Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by...to look to our own efforts here below to make this world a better place to live in, instead of the sort of place that the churches in all these centuries have made it. Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)
Freethought as defined by Wikipedia: Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science and logic and should not be influenced...as an "Open Post" forum, wisdom tells me that because of the controversial subject matter, it would be more expedient to have a "Moderated Forum" to keep out the brain dead and the spoilers.
Glory. Who among us doesn’t desire such achievement? None in this world can claim innocence in such matter. Even I am affected of it. It is like the wind that touches everyone’s...the coin in a cast. Nonetheless, glory is more satisfying when earned the hard way. Yes, I will not deny it, like a play that unfold, isn’t it more interesting to make things a little more dramatic.
Reading Graham Bird's very long Revolutionary Kant . Is Bird correct in thinking that Kant is opposing traditional idealism as well as traditional anti-skeptical rationalism and empiricism, abstaining altogether from the project of answering skepticism about scientific findings, but rather engendering skepticism about the right of philosophy to question those findings?
...us a sense of mission and place in our world. We are vegan because our brains are switched to "on" and we think for ourselves. We are vegans because the facts are inescapable, and the cool eye of rationalism lives and breathes in us all. This is why we are not fundamentalists, and why accusations of such a thing are quite seriously misguided. The only thing we have remotely in common with fundamentalists...
... as the wax would dampen. So he needed to strike a balance. Of course with his rising enthusiasm for Reason, Man suddenly had a hungry gleam in his eyes, a hunger to unveil a future Utopia based on rationalism, on the foundations of science and logic. Much like Icarus, overcome by the sublime feeling that flying gave him, Man soared joyfully ever higher. Everything seemed to be getting better. But...
Most importantly, all of those 21st Century listeners who've been hollering for the last 3 years for LA to be podcast, your "prayers" are answered. Little Atoms has teamed up with the venerable magazine.... Little Atoms, much to the annoyance of our enemies, is not going away. Congratulations to Neil, Padraig and Anthony, and thanks to ukskeptic for facilitating the "Skeptic" link-up..
Splendid bit of Hornet's Nest Poking by Charlie Brooker, who steams into the 9/11 Conspiracy nonsense with absolutely the correct aproach - to take the piss mercilessly. Oh, and in case you missed it...their preposterous radio show, are reduced to scribbling on pavements in chalk and shouting at pedestrians with megaphones. They'll never give up of course, but they've lost the argument. Completely
rhodri wrote about this a month or so back- The attempt to kill Indian rationalist Sanal Edamuruku live on TV by a "tantric guru"... The latest issue of the always excellent New Humanist ... On a vaguely related theme of charlatans being humiliated - I was delighted to see the savaging that "the Barefoot Doctor" received at the hands of Observer readers five years ago is still online
