Thursday, November 18, 2010

Dispraxis was edited

Recent changes on Dispraxis

Page My questions to Dr Robert M Price in mp3 format

edited by John F. Felix
Question # 7: Jesus curses the fig tree. (2010/08/24) I have yet to rediscover the web page that mentions other tree-cursing stories from antiquity. Any help?
Note: I have had some email correspondence with the author of: 'Mythology, Menstruation and the "Woman with the Issue of Blood,"' Andre Zsigmond, on the site http://www.goddess-pages.co.uk, concerning alternate interpretations of the tree-cursing motif. He sent along some interesting links:
http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/asherah.html
http://www.matrifocus.com/LAM05/spotlight.htm
# 8: Does the Torah prohibit blood transfusions? (2010/11/17)
Copyright (c) 2010 by John F. Felix. All rights reserved.



Wednesday, November 03, 2010

One Week to Carl Sagan Day! How are you celebrating?


Carl Sagan at the VLACarl Sagan Day: November 9
Celebrate with us!

Carl Sagan was a Professor of Astronomy and Space Science and Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University, but most of us know him as a Pulitzer Prize winning author and the creator of COSMOS. That Emmy and Peabody award-winning PBS television series transformed educational television when it first aired in 1980, but now, thirty years later, it's gone on to affect the hearts and minds of over a billion people in sixty countries.
No other scientist has been able to reach and teach so many nonscientists in such a meaningful way, and that is why we honor Dr. Sagan, remember his work, and revel in the cosmos he helped us understand.
Last year’s inaugural Carl Sagan Day event in Ft. Lauderdale was a fantastic success.  They're back again this year and now other groups around the world are planning their own tributes with science fairs, planetarium shows, teacher workshops, star parties, COSMOS marathons, and more – all to say “Thanks!” to Sagan and to bring his gifts to another generation of “star stuff.”

Look for events already planned near you and
check back with us for updates at
carlsaganday.org!

Whether you're an independent skeptics group, an astronomy club or a science department, a researcher, a teacher, or a student, let us know how you're planning to commemorate Carl Sagan Day 2010 and we'll add your event to our Carl Sagan Day event calendar to help spread the word. 

Please email your event information to centerforinquiry.net.

cosmos necklaces
LIMITED TIME ONLY! Don't forget to check out our CFI Store where you can find
special edition COSMOS-themed necklace pendants made by hand by Surly-Ramics!



COSMOS imagery and logo copyright © 1980 Druyan-Sagan Associates, Inc. formerly known as Carl Sagan Productions, Inc.  For more information about CFI or Carl Sagan Day, please visit carlsaganday.org or email centerforinquiry.net.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Dispraxis was edited

Recent changes on Dispraxis

Page My questions to Dr Robert M Price in mp3 format

edited by John F. Felix (diagroup)
Question # 5 & # 6: How reliable are Dr. Price's Pre-Nicene New Testament translations? and Evidence in the Septuagint Greek for reverse engineering by the MT.
Question # 7: Jesus curses the fig tree. I have yet to rediscover the web page that mentions other tree-cursing stories from antiquity. Any help?
Note: I have had some email correspondence with the author of: 'Mythology, Menstruation and the "Woman with the Issue of Blood,"' Andre Zsigmond, on the site http://www.goddess-pages.co.uk, concerning alternate interpretations of the tree-cursing motif. He sent along some interesting links:
http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/asherah.html
http://www.matrifocus.com/LAM05/spotlight.htm

Copyright (c) 2010 by John F. Felix. All rights reserved.


Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Help support Double Feature Press.

From the Double Feature Press kickstart page:


Welcome to the Kickstarter page for Double Feature Press. We are a small press formed by Sarah L. Covert in October of 2010. Sarah grew up on drive-in movies. That is where her love for Science Fiction, Strange Tales, and Horror was born. Double Feature Press has an interesting concept, based around the old double feature drive-in flicks. Each book has two authors. Each author contributes either short stories, poems, or novellas to make up their half of the book. The books will all be in the genres Sarah loved as a child and loves even more now. They will be limited edition runs.Our first book is due out in 2011.

Project By

Sarah L. Covert
Charlotte, NC

Sarah L. Covert is a fiction writer and editor living in Charlotte, North Carolina with her adorable cat Misha and her wonderful husband, Henry. She grew up in a small town outside of Pittsburgh, where her love for reading and writing science-fiction, strange tales and horror began. She was only 10 years old when she wrote her first scary story. She lived in Portland, Oregon for a decade, where her love for the strange and unusual was fostered.

“Someone once asked what it was that first drew me to horror, science-fiction and strange tales. That's easy - Drive-In Theater Double Features. As a child my family and I would regularly go to the drive-in (back when they were far more prevalent). Usually they would play a "kid friendly" movie as the opener and a more adult movie later in the evening when the kids should have been sleeping. I never slept.” – Sarah L. Covert

sheneverslept.com
doublefeaturepress.com

Friday, October 01, 2010

Dispraxis was edited

Recent changes on Dispraxis

Page FrontPage

edited by John F. Felix (diagroup)
Welcome to DIAGroup - Digital Interlinear Analysts Group wiki!
Just added:

Mythicism→Mythicism in 12 Easy Pieces→Earl Doherty 10 Years After

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Forge a New Symbol for Tolerance

The one of most essential aspects of me as a person is that I don’t live religiously, in that considering Ground Zero as a “sacred site” is not within my ken. I do see it as a powerful symbol -- a statement about secular-based American democracy against sectarian fanaticism. Because I am a non-theist, I oppose in principle any religious shrine, icon or building there because, in my opinion, it was religion that was at the heart of the problem and ultimately the cause of the attacks in the first place.

