You can email me at michael (at) michaelnugent (dot) com, or else you can leave a comment below.
251 thoughts on “Contact”
Matt Dillahunty, of course! He is president of the Atheist Community of Austin, host of the live internet radio show “Non-Prophets Radio” and of the Austin Public-access television cable TV show “The Atheist Experience”.
Just thought Virginia Woolf would be a good person to add to your list of famous atheists.
Donald Sutherland, Seth MacFarlane and Bill Maher would be great additions to your list of famous atheists.
Hi Michael,
just read your article in the irish time and was struck by its almost apologetic tone.
I am a non-militant atheist (so Dawkins is not on my mailing list!). I defend the right of the individual to believe in what they want provided it does not harm or negatively influence.
However I notice that a lot of literature and comments, related to atheism, mention or imply that atheism is a ‘rejection’. To quote your article ‘Why are atheists so certain that gods do not exist? Actually, most of us aren’t. We merely reject the assertion that one or more gods do exist, based on the best currently available evidence.’
But the question is more: why assume a god. in the absence of any evidence, why must the (even the term is misleading) ‘non-believers’ have to defend themselves, surely it should be the ‘believers’.
THis argument runs to the heart of teh true atheist position: I do not reject, I merely do no accept. This leaves the believer as the one who is looking for acceptence (of their views).
The total absence of evidence (to support a god-concept) makes atheism a default position.
keep up the good work
Finbarr
stephen hawkings!!
he authored the book the brief history of time and the grand design!! in which he has theoretically proved that god is not necessary!!
Derren Brown. Safe to say he’s an Atheist.
I second Derren Brown!
Woody Allen; Christopher Hitchens; Bill Maher; Richard Dawkins; Billy Connolly; George Carlin; Bill Gates; Noam Chomsky; Janeane Garofalo; Sir Ian McKellen; John Lennon; Henry Rollins… and the list goes on!
you have a wonderful mind! I teach creativity and innovation in goa at the goa institute of management, India.
I also teach raelity and language to the students…loved your thoughts sir.
be well. be loved.
cedric serpes
Mikey –
Just wanted to say Hi and commend you on the excellent job you’re doing for us down here, its so greatly appreciated as its saving us a lot of time and effort. The work you’re doing along with all the others who’s souls I own and who embrace our strong beliefs in socialism – democratic atheism – gay rights – abortion – sexual freedoms with beast and children – destruction of good families – marriage and all moral values – standing up against these fundamentalists – born again, Christians and Jews, and other religions involving phobias of god/s and the supernatural. Also important to mention are the removal of crosses – Jesus statues – the prayer and bible reading – the coinage phrase, ‘In God We Trust’ – of the USA – religious holidays – (Except our day of Halloween) from society as a whole. You with OBAMA – the Clintons – and all other like minded people are really helping our cause worldwide – you’re making my job so much easier – and I can’t wait to shake you hand and reward you and all the others like you –who are working for me – too spent eternity with me! Looking forwarded to meeting you all personally! Keep up the good work!
Signed – LUCIFER ie.. satan the devil — See ya soon!
Ps – Ted Kennedy and his brothers – along with John Paul II and little Michael sent their best – await your arrival.
I think people like Bill Maher and Stephen Hawking would be natural additions to the list.
Seth Macfarlane, creator of Family Guy and the Cleveland show could attract some attention.
Angela Gossow, singer of heavy metal band Arch Enemy is a devoted atheist as well.
I think these additions would cover a large area of people, ranging from intellectuals, comedy fans and metalheads. Like myself.
Thank you.
Daniel Andreassen, Denmark.
Hi Michael,
I’d like to see more Irish atheists on the list
regards,
Padraic
America’s first militant atheist, Charles Chilton Moore, should be in the Dead Atheist Society. He lived from 1837-1906.
Hi, I tried to click on the “see also” links on the “famous atheists by date” page, but unfortunately, all I got were 404 errors. I thought it might be good if you would know that 🙂
Jake
Im running Steamtown too this year. My fourth trip down the Highway to Hell that is the marathon. Best of luck to you!
