Category Archives: Atheism

Don’t mark yourself Jedi this census.

1469845125305The census is here again and the Atheist Foundation of Australia is running a campaign urging non-religious persons to mark the “No Religion” box rather than identifying as Jedi or Pastafarian. The reason for this is that the Australian Government counts these as religions and records them as “Religion: Other”. Therefore the number of non-religious people become under represented in the census.

Since the Australian Government relies upon census data for policy and funding decisions anyone identifying as Jedi or Pastafarian is inadvertently  tipping the statistics in favour of religious interests.

While filling the census with bullshit can be a lot of fun. When powerful religious lobby groups begin to pressure the government (Marriage Equality, Religious Tax Exemption etc), policy makers must rely on the census statistics to try and determine the interest of the population.

So if you don’t follow any mythical fairy tale it is important that you mark “No Religion” on August 9th to ensure that you are accurately represented in government policy and decision making.

More information on the Mark No Religion website.

Catholic church provides financial support to convicted paedophile priests.

Once more it seems the Catholic Church is protecting pedophiles. In a news report this week it is revealed that financial aid is being given to convicted child rapists.

The archdiocese has disclosed to The Age that it is providing significant financial support to four clergy released from jail after serving sentences for child sex abuse.

Victim support groups say more clergy found either by police or internal church investigations to have abused children are likely to be receiving financial support from different Catholic orders outside the Melbourne archdiocese’s control. –The Age

So the Catholic Church is providing financial assistance to paedophiles; why am I not surprised by this?

Darwin Day 2012 at Perth Zoo

Yesterday marked the 203rd Birthday of Charles Darwin, and it was 152 years, 2 months, 19 days ago on 24 November 1859 that Darwin first published his ground breaking work titled: On the Origin of Species which gave us the theory of evolution by natural selection. The book was written with a laymen audience in mind so that the general public could understand the significance of Darwin’s findings, and to this day Darwin’s theory still stands as scientific fact.

To celebrate the Birthday of Charles Darwin Perth Atheists held a picnic in Perth Zoo.

 

Charles Darwin was also a member of the Glutton Club which would meet once a week for the purpose of eating animals not normally found on menus. During the voyage of the Beagle, he ate many of the animals that he discovered. Including the  Lesser Rhea which he ate by mistake thinking it was the more common (and already documented) Greater Rhea. Realising that he had just eaten one of the specimeins he was currently searching for Darwin gathered up what was left of the Lesser Rhea and sent it back to London to be studied and now Rhea Darwinii is named after him.. 

Great for SoupUnfortunately we were not allowed to eat any of the animals at Perth Zoo, not even the Meerkats which look like they would go well with soup. So instead of eating the Zoo’s animal collection we held talks on the topic of Biology and Evolution. Our speakers were Rachael Richards, high school biology teacher who has seen creationism taught in high schools in WA. Mike Bamford, zoologist / ecologist / ornithologist / herpetologist and David Frank; head of Perth Atheists as MC for the event.

After the main event David and Mike had a brief discussion about the possibility of eating a Galápagos Tortoise and other animals not commonly found on Australian menus.

So Happy Darwin Day 2012, go and eat an endangered species to celebrate.

Moron Medical students boycott evolution lectures.

So apparently some Muslim medical students are boycotting lectures on evolution because conflicts with their stonage ideologies. I have to wonder why would a religious person study medicine in the first place, if anything such activities involve acting against the will of god. Creationist like to assert that their god is all powerful yet he apparently needs a helping hand from mere mortals.

Muslim students, including trainee doctors on one of Britain’s leading medical courses, are walking out of lectures on evolution claiming it conflicts with creationist ideas established in the Koran.

Professors at University College London have expressed concern over the increasing number of biology students boycotting lectures on Darwinist theory, which form an important part of the syllabus, citing their religion.

Similar to the beliefs expressed by fundamentalist Christians, Muslim opponents to Darwinism maintain that Allah created the world, mankind and all known species in a single act. –Daily Mail

Are these really the people that we want to become Doctors, the type of person who puts ideology before science? Religion has no place in medicine and the witch doctor needs to become a thing of the past.

If you want to believe God created the universe and everything in it that’s fine, but you can’t then take up a scientific field and complain that science doesn’t agree with your opinion. If you disagree and think your religion is of any value or worth then you deserve to be kicked out of the medical course. We want competent doctors not religious apologists.

Is homosexuality the sickest sin there is?

This question was not asked by a religious extremist in the middle east. It is part of a year 10 School assignment here in Perth. Armadale Christian College asked the question: “Is homosexuality the sickest sin there is?” 

Another question on the assignment asks what Gods opinion of Homosexuality is, then points out a Bible verse describing it as an ‘abomination’. As usual with these types of stories someone tries to palm it of as extremism in order to distance themselves from it.

