http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/atheism/ en-us Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:32:34 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413250/posts Sonoma County's top official on Monday ordered the removal of stars, angels and other religious symbols from Christmas trees in county buildings after a complaint that the decorations violate constitutional protections. “I understand the concern about government endorsing religion or a doctrine, and I respect that is not our role,” Acting County Administrator Chris Thomas said. The complaint was lodged by Irv Sutley of Santa Rosa, a 65-year-old disabled veteran who has a long history of protesting the use of religious symbols in government settings. One of the offending trees was in the lobby of Thomas' office. He said he... Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413250/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:32:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412553/posts Columbia was, he declared, “a citadel of the mind swaying in the vertigo of a civilization changing (without admitting it) the basis of its faith from a two thousand-year-old Christian culture to the new secular and scientific culture.” Whereas the Christian culture “placed God at the center of man’s hope,” the new secular faith, which was “exclusively rational and scientific,” replaced God with Man. This was not indoctrination into communism, at least not explicitly. “No member of the Columbia faculty ever consciously guided me toward Communism,” he stated. “Columbia did not teach me Communism. It taught me despair.” That despair... First Principles http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412553/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:11:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2408629/posts In addition, B. Hussein stated on the White House official site that abortion will henceforth be worldwide practice endorsed by America. B. Hussein, arch-killer of womb children, defies the definition of “caring father” for slaughter leader extraordinary. mosquewatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2408629/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:25:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2408625/posts While browsing some threads on a popular forum recently, I was introduced to an interesting critique of Ayn Rand's ethics, by John Piper. I already knew the critique was going to be from a Christian perspective, but was pleasantly surprised by it, nevertheless. This is what I wrote to the poster who provided the link to the article: "I'm a long time student of Rand, since the 50's, and have read almost everything I could find related to Rand and her philosophy, and of course everything she has written, including her journals and correspondence. I have never read John Piper's... Independent Individualist http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2408625/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:22:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2406797/posts For the past 150 years archaeologists have been verifying the exact truthfulness of the Bible's detailed records of various events, customs, persons, cities, nations, and geographical locations. Dr. Nelson Glueck probably the greatest modern authority on Israeli archeology, has said, “No archeological discovery has ever controverted [overturned] a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.” In every instance where the Bible can be, or has been checked out... alwaysbeready.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2406797/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:41:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2406475/posts Proof of God's Existence 1. I am an atheist who wants his difficulties answered without being accused of moral depravity. I believe, in the ultimate analysis, with Pascal, that there are two classes of men, those who are afraid to find God, and those who are afraid to lose God. But, to spare you, I will admit that your fear that there might be a God may be perhaps unconscious. Of those who say that they are atheists some are merely unintelligent and do not think; others do think, but merely reject false ideas of God, without knowing how to... Celledoor.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2406475/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:25:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2406110/posts Let us see if we can follow the bouncing ball and comment the dots of atheist propaganda: 1) Atheist activists such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, etc. condemn the overwhelming majority of parents who have ever lives as “child abusers,” “brainwashers,” etc. for teaching their children their religion. They do this while admitting that they want society to step in and that this will lead to children choosing no religion at all—their goal is to interrupt families in order to encourage atheism in children: evidence here2) Next, they admit that they teach “science” and “evolution” as being synonymous with atheism,... Research posted to "Atheism is Dead" blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2406110/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:16:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405938/posts Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell believes in ending the death penalty, conserving water and reforming government — but he doesn't believe in God. His political opponents say that's a sin that makes him unworthy of serving in office, and they've got the North Carolina Constitution on their side. Bothwell's detractors are threatening to take the city to court for swearing him in, even though the state's antiquated requirement that officeholders believe in God is unenforceable because it violates the U.S. Consititution. "The question of whether or not God exists is not particularly interesting to me and it's certainly not relevant... Associated Press / Yahoo News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405938/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 03:56:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2405838/posts Even though the Bible was completed 2,000 years ago, long before the invention of the microscope, the telescope, satellites, etc. it does not contain any scientific errors. This might be considered a miracle in itself. Without exception, every ancient religious writing has certain unscientific views of astronomy, medicine, hygiene, etc. The Qur’an says in Surah 18:86 that the sun sets in a muddy spring. Qur’an 18:86 “…when he reached the setting-place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring” The only exception to these kinds of errors, among ancient religious writings, is the Bible. Not only is... AlwaysBeReady.