However, my concern for preserving the site from intrusion by religious centers, whether Muslim or not, became modified by the fact that there was a “sacred space” within the south tower for Muslim workers to perform their daily obligations. Thus the symbol changed in its significance for me, becoming representative of America -- just one country among many-- rather than as an idealized sysmbol of a principled system of freedom of, and from, religion, now under attack for its capacity for tolerance by enemies who themselves suffer no tolerance.

To me, it is an obvious no-brainer that burning Qurans would lead to anti-American violence. However the Iman Rauf has maintained that if the center is forced to move, Muslims world-wide would still commit violent acts, because it would be perceived as persecution of Islam in the U.S. This dubious reasoning is an attempt to corner us into giving in and allowing the center to remain close to Ground Zero, and is at best a probable exaggeration. The American extremists on the other hand maintain that giving in would make America look weak and encourage anti-American violence. This position is also based on the assumption that inevitable effects will follow from the cause, and is also logically fallacious. It could be just as likely that it will make America appear strong, not fearing that such a clear gesture of tolerance would be exploited, but rather praised and revered, perhaps leading to a lowering of the threat level.

I hope for a new symbol of everything that I personally love about America to be forged., though in practice it is far from becoming a reality.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Reflections on the origins of Judaism

The Assyrians were the probably the first major power in the Levant that practiced pacification through hegonomy, i.e., the imposition of standards of government, taxation, political affiliation and, most importantly, religion. The indigenous peoples were required to reform their worship along the lines of the Assyrian chief deities, although the locals were allowed to call them by whatever name they wished.

The Assyrian vassal treaty that forms the core of Deuteronomy was indeed a reform imposed from without. The cherubim iconography of the writings and of Northern Israel temples stems from this period, but Hezekiah and others were not cleansing the religious system of idolatry, but instituting the “correct” form, under the directives from their Assyrian overlords. The Assyrian highest god, Asshur, became the first model of what was later to morph into YHWH.

Other native city states, such as Judah, were also introduced to the new concept of Henotheism, the belief that although there were many gods, there was only one chief God. The northern kingdom of Israel was eventually overrun by the Assyrians, who imported in non-native peoples who quickly mixed with the Canaanites, the records of the statelet being transfered to the notoriously literature-hungry Assyrians. Later the city-state of Judah, centered in a newly prosperous Jerusalem, was also absorbed into the Babylonian empire, heir to the Assyrian records, among other things.

The Henotheistic exiles were purposefully isolating themselves into a distinct group while in captivity, who found that it was theologically impossible to worship their chief god, a form of Baal-Asshur, called YHWH, in a land that was under control of another god, Marduk. Zoroastrian religion was filtering into the Babylonian empire and the exiles converted to a form of it, a system near enough to be considered Zoroastrian, but having the monotheistic-trending god, YHWH, as the name of the God of Heaven, thus necessitating to account for “Mazda,” as explained below. As Zarathustranism turned to polytheism under the influence of Babylon, the exiles became ultra-monotheistic, rejecting all other gods, which represented everything bad that hitherto had happened to them.

The book of Daniel is actually a tale of the subversion of Babylon by a disloyal internal force, the ancestors of the people resettled into Judah. Daniel interprets the writing on the wall, declaring that the "Most High God" has decreed an end to the empire of the Chaldeans, and "In that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom...." [KJV, Dn 5:30, 31]. By this time, the now ancient Daniel is decked out as "third ruler in the kingdom," a convenient position from which to influence subsequent events.

Cyrus, king of Persia, favored the Juddin of Babylon, as they were called, at first, but eventually found it expedient to encourage them to govern hostile territory in Judah, establishing a temple and tax-collection statelet for "all Jewry." Here I interpret Jewry, another variant of Juddin, as a non-ethnic, religious distinction. When they arrived, their religion and holy writings fasioned in the libraries of a Mesopotamian land, encountered native Canaanites heavily influenced by Egyptian culture, as the Levant had been mostly under their control before the Assyrians. The tensions between Persia and Egypt were mythologized into Egypt vs. the Israelites, or vs. God himself.

These Canaanites that lived in the land of re-settlement were still worshippers of YHWH and El, but were now seen as unclean and outcast pagans, as devotees of demons, and as forgetters and perverters of the “true worship,” a mythical system synthesized during the Babylonian captivity and fasioned after worship of YHWH (Ahuramazda) as the God of Heaven. The reluctance of the Juddin to voluntarily settle in a “land of promise” and the resistance of local worshipers of El, various Baals, including YHWH, led a forced settlement under Darius II, later mythologized as the forced migration of slaves in Egypt to the land of Canaan. Persian loyalties made it literarily inevitable that the main antagonist of the Hebrew writings be burdened upon the Egyptians. Nevertheless, the indigenous population of Judah contributed much to the ever-evolving collection of writings that provided the statelet with its national mythology. The pre-exilic kingdoms of Israel and Judah were myths, likewise based on the surviving records of the various conquerors, a Jewish southern kingdom having been woven out of parallel events recorded of the actual historical northern kingdom.

As Mazda mutated into Moses at the hands of Alexandrian Juddin, spurred by antagonism between the Egyptians and Persian-loyal Juddin, or Jews, living there, a Hebrew work was created to weld together the exilic and post-exilic story of the Jews, presenting the Egyptians as the main enemy. Just as Persia had detested all things Egyptian, their Juddin descendants, once Persia was neutralized by the Greeks, continued to see the Egyptians as their chief antagonists. As knowledge of Hebrew died out (Aramaic had already displaced it by this time) Greek translations became necessary. Since Hebrew was probably a dead language by this time, to write extended literary works in this language should be interpreted as an effort at deliberate archaizing.These Alexandrian romances were, over an extended period, translated into Greek and redacted, becoming the Septuagint, an ongoing work probably until the time of Herod the Great.