Hi Michael,
Congratulations on your ovation from Richard Dawkins’ audience at the National Concert Hall yesterday evening. When Richard Dawkins’ replied to a question from an auditor about how to further progress secularism in Ireland, Richard Dawkins referred to Atheist Ireland and to yourself, by name, which induced a widespread ovation throughout the National Concert Hall. It was an evening of which to be proud: Richard Dawkins received frequent spontaneous ovations and the audience’s questions were overwhelmingly supportive of Richard Dawkins and his ideas. Yesterday evening proved that Ireland has matured and that Atheist Ireland, and you yourself, can take some credit for that progress. It was auspicious to observe that the audience was disproportionately teenage, twenty-something and thirty-something which indicates further progress for Irish secularism throughout the century.
Bravissimo!
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Thanks, Ryan. It is nice to see the developments of the past few decades. Twenty years ago we would have been trying to change public opinion on a lot of these matters; now we are trying to get the get the government to recognize that public opinion has already changed (in most of the country, anyway – there are still pockets of religious bigotry and misogyny to tackle). It’s an ongoing process, and we can each contribute a bit to it and keep it going.
Please contact me in relation to a request for an interview.
01 6445129
V interesting read thanks
How about Dara O’Briain, an excellent
example and someone said they wanted
to see more Irish
HETAC are considering the accreditation of the academic programme validation of certain complementary therapies. Something we should all be concern about. http://www.hetac.ie/publications_other.htm
(see links for Summary, Final Report etc).
Really enjoyed your talk at Cork Humanists yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself but intend joining Atheist Ireland as a start. Trained in New york I’m a practicing clinical psychiatrist in Co Kerry for the past four years.
Will try to access Atheist Ireland now.
Best,
Maeve
‘trific ‘tcle, Myths about atheism ‘scures its ‘cular values, in IrishTimes.
unjumbled, “right on”, and dispelling.
my thanks.
Hi Michael,
Impressed by your article in IT 16 inst.
I wish you well and would encourage you to keep on
fighting the good fight.
Audrey
Hi,
I have few questions and I need honest answers.
1) Is really God does not exist?
2) Why God does not exist?
3) Is it the nature that made us?
4) If yes, then the nature is God or the Creator, is it true?
5) If the nature or something else that made me then I think I have to obey its rules not mine is it right?
6) Why I should not believe in God? Is it because you hate religion?
I don’t know, could you please explain to the point and in relation to the questions above.
regards,
Sam
Michael how have you been. it’s been a long time.I see you’ve been busy living life.I would appreciate if you could write me a few lines on your life. Still the big bohs man i’m glab to see.I’m currently living in new jersey and have recently retired so have time to spend surfing the net and came across your web site. So write me take care
Your twitthis button does not work.
I would add Carl Sagan, Sigmund Freud, Max Stirner, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Trotsky, Stan Lee, Keira Knightley, Bruce Lee and obviously there are many more ones.
I would add Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Max Stirner, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Stan Lee, Bruce Lee and Keira Knightley. Thanks.
I vote for the addition of Michael Shermer! You just gotta love his charming good-old-boy personality and his ability to make complex philosophy sound simple. And he’s an ex-evangelical like me!
Michael,
A lot of people are asking if the debate Monday night (science/faith) was videotaped. I know you had it recorded, and was wondering if I could get a copy please.
Jo Peters
Just found out about you, your work, and your website and I want to thank you for the work you’re doing. Your website is now on my weekly must-see list and I’ll be sure to tell everyone at Seattle Atheists in case they haven’t seen it. Enjoyed your excellent speech at U College, Cork, also.
There are a few problems with the arguments in your Trinity spiel. For a start, the reason why the Irish Roman Catholic church had such influence in health & education was because the state had abdicated its responsibilities to provide those kinds of services to a reasonable level. So comparing Irish Catholic schools to state-run atheist institutions is based on historical confusion – in Ireland, the ABSENCE of the state was the problem….
