free to finish off anyone whose sanctity coefficient doesn’t make the grade.
It is because of my religious beliefs that I am unwavering in my support for abortion, family planning and sexuality education. It is because life is sacred and parenthood so precious that no woman should be coerced to carry a pregnancy to term. Millions of people ground their moral commitment to abortion in their religious beliefs. We understand that the sanctity of human life is best upheld when it is created intentionally. As religious leaders, we seek to create a world where abortion is safe, legal, accessible, and rarely a decision that women and couples need to face.
It’s either The Mummy Returns or, judging by the other obvious resemblance, a new Larry Page cloud computing project.
From here:
[T]he media—both in Canada and the United States—have not been helpful in reporting the Norwegian tragedy. They have repeatedly characterized Anders Breivik as a “right wing, Christian fundamentalist.” However, at least two of these three assertions are not true.
[…..]
To put it bluntly, Mr. Breivik is a racist and a bigot who upholds a Scandinavian version of a master race—an ethnocentric superiority that views foreigners, and especially Muslims, as a virus to be eliminated. Whatever else his philosophy may be, it is NOT Christian.
Nor is Mr. Breivik a fundamentalist, if one means a Christian fundamentalist. I know some Christian fundamentalists, and none would ever consider murdering innocent people.
Only two assertions not true? According to Rev. Nicolosi, Breivik is definitely not a Christian or a fundamentalist. That leaves us with his being merely “right wing”, just like William F Buckley and Ronald Reagan.
How helpful, Rev. Nicolosi.
This person really didn’t want her photo taken.
From here:
What constitutes a physical assault in Toronto these days?
This would appear to be straightforward. If, for example, one individual punches another, surely that’s assault. Especially if the punch in question was witnessed. And photographed.
But as I learned firsthand on Sunday, a fist in the face doesn’t necessarily constitute assault in our increasingly culturally sensitive Toronto.
The details: I was at Yonge-Dundas Square with my nine-year-old son. We ate pizza. We drank bubble tea. And I used my new Canon camera to take photos of this neon shrine.
Suddenly, a woman wearing a hijab ran toward me. She was part of a group that included two women wearing full face-covering burkas. She was screaming: “We are Muslim! You do not take pictures of us!” (Odd. I can’t find the “no photos” rule in the Qur’an.)
I informed the lady I was in a public square in a democracy. I can actually take pictures of whomever I please.
And then: Ka-pow! Her fist collided with my face. Worse, she almost knocked my new camera from my hands.
When I was in Turkey, where Islam is the predominant religion, I photographed a lot of people; only a few of them seemed less than happy about it. None of them tried to slug me.
This particular gentlemen kept wagging his finger at me, but ended up laughing when I took more photos of the wagging:
According to this:
Internet Explorer users have a lower than average IQ, according to research by Consulting firm AptiQuant.
The study gave web surfers an IQ test, then plotted their scores against the browser they used.
IE surfers were found to have an average IQ lower than people using Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Users of Camino and Opera rated highest.
The report has sparked anger from IE supporters, who have threatened AptiQuant with legal action.
Researchers gave over 100,000 web surfers a free online IQ test. Scores were stored in a database along with each person’s web browser data.
The results suggested that Internet Explorer surfers had an average IQ in the low eighties. Chrome, Firefox and Safari rated over 100, while minority browsers Opera and Camino had an “exceptionally higher” score of over 120.
I can’t help noticing that the IP addresses belonging to the Anglican Church of Canada that access this blog are all using Internet Explorer. It must be a coincidence.
Update: The BBC is now reporting that this was a hoax.
Having led a sheltered life, I had never heard of “Homotopia” and assumed it was a new process for sterilising milk. But, no.
From here:
Liverpool’s Homotopia art festival has been granted funding for the next three years.
The annual art and culture event will receive £70,000 a year for the next three years from Arts Council England.
Judging by a sampling of last year’s “art”, it all sounds like a bit of harmless fun the average taxpayer would be only too delighted to pay for:
Midnight Mass Peaches Christ presents All About Evil
A San Francisco phenomenon, the underground hit that is Midnight Mass makes its UK debut starring horror hostess Peaches Christ in this Rocky Horror-style celebration of bad, trash and cult movie making. The infamous pre-show includes free lap dances with every large popcorn from a retinue of dude girls, a roller girl conga line, audience makeovers and unspeakable live participation.