The myth of the Septuagint, as recorded by some ancient writers, can be seen in many ways as a deliberate inversion of the actual circumstances. The Hebrew texts were not imported into Egypt, but were in actuality created there, and allowed to become moth-eaten and corrupted by copyists. Later the Palestinian Jews imported what remained of the older texts, supplementing the many corruptions by “reverse-engineering” the Septuagint into Hebrew where necessary, making editorial changes, etc., a process that possibly continued at Qumram.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Sacrifice on the Serengeti - A Guest Post by Eric M Johnson | Dr. Carin Bondar

RushA_sm “However, on average, the general trend for Homo sapiens is to follow the same evolutionary forces that exist for any other species. Those traits that allowed more of an individuals genes to be passed on to the next generation were selected for and those that didn’t were ultimately discarded. The evidence has been steadily advancing that menopause is not simply the result of women living longer than their chimpanzee counterparts but that it was an evolutionarily successful strategy that allowed more members of our species to survive and reproduce.”
Sacrifice on the Serengeti - A Guest Post by Eric M Johnson | Dr. Carin Bondar

Refuting Quackery with Science-Based Medicine



The Center For Inquiry/Chicago is pleased to co-sponsor, with Chicago Skeptics and the Women Thinking Free Foundation:

Refuting Quackery with Science-Based Medicine

with David Gorski, MD

Saturday, August 21st, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Black Rock Pub/Kitchen, 3614 N. Damen Ave., Chicago

Free to attend.


David H. Gorski, MD, PhD, FACS is a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, specializing in breast cancer surgery. He will be discussing science and evidence-based medicine (SEBM).

Dr. Gorski first became interested in pseudoscience and "alternative" medicine around 2000, when quite by accident he wandered into the Usenet newsgroup "misc.health.alternative" and began critically examining the claims there. Since then, he has accumulated considerable experience refuting quackery and pseudoscience online. For the last five years, he has blogged under a pseudonym, producing what is consistently ranked as one of the top ten medical blogs. (Finding Dr. Gorski’s other, far more (in)famous blog persona is left as an exercise for the interested reader.)

Black Rock Pub & Kitchen has a good menu and was voted as CitySearch's "best neighborhood bar" of 2008.

We are co-sponsoring this event, so you are sure to meet at least a few new skeptical and secular friends from the other groups. Remember, this is a SATURDAY AFTERNOON meeting!
No cover charge. Of course, you purchase your own food and beverage.

If you are thinking of coming to this event, please RSVP to the CFI office with your name so we can estimate the number of people who will be attending. CFI office: 312-226-xxxx or email us at chicago@.

I Support CFI Button [Small]Support CFI/Chicago

The CFI/Chicago is uniquely positioned to help you live a secular, inquiring, joyful life in Chicago. Join us, won't you? It's only $60 per year, and joining helps demonstrate your commitment to our shared values!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Dispraxis was edited

Recent changes on Dispraxis

Page Young's Analytical Lexicon

added by John F. Felix (diagroup)
The work has already begun.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Agnostic's Manifesto

Keyword News: [atheism]
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 11:54 PM PDT

The Agnostic's Manifesto

Arts Journal Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:58 PM PDT

Ron Rosenbaum: "Let's get one thing straight: Agnosticism is not some kind of weak-tea atheism. Agnosticism is not atheism or theism. It is radical skepticism, doubt in the possibility of certainty, opposition to the unwarranted certainties that atheism and theism offer.

Friday, June 25, 2010

AANEWS for Wednesday, June 23, 2010

A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S
A A N E W S
#1329 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 06/23/2010
http://www.atheists.org/
http://www.americanatheist.org/
http://www.atheistviewpoint.tv/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS, a nationwide movement that defends
civil rights for non-believers; works for the total separation of
Church and State; and addresses issues of First Amendment public
policy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"ATHEIST is really a thoroughly honest, unambiguous term, it admits
of no paltering and no evasion, and the need of the world, now as
ever, is for clear-cut issues and unambiguous speech."
-- Chapman Cohen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the
politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher."
- Lucretius, On the Nature of Things
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In This Issue...
* Breaking, AP: Philly Jury OKs BSA discrimination on municipal property
* Background: Philadelphia trial examines discrimination in Scouting ranks
* Worth Noting: Bachman's "Christian Counseling" took public money
* AA Letter to the Editor competition now open
* Voice of Reason Pod cast -- this week, "Touchdown Jesus"
* Check out Dave's NoGodBlog
* Follow AANEWS on Twitter
* Resources
* About this list...