Secondly, the western philosophical tradition has never managed to completely conceptually separate concepts such as “the Good,” “the Beautiful” and “the True.” So whether we like it or not, our truth-seeking activity is genealogically grounded in transcendentalist monotheism. It makes very little sense to swear an oath (for example, to tell “the truth”) on the basis of a metaphysical/transcendental vacuum. Atheists have no symbolic use for oaths – their symbolism would be meaningless to an atheist. Cultural non-post-monotheists don’t have a concept of “Truth” which is strictly equivalent to that generally internalized by people from initially monotheistic cultural groups. Write the word “truth” in any university essay for any professor specializing in sinology or east Asian aesthetics, and you’ll get it back with a big red X. Sure, “The Truth” has become a secularized concept, but the point remains that it’s still genealogically inseparable from monotheism. The linguistic philosopher Hilary Putnam has analyzed our conception of “truth” to the positing of a “God’s-eye-view,” and even Nietzsche remarks that we created Gods because we needed somebody who could see in the dark. So whether we like it or not, we still implicitly invoke the metaphysical in our ordinary day-to-day speech, insofar as that speech represents itself as a “truth-seeking” activity…. “God” is just buried so deep in the implicature our occidental day-to-day communicative norms that it’s impossible to remove him completely.
Thirdly, the insistence that only religious practitioners within certain religious denominations should work for certain religious institutions (such as schools) is maintained most stridently by religious minorities in Ireland, not by Catholic institutions. The minority religious groups’ argument (quite understandably) is that, in order for pluralism to be a meaningful political and social concept, different identities must first exist, as opposed to a single ill-formed monolithic non-identity. Anglicans, Presbyterians and Muslims are the people most often insisting that the ethos of their educational institutions should be preserved, not Roman Catholics. This is the aspect of the pluralism issue which atheists don’t really get – it’s not just about literal personal belief – it’s about culture and identity in a much broader sense. Personally, I think that the fact that Ireland was the first nation-state in the EU to publicly fund an Islamic primary school makes indicates a conception of pluralism which is quite sophisticated, far more sophisticated than blatantly assimilationist policies such as those in France, for example. Ultimately, pluralism is about everybody having the opportunity to throw their values into the public arena.
The philosopher Paul Feyerabend once argued that, while the written constitutions of most western nation-states make some passing reference to “cherishing all traditions equally,” or words to that effect, what actually happens in the best possible case scenario is that everybody, regardless of their ethnic, religious or cultural background, is given equal access the same tradition, and that tradition is called scientific post-industrialism. This is the clandestine state-religion of every nation-state in the western world, including Ireland. And before you answer that science is just a matter of fact, please note that phenomenologists and philosophers of natural science (including eminently secular people like Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend) began deconstructing the intellectual naivete of that position a long long long time ago…. You can dismiss religious people’s skepticism about the epistemic foundations of what we call “the scientific method,” but to ignore everybody else’s grounds for skepticism would be a bit obtuse, especially considering that skepticism is one of the intellectual virtues which you claim to prioritize most highly….
Non-Holy Moly, isn’t or wasn’t this the ‘add an atheist’ or atheiaddendum page? Now I can’t just add a name and be quiet without adding a comment as well. I second many of the additions above and add one or two: most notably the great philosophers like Bertrand Russel, Nietsche, Kant, Hume, Locke, Hobbs,etc. and a few great scientists and mathematicians like Hawking, Godel…to which I add the non-great popularist Carl Sagan.
Thanks for such an interesting and thought-provoking and intelligence-provoking webpage. Too few of the ilk out there. Sorry the comments turn into just hissy fits from the respective bleachers. Those of us down on the field of play don’t appreciate the cheap distraction.
Though definitely definitely no longer an atheist, I find the intelligence, wit, and well-meaning of many if not most on the list to be ‘majorly’ refreshing. (I’m an Americate, not an Irishman)
The “trouble with atheists,” it seems to me, is the arrogance and ill-will that many seem to aim at theists, spawned no doubt, as with other minority populations, from the defensive position they are placed in by the majority population. So I applaud the well-mannered and witty like Hitchens and the ‘without unequivocal proof on either side, I choose non-offensive, non-proselytizing atheism’ [I’m paraphrasing, not really quoting] of James Randi . The other “trouble with atheists” is that they, by and large, lump all theism into Judeo-Christian tradition and criticize on that basis, and with a shallow understanding of any but perhaps standard, non-repentant (a pun) Catholicism. So please start doing unto theists as you would do unto your atheist self: treat strangers with respect, non-judgment, kind humor & kindness void of pity; all the things you have wished from them. Please set a good example, in other words, for the theists you demure. Eschew arrogance & ill-will in them as you. Atheism doesn’t make you anything but you, any more than any religion, creed or philosophy automatically makes you something you were not.
