I don’t know whether I’m a Humanist.
I haven’t read any of the
Humanist manifestos,
but a while back, a podcast that I listen to had a show about
humanism, and discussed the main points of Humanist Manifesto III, the
most recent one. I agreed with points that were discussed, such as
that knowledge of the world comes from observing the [...]
When I
wrote
earlier about participating in the “No on Prop 8″ demonstration at the
National Mall, I was rather dismissive of the notion that it might
affect anyone’s opinion.
However, SurveyUSA published a
poll
about Prop 8 with an interesting result. People who voted for Prop 8
were asked “Have the protesters changed your opinion on Prop 8?”. 8%
of them said yes.
I give moderate theists
grief
when they fail to stand up and tell the Pat Robertsons and Jerry
Falwells of the world that they’re full of crap, so it’s only fair to
give credit where it’s due:
Catholics for Choice
has issued a
report
about Bill Donohue and the
Catholic League.
It provides a good overview of how BillDo operates, including
manufacturing controversy and bullying. The [...]
During a discussion on whether the electoral college is still a good
idea, someone brought up the point that it’s possible to win the
electoral vote but lose the popular vote, and pretty badly at that.
So I wrote a
Perl script
that used evolutionary computation to try to produce the most skewed
electoral map possible. Here’s what it came up [...]
It’s funny how you never see the sights and do the “local” stuff in your own town. I went to Paris once, and stayed with a friend who had lived there for sixteen years, and had never gone up the Eiffel Tower until I dragged him.
Me, I’ve lived in the Washington DC area for years [...]
The Post
reports
that
A high-profile panel appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley recommended last night abolishing Maryland’s death penalty, concluding that the state’s system of capital punishment is too costly and vulnerable to wrongful convictions and fails as a deterrent to crime to be sustainable.
From here, the report goes to the governor, and then to the legislature — [...]
Local CBS affiliate WUSA 9
reports
The American Humanist Association, located in Washington, will announce its “Godless Holiday Campaign” on Tuesday with ads on Metro buses and in newspapers. The slogan for the campaign is “Why Believe In a God? Just Be Good for Goodness Sakes”.
The campaign coincides with bus ads by the British Humanist Association. The [...]
Julia Sweeney
writes
that the DVD of her one-woman show Letting Go of God will be available on Nov. 21. Squeeee!
As a preview, here’s a video she uploaded of what appears to be an early version of one of the scenes in the show. If you’re offended by it, then you’re probably Bill Donohue.
On the
latest episode
of The Non-Prophets, the guys got into an extended discussion about
morality. That discussion should be required listening for anyone with
any questions about how you can be moral without absolute rules
imposed from without, or whether situational ethics automatically
means it’s okay to commit genocide.
But what interested me more was a connection I noticed to fiat
currency.
Once more, BillDo
forgot to keep his noise-hole closed:
[In an anti-Proposition 8 TV ad] Two young men, who identify themselves as being from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, knock on the door of two lesbian women announcing that “We are here to take away your rights.”…
Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:
“Radical [...]