Breaking
JURY: CITY CANNOT EVICT BOY SCOUTS OVER DISCRIMINATION
PHILADELPHIA - A jury says the city of Philadelphia cannot evict
a local Boy Scouts chapter from a city-owned building for refusing
to admit gays.
The city insisted that nonprofits given free use of its property
must abide by local anti-discrimination laws.
The scouts said they can legally limit their membership because of
a 2000 Supreme Court decision. They had sued in federal court to
stop the eviction.
Cradle of Liberty Council leaders have tried to walk a fine line
to retain city support without losing their national Boy Scouts
charter. The national organization bans gays.
Scouts lawyer Jason Gosselin says he hopes the two sides can work
out their differences in negotiations.
*
June 18, 2010 -- CNN coverage
Trial could settle dispute between Boy Scouts, Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A federal trial is underway that
could settle a dispute between Philadelphia Boy Scouts and the city.
The national Scout policy that prohibits the hiring of homosexuals
puts the Philadelphia Scout chapter, the Cradle of Liberty Council,
in violation of the city charter and an ordinance outlawing
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and other grounds.
The Scouts were told by the city to pay $200,000 a year to lease
the building or vacate their headquarters that have been located
on city land, rent-free since 1928.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts could
exclude gay youth and troop leaders because the group is categorized
as a "membership organization." The city contends Cradle of Liberty
Council's refusal to openly reject the national scout policy violates
the City Charter.
The lawsuit filed by the Cradle of Liberty Council contends the
city's ultimatum violates their First Amendment rights and that the
city's position is unconstitutional and violates the organization's
right to free speech and equal protection. The trial began Monday
with jury selection.
The Scouts also argue that city leases property to other
organizations that have membership rules, including a Catholic
church and the Colonial Dames of America, and those tenants do not
face eviction, said attorneys for the Scouts. The city said the
comparison is inaccurate.
In 2007, City Council passed an ordinance to evict the Scouts and
later went to court in June 2008 to do so, but Cradle filed the
federal civil-rights lawsuit in May 2008.
In 2009, U.S. District Judge Ronald Buckwalter issued an injunction
stopping the city from evicting the Scouts until the federal lawsuit
is resolved.
**
WORTH NOTING...
Hitchens As Atheism's Drag Queen In reading the recent comments on
this subject I've noticed that we, as atheists, are often using the
language of the gay rights movement to describe what it's like to be
an atheist in a largely theistic society--particularly the desire
to 'come out' as atheists. While sexual orientation and religious
belief are by no means equivalent, and I think it remains harder
to come out as a homosexual than as an atheist, the metaphor is
interesting and helps us understand the appeal of the 'New Atheists.'
<http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/06/a-louder-athiesm.html>
The Right's Favorite Atheist S.E. Cupp is the right wing's
current media darling who doesn't believe in God but just
penned a book attacking the liberal media and defending
Christianity. Benyamin Cohen unravels the Cupp enigma.
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-13/se-cupp-attacks-newsweek-defends-christianity-and-atheism/?cid=hp:topnav:book>
Bachmann's Christian Counseling Business Gets Public Funds Andy
Birkey at the Minnesota Independent reports that a Christian
counseling center owned by Michele Bachmann and her husband has
received more than $30,000 in public funds since 2007. It even
comes from one of those "socialized medicine" systems the state of
Minnesota runs for poor people.
<http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2010/06/bachmanns_christian_counseling.php>
Touchdown Jesus On Fire, Ohio Statue Destroyed By Lightning (VIDEO)
A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along
a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night
and burned to the ground, police said. The "King of Kings" statue,
one of southwest Ohio's most familiar landmarks, had stood since
2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in
Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/15/king-of-kings-ohio-jesus_n_612360.html>
OPINION: Not knocking on heaven's door: Black atheists, urban
America Late Saturday afternoon, like clockwork, the street corner
preachers on Crenshaw and King Boulevard in South Los Angeles
take to the "stage." Decked out in flowing robes and dreadlocks,
they fulminate into their mikes about the universe, God's will
and "unnatural" homosexuals to a motley audience waiting for the
next express bus. Members of the Black Israelites, they are part
of a long tradition of performative religiosity in urban African
American communities.
<http://www.intersectionssouthla.org/index.php/story/not_knocking_on_heavens_door_black_atheists_urban_america/>
Stephen Colbert Author Interview: Stephen Prothero On The 8 Religions That
Rule The World And Why Their Differences Matter (VIDEO) Stephen
Prothero, Boston University professor and author of the new book
"God Is Not One," spoke to Stephen Colbert last night about his
book and why the eight religions that run the world have a lot of
important differences that we shouldn't overlook as much as we do. "I
wrote the book because religions are horribly misunderstood," he
said. "We have these atheists that are saying that all the religions
are the same and bad, and we have these multiculturalists that are
saying that all the religions are the same and good." Prothero sets
out to illuminate the differences in his book, because, he said,
"religions are not different paths going up the same mountain"
--they have different goals and different concerns.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/15/stephen-colbert-author-in_n_612739.html>
Haley's path to Christianity leaves some evangelicals uneasy Whispers
about Nikki Haley's Sikh heritage burst into public view in the final
days of South Carolina's Republican gubernatorial primary when state
Sen. Jake Knotts called the Indian-American legislator a "raghead."
<http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/15/haleys-path-to-christianity-leaves-some-evangelicals-uneasy/>
Russian Creationism Sounds Frighteningly Familiar Religious
fundamentalists have begun promoting creationism in Russia --
and they are doing so using many of the same strategies and
buzzwords adopted by fellow extremists in the United States
.<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-zimmerman/russian-creationism-sound_b_610266.html>
Godless billionaires ask super-rich to 'give it up' Who
says atheists, agnostics and freethinkers don't give a lot to
charity? Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, two of America's wealthiest
men and greatest philanthropists, issued a call Wednesday for the
nation's billionaires to make a moral commitment to donate at least
50% of their money to charity or other philanthropic causes. They've
even launched a website, The Giving Pledge, where the super-rich can
"take the pledge":
<http://www.examiner.com/x-8947-LA-Atheism-Examiner~y2010m6d17-Godless-billionaires-ask-superrich-to-give-it-up>
God and the Political Romantic Like most English-speaking scribes,
I've spent the last few weeks dipping in and out of Christopher
Hitchens' memoir, "Hitch-22." Of all the reviews to date, David
Runciman's essay in the London Review of Books seems to me to cut
closest to the heart of Hitch
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/
Murfreesboro mosque opponents pack commission meeting MURFREESBORO
- Hundreds of residents packed Thursday's Rutherford County
Commission meeting where dozens voiced opposition to a
planned Islamic center off Bradyville Pike in southeast
Murfreesboro.<http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100618/NEWS01/6180332/Murfreesboro>+mosque+opponents+pack+commission+meeting
Ethics Office Clears C Street House In Rent Probe The Office of
Congressional Ethics has sent letters to several residents of the
C Street Christian fellowship house informing them that there is no
"probable cause" to believe legislators are getting improper gifts
in the form of below-market rent, Roll Call reports. The house has
been the target of more than one allegation that the reported rent
of $950 for a furnished room amounts to an unreported gift or income.
Ohio's Jesus statue is latest religious statue to be struck
by lightning It appears God has sacrificed his only son. Again.
A bolt struck a 62-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ on Monday
outside a church in Monroe, Ohio, and the statue erupted in
flames. All that remains is a charred steel skeleton, its spindly
arms stretched toward heaven, a gesture that once earned it the
nickname "Touchdown Jesus."
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/15/AR2010061505135.html?hpid=topnews>
Richard Dawkins among academics calling for compulsory evolution
teaching at primary school Evolution should be taught to all primary
school pupils, according to leading scientists and academics.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7838020/Richard-Dawkins-among-academics-calling-for-compulsory-evolution-teaching-at-primary-school.html>
**
American Atheists Letter to the Editor Competition 2011
The Letter to the Editor Competition 2011 is open only to members
of American Atheists. To enter, send the uncut and complete
newspaper page containing your published letter. Letters must
be published between January 1 and December 31, 2010. Entries
need to be received on or before January 30, 2011. Include your
address, telephone number, and your e-mail address (should you
have one). Letters can cover any issue of importance which advances
the Atheist cause. Letters will be judged by educational content,
persuasiveness, and how well they portray Atheism in a positive
light. Members of the board, officers, and State and Regional
Directors are ineligible to enter.
The winner will be announced at the national Convention 2011, and
will receive an American Atheist award plaque and on free year
of membership in American Atheists. All entered letters will be
displayed at Convention 2011.
Send your entries to: Neal Cary (email) P. O. Box 828 Glen Allen, VA
23060-0828
VOICE OF REASON" PODCAST LAUNCHED
"The Voice of Reason" is a new Podcast service sponsored by
American Atheists featuring news and commentary of interest to the
non-believer community. Visit http://www.atheists.org/reason to
download episodes. You can also follow "The Voice of Reason" on
Twitter and receive updates when new broadcasts are available. Sign
up at http://www.twitter.com/aavoiceofreason .
**
CHECK OUT THE NOGODBLOG!
It is one of the fastest growing blogs in the
Atheist/Freethought/Secular Humanist community, and you can get in
on the discussion!
Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists is in
the Blogosphere at http://nogodblog.com/. It's filled with insight,
wit, hot news, controversial opinion -- and polite, thoughtful
commentary. So join the conversation! Sign up (it's free) by
visiting http://www.atheists.org/ and click on the blog navigation
button, or go directly to http://nogodblog.com/ .
**
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**
RESOURCES FROM AMERICAN ATHEISTS
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**
ABOUT THIS LIST...
AANEWS is a free service from American Atheists, a nationwide
movement founded by Madalyn Murray O'Hair that defends the civil
rights of nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church
and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.
You may forward, post or quote from this dispatch provided
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Atheists. Please do not post complete editions of this
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Internet Representative for American Atheists is Larry Mundinger. The President of American Atheists is
Ed Buckner.
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Monday, June 21, 2010