One student’s relative, James Notman, praised the Minister’s quick action on the matter, and said such “extremist” teachings could “seriously damage the mental well-being” of some children at a time of life when questions of sexuality were of huge importance. –PerthNow

However this is not an extremist viewpoint. Christians who preach hateful messages are simply being true to their faith, NOT extremist but honest.

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. –Leviticus 18:22

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. -Leviticus 20:13

It’s good to see a Christian school teaching the faith with honesty instead of the modern day bullshit where primitive world views pretend to have some level of morality. At least this school attempted to preach their faith honestly instead of watering it down.

So Christians, is homosexuality the sickest sin there is? Your god seems to think so. If you believe that the Bible is the word of god then you’re either an asshole for answering ‘yes’ or a dishonest douche for answering ‘no’. This is not the sort of thing you can simply pass off as “EXTREMIST” when it is printed in your own holy book. Either you believe in the hateful messages of the bible or you defy your own god. How then can you claim that your god is omniscient, unless you’re an immoral asshole?

The Census is more important than your Jedi.

The census campaign is just days away and I would like to point out writing Jedi, Pastafarian or anything else along those lines will not get counted. Neither Pastafarian or Jedi is a recognised religion in Australia as a result identifying yourself as one gets you marked as “not defined”. The problem with this is that Government policy is sometimes guided by the census statistics so if a percentage of people are recorded as “not defined” the Government will use those incorrect statistics in policy planning by assuming the accuracy of the census data.

But it’s not just the government that use census data. Many lobby groups and corporations also use data collected by the census. If you’re non-religious and you mark anything other than “No Religion” (which is a recognised and counted response) then you are balancing the statistics in favour of religion. In 2006 55,000 identified themselves as Jedi, not a single one of those individuals was counted in the “non-religious” category as a result of writing Jedi instead of ticking the “No Religion” box.

I think it’s a fairly safe bet that people who mock religion are predominantly non-religious and while it may be fun to mark Jedi or Pastafarian on the census form doing so will ensure that you aren’t counted correctly and as a result religious lobby groups have more power to persuade the government because statistics may show fewer non-religious people than there actually are.

Another way that people screw the statistics is by marking the faith they were brought up in despite no longer belonging to that faith. So unless you genuinely believe in the doctrine of a particular faith the only thing you should be marking on the census form in “No Religion”.

The census is all about statistics, and ensuring that the government has the most accurate dataset possible is that best way to ensure that your interests are represented in government policy and decision making. So don’t screw the statistics in favor of religion: instead answer the census honestly to ensure that you are not incorrectly counted.

No Religion? Just mark “No Religion”.

More information is available at: censusnoreligion.org

Four disclaimer stickers designed!

These are a little crude and will need some refining. But here are four designs that I have so far. They are to be printed onto stickers and applied to Hotel Room Bibles.

Design #1

This is my favorite and it’s inspired by the following joke image of a disclaimer on a bible. I don’t know if the disclaimer sticker ever really existed or was simply photoshopped into existence, in either case I plan to create the real thing.

Design #2

This is one that was suggested to me.

Design #3

This one is inspired by the warning label I was given at The Amaz!ng Meeting. It’s the one I stuck on the hotel room bible at South Point casino.

Design #4

Design #1 is definitely my favorite and is the one I’ll be putting into print first. However it may be necessary to have multiple designs on hand. So far only #1 is guaranteed to go into production, I think the others have much more room for improvement. Any suggestions for what should go onto a Bible disclaimer are welcome.

Content Warnings for Hotel Bibles

While attending The Amaz!ng Meeting in Las Vegas I encountered the EvolveFish.com table and they were giving out disclaimer stickers that can be placed on the hotel room bibles. This one reads “Warning: Belief in this book may endanger your life.”

Considering how much content these days needs to have a Content Warning I think it’s only appropriate that this medieval, violent, psychopath worshiping book be given an appropriate content warning.

With the Global Atheist Convention just around the corner next year. I have decided to begin printing my own content warning labels for the Bible. I will be distributingng them for free to anyone who wants them for the hotel room Bible.

 Each sticker will have the address “BibleWarning.com” at the bottom so that future hotel guests who find the warning can obtain further information about the absurd, violent and primitive nature of the content found in the bible.

The Page/Site at BibleWarning.com will not be associated with any atheist or activist organisation, nor will it be used to promote any website, blog or individual. This means that the stickers are 100% neutral and are appropriate to be used by anyone and everyone who feels that The Holy Bible should not be exempt from content warnings.

Mother tries to Murder Children before Judgement Day.

One of the Bat Shit crazies who thought the world was going to end on Saturday has attempted to murder her children before the return of Jesus. She apparently didn’t want them to suffer fire, flood, earthquake and all the other nasty things that Christians believe their “All Loving” God will throw at them.

Stupid primative beliefs are anything but harmless.