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2405838/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:56:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2405748/posts Introduction The famous evolutionist Julian Huxley once said, "Any view of God as a personal being is becoming frankly untenable. The difficulty of understanding the functions of a personal ruler in a universe which the march of knowledge is showing us ever more clearly as self-ordered and self-ordering in every minutest detail is becoming more and more apparent" (Essays of a Biologist [New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923], p. 217). His sentiments were echoed by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell: "That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin,... Bible Bulletin Board http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2405748/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:38:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2404691/posts The Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Vatican Observatory recently brought together a group of scholars who study astrobiology, that is, the possibility of some kind of life existing elsewhere in the universe.The media immediately seized on the convocation as a sign that the Pope was affirming the existence of intelligent extraterrestrials. This notion was given an unfortunate nudge forward by statements from Jesuit Father Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer who now directs the Vatican Observatory. “How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Father Funes has said before, in an interview in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore... NCR http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2404691/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:47:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2404345/posts Dinesh D’Souza has been no stranger to controversy, whether editing the Dartmouth Review as a student or taking on the American left. D'Souza has worked for the Reagan Administration, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute. A native of India and now a U.S. citizen living in California, he has written several notable volumes, including Illiberal Education. D'Souza sparked outrage with his 2007 book, The Enemy at Home, in which he argued that the American cultural left bears responsibility for provoking militant Muslims into the September 11 terrorist attacks. Facing a firestorm of criticism from the left and the... Catholic Education Resource Center http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2404345/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:34:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401486/posts If you had to come up with a subject for a debate, one that would persuade more than a thousand people to leave their firesides on a wet winter evening to sit in a draughty sports hall, what would you plump for? It would have to be something pretty charged, you would imagine. Or at least salacious. About Katie Price, perhaps, or Tiger Woods. But no. The motion that had them standing in the aisles and dangling from the rafters at Wellington College was: "Is atheism the new fundamentalism?" True, this was an Intelligence Squared debate, and there was a... Telegraph (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401486/posts#comment Sun, 6 Dec 2009 14:47:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2400896/posts   As Catholics, it comes as no surprise to us that the human brain is hard-wired for religion. We believe in a God who created us in His image so that we would come to know and love Him. But for Enlightenment thinkers, who had committed themselves to the "liberation" of human thought from the shackles of religious dogma, the news would not have been welcome at all.   If political society, as Hobbes wrote, abhors a vacuum, the same is true of religious belief. One cannot destroy without creating something else in its place. The new society or... Inside Catholic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2400896/posts#comment Sat, 5 Dec 2009 13:16:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2398701/posts The American Humanist Association is expanding its “Godless Holiday” advertising campaign to five major American cities this Christmas -- taking its message of a holiday season without religion nationwide for the first time. The ads read: “No God -- no problem! Be good for goodness’ sake. Humanism is the idea that you can be good without a belief in God” and feature several people in red and white Santa hats. The new ads come on the heels of an AHA campaign last year which asked “Why believe in a God?” and featured ads on public transit in Washington, D.C. Previously,... CNS News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2398701/posts#comment Wed, 2 Dec 2009 20:37:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399031/posts A controversial Merry Christmas sign has returned to its traditional spot outside the Main Street fire station, after the town reversed an earlier decision to take it down. The decision to put the homemade sign back on display was made this afternoon, after residents protested its removal this morning outside Town Hall. "The townspeople have spoken," Selectman Richard Nardella said. Firefighters put the sign back up around 4 p.m. Eagle Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399031/posts#comment Thu, 3 Dec 2009 04:13:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398246/posts NORTH ANDOVER — First it was the menorah on the town common. Now it's the Merry Christmas sign on the fire station. The town has put an end to a longtime holiday tradition ordering firefighters to take down their homemade Merry Christmas sign from outside the fire station after people complained. The sign had been up for a week before it was taken down Friday. Fire Chief William Martineau said the sign was made by firefighters some 50 years ago and was never an issue before. "I think Christmas is officially a religious holiday. But to all of us, it... Lawrence Eagle Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398246/posts#comment Wed, 2 Dec 2009 06:57:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397858/posts NORTH ANDOVER — An annual "Merry Christmas" sign on a North Andover fire station has been ordered removed. Town officials told firefighters last week to take down the homemade sign after they said people complained. Fire Chief William Martineau said Monday that the sign was made by firefighters about 50 years ago and never had been an issue before. Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397858/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 20:43:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2396305/posts William Dembski, who was recently elected as the new Vice President of the EPS, released his latest book earlier this month from Broadman & Holman Academic, titled, The End of Christianity: Finding a Good God in an Evil World (2009). We interviewed Dembski about his book and its implications for Christian work on the "problem of evil." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What’s the main point that you are trying to communicate in this book? What is the “end of Christianity” that you speak of in your title? My book attempts to resolve how the Fall of Adam could be responsible for all evil... Evangelical Philosophical Society http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2396305/posts#comment Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:22:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2396302/posts The first of five U.S. cities will be hit by a new atheist holiday ad campaign this Thanksgiving weekend. Washington, D.C., residents can expect to see ads proclaiming, "No God?...No Problem!" inside buses and rail cars. Washington, D.C., residents can expect to see ads proclaiming, “No God?...No Problem!” inside buses, rail cars and on the side or tail of buses by week’s end. The campaign, sponsored by the American Humanist Association, will then target the transit systems of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. According to AHA, the holiday ad campaign is the first by a humanist group... Christian Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2396302/posts#comment Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:15:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2395430/posts The “Nothing Butters” are rampant in the world of atheism. Philosopher Daniel Dennett presupposes that “the mind is somehow nothing but a physical phenomenon.” Dawkins assures us that the universe is “nothing but blind pitiless indifference.” Crick tops it off with we’re “nothing but a pack of neurons.” If we are all “nothing butters,” why is it wrong for white “nothing butters” to own and sell black "nothing butters"? American Vision http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2395430/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:47:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394510/posts CNN correspondent Max Foster’s short report about Richard Dawkins on Tuesday’s Situation Room played more like a commercial which promoted the militant atheist’s new book. Despite Dawkins’s past inflammatory statements about Christianity, Foster only labeled him “an outspoken critic of creationism....[whose] atheist views have put him at the center of controversy” [audio clip available here]. Anchor Suzanne Malveaux’s introduction for the correspondent’s report highlighted the 150th anniversary of the printing of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” and how Dawkins was a “controversial successor [to Darwin] carrying the torch for evolution.” Foster gave a very basic description of Dawkins’s... NewsBusters.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394510/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:26:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393961/posts Pro-Darwin consensus doesn't rule out intelligent design --snip-- (CNN) -- While we officially celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" on November 24, celebrations of Darwin's legacy have actually been building in intensity for several years. Darwin is not just an important 19th century scientific thinker. Increasingly, he is a cultural icon. Darwin is the subject of adulation that teeters on the edge of hero worship, expressed in everything from scholarly seminars and lecture series to best-selling new atheist tracts like those by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. The atheists claim that... CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393961/posts#comment Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:50:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2393726/posts Dawkins argues that there is no doubt that Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is true and, unlike some other scholars of the subject, says belief in evolution is not compatible with faith in religion. In fact, he argues, science and religion undermine each other. "I believe a true understanding of Darwinism is deeply corrosive to religious faith," Dawkins says in his TED Talk. There's no room for a God in the world as he sees it, and he believes atheists should be forceful in opposing religion. He acknowledges that it's an unpopular case to make, particularly in the... CNN (Communist News Network) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2393726/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:19:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390468/posts A poster from the atheist billboard campaign. Photograph: Public Domain This week, the final phase of the atheist bus campaign will appear in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast – not on buses, but on billboards. Due to the amazing sums donated to the campaign fund by many Cif readers at the end of last year, we raised enough for a second wave of adverts – and the above posters will launch today. When, in this Cif piece back in October 2008, we asked how the extra funds should be spent, one of the issues which came up repeatedly in the... The Guardian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390468/posts#comment Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:44:11 GMT