Dispraxis was edited

Recent changes on Dispraxis

Page My questions to Dr Robert M Price in mp3 format

edited by John F. Felix
My questions to Dr. Robert M. Price (mp3 format)
Here are links tosome .mp3 files, each containing one or more questions submitted by me to Dr. Robert M. Price, the "Biblegeek," who currently accepts Bible-related questions at: criticus@aol.com.
The official Website of Dr. Price has a page dedicated to the Biblegeek show:http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/biblegeek.htm. Also, check out his latest endeavor on the Center For Inquiry's podcastPoint of Inquiry,and his CFI blog: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/robertmprice.
The Biblegeek audio show ishosted by uStream.tv at:http://ustream.tv/channel/thebiblegeek.
Question # 1: A "Q" community?
Question # 5 & # 6: How reliable are Dr. Price's Pre-Nicene New Testament translations? and Evidence in the Septuagint Greek for reverse engineering by the MT.
Copyright (c) 2010 by John F. Felix. All rights reserved.


Friday, June 18, 2010

Keyword News: [atheism]

Modern libertarianism is usurpation of an earlier movement, with a firm foundation in freethought, atheism and progressivist feminism.

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Thursday, June 17, 2010 7:54 AM PDT

Voltairine de Cleyre: Penitent Priestess of Anarchism
Ludwig von Mises Institute Thu, 17 Jun 2010 05:21 AM PDT
In the late 1880s, Voltairine de Cleyre, a mere girl of 19 or 20, was traipsing around Western Michigan lecturing on Thomas Paine and atheism. She soon became one of anarchism's most prominent advocates.




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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Dispraxis was edited

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Page Damascus Document Sneak Peek

edited by John F. Felix (diagroup@)
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Making Humanism Relevant to African Americans


"Making Humanism Relevant to African Americans"

Saturday, July 10, 6:00-11:00 pm

Center for Inquiry Indiana
350 Canal Walk, Suite A
Indianapolis, IN 46202

Featuring Special Guest Speakers:

Indiana African American Humanism Speakers

Jamila Bey, Journalist and Comedian — "African American Humanists Coming Out"
Gilbert Holmes, Executive Director, ACLU of Indiana — "Vignettes from My Life—A Journey of Faith, Doubt, and Questioning"
Desmond Wood, CFI Indiana Friend of the Center — "Transformations"
Rod Ross — Remarks by CFI Indiana Friends of the Center
Plus, a performance by well known Indianapolis musicians, The Steve Weakley Group

Join us for a Meet & Greet Pre-Event Lunch/Dinner: 3:00 pm

The Kountry Kitchen Soul Food Place
1831 North College Avenue, Indianapolis
Reservations required by July 1.
Email indy@centerforinquiry.net for reservations.
(Everyone orders from the menu and pays for their own meal)

Everyone is invited to attend!

