Bill O'Reilly: "The Atheists Are Just Stupid For Making People Angry"

Bill O'Reilly: "The Atheists Are Just Stupid For Making People Angry"

December 15, 2009 on FOX News with Ann Coulter via http://atheistmedia.com

Thanksgiving Prayer William S Burroughs

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 28,1986 first appeared in the chapbook Tornado Alley, with illustrations by S. Clay Wilson. Gus Van Sant then made a short film of Burroughs reading the text.
This poem resonates today as exposing what has gone horribly wrong in the USA, or maybe what has always been wrong.
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986

William S. Burroughs
For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive
Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts
thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison
thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger
thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot
thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes
thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through
thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces
thanks for Kill a Queer for Christ stickers
thanks for laboratory AIDS
thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs
thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business
thanks for a nation of finks — yes,
thanks for all the memories all right, lets see your arms you always were a headache and you always were a bore
thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

New Humanism Channel on Current

http://current.com/groups/humanism

"Man is the measure of all things"  Protagoras

"Faith means not wanting to know what is true"  Nietzsche  

What is Humanism?

Humanism is an optimistic stance that entails self determination and the dignity and worth of all people. More than a negation of the supernatural, Humanism is a process by which truth and morality is sought through human investigation. 

Tools of the investigation are reason, science, and the scientific method. Humanism rejects tradition, revelation, and/or mysticism (the supernatural) as appropriate or legitimate tools for determining what is true and moral. Our quest is for the good; our questions revolve around the nature of the good life. 

The ultimate goal is human flourishing: making life better for all humans; promoting concern for the welfare of other sentient beings and the planet as a whole. The focus is on doing good and living well in the here and now, and leaving the world a better place for those who come after.

Humanism on Current

As a channel we will investigate the human condition where politics and religion intersect. Informed by science, inspired by art, and motivated by compassion, our task is to question the world in pursuit of the good, for one and all.

With an eye towards human and civil rights, church and state, oppression and discrimination, life and death; the Humanism channel will explore all manner of intolerance, bigotry, and injustice. Our task is to explore and expose inhumanity, while promoting the humane, the just, the wise.

Current is a unique and beautiful experiment in virtual community.  As members of the Current community we are social pioneers, participating in a bold new adventure made possible by intellect and reason, science and technology.  As pioneers we have a responsibility to future generations.  We must make this work.  We must practice tolerance and civility.  We must learn to disagree without being disagreeable.  We must strive to be good to one another.

The Humanism channel is a big tent. Feel free to tag "Humanism" to any post that deals with the human condition, with man's inhumanity to man, with the clash between sacred and profane.  Issues both national and international are welcome. Misogyny, homophobia, and persecution of any kind are all humanist concerns.  Any issue where human dignity and human worth comes into question is a Humanist issue.

Ultimately our journey is a philosophical investigation.  Let us proceed in love as we move towards wisdom.

Peace,

unimatrix0  

UN adopts anti free speech resolution

The U.N.'s top human rights body has approved a proposal by Muslim nations urging the passage of laws protecting religion from criticism. Members of the Human Rights Council voted 23 in favor of a resolution Thursday to combat "defamation of religion." Eleven nations, mostly from the West, opposed the resolution and 13 countries abstained. The resolution was proposed by Pakistan. Muslim countries have cited the inflammatory effect of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as an example of unacceptable free speech. Critics say the resolution, while not binding, will have a chilling effect on free speech and may worsen relations between faiths. ------------------------------------------------------------------- This is bad news for anyone who values free speech. The UN has given cover to extreme fundamentalists (mainly Islamic); cover to torture, imprison and harass those who would dare to dissent.  The irony is that the resolution has very little to do with human rights. Rather than protecting people, the resolution offers protection to religions; a protection which can all to easily translate into protection for a state, a state guilty of violating human rights, the very human rights the UN ostensibly seeks to protect. Ironic, isn't it?

topics:  News and Politics,  Politics,  News,  Religion,  United Nations, Free Speech,  Humanism + add

• unimatrix0
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More Americans say they have no religion

A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.

This is good news for all free thinkers who value reason and truth.

Be brave; be strong; be an atheist!

Atheist outrage in Arkansas

Rep. Richard Carroll has introduced a bill to repeal Article 19, Section 1 of the Arkansas state constitution, which says:

"No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court." 

In Arkansas an atheist is not allowed to hold office or testify in court!  And to think, some people deny that atheists are discriminated against.  How is it that such a blatant form of discrimination has been allowed to remain in the Arkansas constitution?  Where is the outrage?

The Bible and Truth

(this is my reponse to a post on current: http://current.com/items/89777589/the_bible_and_truth.htm
The Bible is a huge document with many authors, many strands, and indeed two distinct volumes - old and new testament.

To say the bible is true or false is a meaningless claim. The bible is a multiplicity and can not be reduced to a singular, binary, true/false proposition.

The short answer is this: there is no god, no heaven or hell, no life after death. There is only this natural world, which is much older than the bible claims. Man evolved from lower species; there was no creation and no creator.

Jesus was a man, albeit a great moral teacher, as was Socrates and Buddha.

Ultimately the bible and it's supporters encourage ignorance and fear and shun reason and knowledge. Hence, religious superstition is responsible for much of the worlds pain and suffering.

I encourage all good people to step out of the darkness of religious superstition and into the light of reason. Be brave; be strong; be an atheist!

God

"God is a concept by which we measure our pain"  John Lennon

God is a fairy tale told to children to keep them complacent.  God has no fault, no agency, no existence.  The fault belongs to the believer in God, the victim of the hoax, the butt of the religious joke.  We must work to educate those people who are so weak of spirit or mind that they fall victim to such outlandish claims.