Register online or mail in registration.

$25 suggested donation or whatever you can afford.
Admission at the door will be on space-available basis.
The date of this event coincides with the 40th Annual Indiana Black Expo in Indianapolis.

Speaker Bios:


Jamila Bey (small)Jamila Bey is a journalist and comedian living in Washington, DC. Born to a Southern Baptist convert to Catholicism and a non-practicing Black Muslim, Jamila has formally renounced her "confused" belief in the supernatural and is now an out and proud Atheist. Jamila began her career covering government in her hometown of Pittsburgh and moved to DC where she was an editor for four years at National Public Radio. She's been a writer for hire for the better part of the last decade and is devoted to spreading the gospel of Logic, Reason, and Science to all those who may hear. Check out her article, "Black Women Who Use the "A" Word."
Gilbert HolmesGilbert Holmes is a long time board member and now Executive Director of ACLU of Indiana. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, University of Southern California, and the Indiana University School of Law. He has had a distinguished career in both government and the private sector including Commissioner, Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) and President/CEO of Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IndyGo).
Desmond WoodDesmond Wood was baptized as a Lutheran but drifted away from the church as he matured. He converted to Islam in 2000. During this time, he traveled to the Middle East and studied Arabic. In 2005, he began to hang out and study with an esoteric group in Indianapolois. After a year with them, he began to study diverse subjects on his own and discovered Center for Inquiry Indiana. He is a serious student of philosophy and religion as well as studying the art of classical music and jazz on the classical guitar.
Rod RossRod Ross is an accomplished painter and sculptor. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communication from Indiana University/Herron School of Art & Design. He has been a graphic design instructor, art teacher at a private school, faculty member of Clark College and Ivy Tech State College, and co-owner of a graphic design studio. Presently he is a teacher in Indianapolis Public Schools. He has been a member of CFI Indiana for several years. His website is www.rodross.com.


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Monday, April 19, 2010

Secular Humanism Online News -- April, 2010


CSH Online News Header

Vol.6 No.4, April, 2010

In This Issue:


   

Humanism Conference Coat-of-Arms LogoDon't Miss the Council’s 30th Year L.A. Conference!

The Council for Secular Humanism has announced the spectacular lineup for its 30th Anniversary Conference. Long in the planning, “Setting the Agenda: Secular Humanism’s Next 30 Years” will feature some of the most impressive names in science promotion and secularism today, including Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Robert Wright, James Randi, P.Z. Myers, Christopher diCarlo, Eugenie Scott, Paul Kurtz, Lawrence Krauss, Chris Mooney, Jennifer Michael Hecht, Victor Stenger, Shadia Drury, Mark Johnson, Barry Kosmin, Ibn Warraq, and many more.

Discounts Available for Early Birds

Starting about May 1, the public at large will be able to register for the conference at regular rates. The Council will have a Web page with online registration and do a national brochure mailing to all FREE INQUIRY and SKEPTICAL INQUIRER subscribers. But there is an early-bird discount for those in the know: advance-registration discounts are available in the April/May FREE INQUIRY magazine to give subscribers and single-issue purchasers a chance to register first at lower rates. Those discounts, however, will be available only through May 15, and only when people register by mail or phone using the form in that issue (now on newsstands).
Voices for Humanism
Apart from the roster of distinguished speakers, the conference will also feature the 15th anniversary celebration banquet for Center for Inquiry/Los Angeles, chaired by CFI/LA director James Underdown, which will include a live restaging of one of Steve Allen’s classic Meeting of Minds PBS episodes, starring Entourage’s Gary Cole as Steve Allen, with Charles Shuaghnessy (The Nanny), Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me), Robert Forster (Oscar nominee for Jackie Brown) and Dan Lauria (the father in The Wonder Years), who will portray intriguing historical figures live on stage.
The conference will be held in the lavishly restored, exuberantly art-deco Millennium Biltmore Hotel—the site of the Academy Awards ceremonies during the 1930s and 1940s and the on-site movie set of numerous Hollywood films, including Vertigo, Cocoon, and Ghostbusters.

Click here to see the full announcement


African Americans for Humanism to Explore New Directions at Washington, D.C. conference  

The first conference to be devoted exclusively to African Americans for Humanism (AAH), a program of the Council for Secular Humanism, will take place Sunday, May 16, at the Center for Inquiry’s Washington, D.C. office. The theme of the conference is “New Directions for African American Humanism.” It is scheduled to run from noon to 6 p.m.
Speakers will include AAH executive director Norm R. Allen Jr., CFI field organizer Debbie Goddard, freelance journalist Jamila Bey, and columnist Sikivu Hutchinson. Topics will include African American women and humanism, how to attract African Americans to organized humanism, the role of the clergy in the African American community, great African American humanists in history, and other subjects.
Registration is $45 for the general public, $35 for Friends of the Center and AAH members, and $15 for students. For abstracts of scheduled talks and registration information, visit:
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/dc/events/african_americans_for_humanism_conference/
This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Inquiry/D.C. and African Americans for Humanism.

Secular Organizations for Sobriety to Hold Festival of Recovery in Celebration of 25 Years  

Secular Organizations for Sobriety, also known as Save Our Selves (SOS) is set to mark 25 years of service this year when it hosts its third-annual Festival of Recovery on April 24, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Center for Inquiry/Los Angeles' Steve Allen Theater.
They do this in the shadow of Alcoholics Anonymous’ 75th anniversary. SOS is the world’s largest non-religious alterative to AA’s traditional “faith based” 12-Step program.
The ecumenical festival will feature all recovery options, including AA, Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, SOS, Women for Sobriety, SMART Recovery and mental health community recovery groups.
For more information, contact Jim Christopher via e-mail at  sos

Skeptics and Humanists Aid and Relief Effort (SHARE) Receives Notable Coverage in The New York Times

The Center for Inquiry’s charitable arm, Skeptics and Humanists Aid and Relief Effort (SHARE), received a notable mention in an April 2nd New York Times feature piece by distinguished columnist Samuel G. Freedman titled Atheists’ Collection Plate, With Religious Inspiration. (The Center is a supporting organization of the Council for Secular Humanism.)
Sherry Rook, CFI’s vice president of development, was quoted in the story, which detailed the recent efforts of the new “Foundation Beyond Belief,” founded by Dale McGowan.  
The full article is available online here.
SHARE raised more than $100,000 in relief funds following the devastating January 12 Haitian earthquake. The response was immediate, with $47,000 coming in less than 24 hours after announcing the campaign  on January 15.  All donations—100 percent with no operating costs retained—were sent directly to the secular aid group Doctors Without Borders, which suffered the loss of all three of its medical facilities and worked against difficulties to provide the basics of first-aid care and stabilization.
SHARE began as a project of the Council for Secular Humanism in 1989 to provide an alternative for those who wish to contribute to disaster relief efforts without the intermediary of a religious organization. At that time SHARE was called the Secular Humanist Aid and Relief Effort. In early 2010, the SHARE program was transferred to the Center for Inquiry's aegis and renamed Skeptics and Humanists Aid and Relief Effort, still maintaining the acronym SHARE. 

On the Legal Front:

Church-State Struggle Continues to Fester in East Ramapo, New York
By Oscar Cohen
Our school district is in the midst of a church-state First Amendment struggle. The tension is palpable on alternate Wednesday evenings during East Ramapo Central School District’s (ERCSD) board meetings (www.youtube.com/luckylouproduction) where five of the nine school board members, voted into office by the orthodox Jewish community, consistently vote as a bloc to advance the interests of religion-based private schools. Three of the nine Board members, and most of the audience, are residents who have attended and/or whose children attend the public schools; their advocacy for public school education is clear. The bloc of five’s whispering, furtiveness, threats, and refusal to respond to the public’s questions characterize many of the meetings. This is a manifestly unequal tug-of-war concerning the use of public funds for private religious schools versus the use of taxes to support secular public school education.
A major interest of the religious school-associated board members is the referral of parochial special education school children to private religious schools at taxpayer expense. Children with disabilities in the United States are entitled to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). Only when a school district cannot provide an appropriate special education to a child may the school district consider placing, and paying for, a child to attend a private school. The cost of such private service to the ERCSD can be as much as $70,000/year per student as opposed to approximately $25,000/year in a public school. ERCSD is known to offer excellent special education programs, superior to and less expensive than those in most private schools. There is no apparent educational reason for most children with disabilities in East Ramapo to be sent to private religious schools for such services at taxpayer expense.
Nevertheless, this winter the bloc of five, without prior discussion with the full board, fired the ERCSD district attorney of twenty-five years despite community objections, hiring instead a Long Island based lawyer with a well-documented reputation for placing children with disabilities in private religious schools at public expense. Every request for an explanation for hiring this attorney was met with silence. The new lawyer is charging the district $424,000 more than the previous school attorney, including $200 per meeting for the hundred-mile round trip he must take. The previous attorney worked in the county and did not charge for travel. This kind of decision is affecting students attending public schools in a negative way. For example, with the budget already tight, the district was unable to fund participation in a $300,000 nationally heralded math and science enrichment project for high school students. Thus, an exemplary program serving scores of high school students was in effect exchanged for a lawyer supporting the interests of the private religious schools.
The deliberate referrals of special education children to private religious schools at public expense violate the intent of federal law while contributing to the growing de facto segregation within ERCSD, where most attendees are students of color. The diminution of resources for students attending public schools is reflected by ERCSD graduation rates. Once among the highest achieving districts in Rockland County, ERCSD 2009 high school graduation rate has fallen to 67 percent compared to neighboring districts of Suffern (88 percent), Nyack (84 percent), and Pearl River (94 percent).
East Ramapo’s diversity is its strength. Its schools should serve as a magnet attracting homebuyers, teachers, school administrators, and business leaders. Instead, the contentious school board meetings, which generate undesirable media reports, and the board’s placing children with disabilities in private religious schools despite the existence of exemplary special education services in the East Ramapo public schools, are worrisome. Reducing resources to students in public schools in order to support private religious schools counters the spirit and letter of the law and will continue to undermine the vitality and growth of a diverse and wonderful community. 
------------------------------------------------------------ 
CFI Files Amicus Brief with High Court
On Monday, March 15, the Center for Inquiry (CFI) submitted an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. CFI argued that religious student organizations do not have the constitutional right to violate public colleges' non-discrimination policies. 
The case concerns a student chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) at the University of California, Hastings College of Law.  CLS sued the school after being denied official recognition and funding because the student group excluded non-Christian, gay and lesbian students, in violation of the school's non-discrimination policy. That policy requires that student groups can receive funding and official recognition only if they are open to all students. CLS maintains that enforcement of this policy interferes with the group’s right to free speech and free exercise of religion.
Read more here.
 ------------------------------------------------------------
UN Human Rights Council Passes 'Defamation of Religions' Resolution by Slim Margin
The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva has yet again passed a resolution, backed by Islamic countries, to suppress criticism of religion in the name of defending human rights. The Council passed a non-binding resolution on March 25 targeting the so-called "defamation of religions," with 20 votes in favor, 17 against, and 8 abstentions.
Read more here.

Office of Public Policy Update

With all the news coming out of Washington the past few weeks regarding health care, it may be hard to imagine that anything else has been happening. Rest assured, though, that the CFI Office of Public Policy (OPP) has been working hard! Here is your March update:
Civic Days Conference Is Almost Here!
Preparations for Civic Days are now in full swing. We have planned many fun and exciting events to compliment our lobby training and events on Capitol Hill. On Sunday evening, April 25, Civic Days participants will have the opportunity to have coffee, dessert, and conversation with Doug Crandall. Doug is currently the director of legislative affairs for the U.S. Forest Service. He has worked in government throughout his distinguished career and will be present to discuss his experience in both the executive and legislative branches of government. He’s also really cool and pours a mean martini…
Another event that we are delighted to highlight is a visit on Sunday afternoon to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, where our guests will have the opportunity to explore two exhibits on evolution: Since Darwin: The Evolution of Evolution and the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. These self-guided tours will explore the origins of humankind, from our ancestry and evolution to the key importance of Charles Darwin’s theory in unifying the biological sciences. As we explore the halls of the museum, we will ponder and discover answers to the question “What does it mean to be human?”
In addition to these events, we have also planned for Monday morning, April 26, a tour of Robert Ingersoll’s life in Washington D.C. led by Steve Lowe. On Monday afternoon, we will explore the Capitol Visitor Center. Don’t miss it!
For more information on Civic Days, or to register, please visit our event page at http://action.centerforinquiry.net/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=100171. If you have any questions, please contact Matt Separa by e-mail at msepara or by telephone at 202-xxx-xxxx. We hope to see you there!
CFI/Arizona Continues Lobbying Work since AZ Civic Days
OPP Director Toni Van Pelt conducted a Civic Days training in Arizona this February, leading members of CFI/SAZ in their first organized lobbying effort at the state capitol in Phoenix. Since then, the folks in Arizona have continued to lobby the Arizona State Legislature on important issues relating to science and secularism. They are working to form a local coalition to lobby Senator McCain to call for an up or down vote on the nomination of Dawn Johnsen for assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel. Keep up the great work, CFI/SAZ!
OPP Director Toni Van Pelt Speaks on Science in Public Policy
On March 20, Toni attended and spoke at the 4th annual Darwin Day Science Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. The conference was cosponsored by CFI/Indiana and the IUPUI Freethinkers and took place at the IUPUI Campus Center. The topic of Toni’s talk was “The Importance of Advocating for Science.” Highlighting CFI’s commitment to science and reason, Toni discussed the alarming frequency with which many Americans—including influential decision makers—fail to understand the nature of scientific inquiry and the integrity of empirical research. She further spoke on how this seeming disdain for science and its methods is aggravated by the excessive influence of religious doctrine on public policy and how the Office of Public Policy works to combat these injustices by advancing science and reason in the nation’s capital.
Repealing 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell'
President Obama recently announced that the time has come to finally repeal the discriminatory policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which prevents gay, lesbian, and bisexual soldiers from serving openly in our military. The OPP has been hard at work advocating for this repeal. CFI just published a position paper authored by Derek C. Araujo, CFI’s general counsel and director of CFI’s legal department. The paper carefully weighs the arguments for and against repealing DADT and concludes that maintaining the policy has significantly compromised the quality, effectiveness, and readiness of the United States military. The paper, along with all of CFI’s other position papers, is available here. Also, on March 23, OPP Director Toni Van Pelt and Policy Analyst Matt Separa attended a panel discussion at the Center for American Progress on implementing the repeal of DADT. A full round-up is available here.
Join us next month when we will have a full report on Civic Days and other exciting news!

Brookings Guide for Governments and Country’s School Boards Neglects Secularists

A Special Report from the Office of Public Policy
By Toni Van Pelt

The Center for Inquiry Office of Public Policy (OPP) actively monitors and comments on the workings of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and its President’s Advisory Council and affiliated taskforces. Earlier this year representatives of the OPP attended a Brookings Institution presentation introducing a publication titled Religious Expression in American Public Life. Although Brookings says the document is intended “to provide accessible and useful information for Americans about this area of law,” it may be of more use to religious rather than nonreligious Americans.
According to Brookings, the document discusses current legal protections of religious expression, including issues such as religion and politics; religious gatherings on government property; chaplains in legislative bodies, prisons, and the military; and religion in the workplace. The document also covers the history and future of “common-ground projects in the religious freedom field.”
The Brookings presenters, who were part of a much larger group that drafted the document, were described as a “diverse working group of religious and secular leaders.” They included Melissa Rogers, nonresident senior fellow with the Governance Studies Department at Brookings and director of Wake Forest University School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs. She spearheaded the production of this document following a conference held five years ago by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center and the McCormick Freedom Museum. A previous joint statement on religious expression in public schools was distributed to school boards around the country. The current effort, Religious Expression in American Public Life, is being published as a booklet in a question-and-answer format and will be distributed to local governments and school boards nationwide.
OPP’s initial review of the document found bias in the framing of the booklet’s questions. Most questions are couched in language that presumes religious expression is of primary importance. Scant attention is paid to the limits on religious expression imposed by the constitutional separation of church and state, and little or no attention is paid to the rights of nonbelievers. Nowhere does one find a discussion of how nonreligious students are protected by law from religious intrusion in public school. The conclusion of the document states “we agree that current laws protect the rights of people to express their religious convictions and practice their faith on government property and in public life as described here. Thus, we hope this document will help settle the debate whether current law provides any protection for the right of religious expression and practice in these settings (it clearly does).” Again, no concern is expressed for the rights of secularists.
According to Brookings Senior Fellow E.J. Dionne Jr., “the starting point for our dialogue and agreement is our shared conviction that religious liberty or freedom of conscience is a fundamental inalienable right for all people, religious and nonreligious.”
While the Office of Public Policy agrees this should be the starting point, OPP representatives do not believe this sentiment was followed in the development of this document. OPP staff will continue to protect our secular values and our secular democracy, and to monitor and challenge those who favor the religious.

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