Hi Michael,
I emailed you regarding a talk this Saturday. Can you give me a call on 087 7810037, if you can.
Thanks,
Shona
Mr. Nugent, as a courtesy I am notifying you about this blog post I made which mentions you:
Steven Pinker would be a good addition. I am a rather ‘lonely’ atheist in South Africa, a beautiful country riddled with superstition. But heard on the news the other day that our society is 19% less religious than it was in previous times. [Radio 702 South Africa.]
Thanks for your list of Atheists and comments. Because we have no support groups down here, I enjoy these websites and the You Tube debates.
Regards,
Christiaan
Padraig McGrath stated in post 33
“There are a few problems with the arguments in your Trinity spiel. For a start, the reason why the Irish Roman Catholic church had such influence in health & education was because the state had abdicated its responsibilities to provide those kinds of services to a reasonable level. So comparing Irish Catholic schools to state-run atheist institutions is based on historical confusion – in Ireland, the ABSENCE of the state was the problem….”
Here is a quote from http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/695/Ireland-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html which suggests that, rather than the state abdicating its reponsibilties, religious interests, both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland elbowed the state out of education.
“Perhaps the most significant time in the establishment of a countrywide, state-aided educational system of elementary schools was in 1831, championed by Lord Edward G.S.M. Stanley. Conflicts immediately arose over the matter of keeping religious influence out of schools because the elementary schools were told that churches had the right to provide pupils with supplementary religious education. Even though, in theory, no aid was to be given to the primary schools and emerging secondary schools, in reality, religious influences permeated all levels of the educational system, particularly the school boards, which were headed by priests or vicars, depending on the district’s religious makeup.
At first, however, Protestants were the main critics against “godless” schools, while Catholic leaders, worried about high illiteracy rates among their people, generally supported the state-run educational system, at least at first. Eventually, Catholics came to despise the system, saying students were exposed to pro-British and anti-Catholic influences. Nonetheless, the formation of national schools was an important step forward in the history of education in Ireland. It was intended to give an equal education to all pupils without meddling from churches. It gave Irish schools a semblance of structure, and it established a policy of local districts to pick up their fair share of costs for teacher salaries, school lots and building costs, and schoolbooks.”
It is inspiring (see..we can use that word too) to note that Ireland is rapidly becoming secularized, a trend across most of Europe, where science and philosophy and a sense of irony push back against the notions of provincial, ignorant, and superstitious writings long ago by provincial, ignorant, superstitious people in a backward corner of civilization. When every discipline of science exposes the holy books of all 3 monotheisms as superstitious man made rubbish that has been perpetuated and enforced by virtually every regime through out Europe and western Asia for 2 millennia. Savour, if you will, the paltry couple of hundred years of our human existence where in at least some small areas of our planet we can question or criticize organized religion without fear for our lives. Feel too the strident and powerful and deadly and serious counter push of the religious. From Canada I cast a baleful eye to the south where there is a concerted attempt to marginalize freethinking, atheism, and even science. The exact opposite direction taken by your country due to the efforts of people like yourself. Although prohibited by law to impose any religious belief upon anyone else(haleighluja!) there is a great deal of lawyering going on to do just that. Laws and policies are trying to be snuck through customs, as it were, imposing religious dogma as the law of the land. This is a frightfully powerful lobby, backed by an overwhelming majority of its citizens. Ways have already be found to skirt around the separation of church and state, the first nation on the planet to adopt this principle. They are capable of voting in a government with a president sympathetic to these causes who would have the power to appoint supreme court judges and judicial appointees. Ammendments to the constitution have been both repealed and added to shape and design desired social outcomes before. This is troubling and this is real. Promulgation of religion has always been backed by government. And we can all hearken back to the days when religion had it all their own way! Indeed we see it now among us. Thank God (heh heh) for people and organizations like yourselves.
Michael, I previously submitted for quotation the set and a few of the names of the great/famous philosophers who were atheists. I even threw in the mathematician Kurt Godel, but he is commonly considered a theist; one could find an argument for either side, but then who wants to argue?
Hello Michael!
I’ve been posting comments recently and I was surprised that ine of my last ones appeared as “comment awaiting moderation”. Please, I consider it very unfair that some users have really made abuses of expression insulting others and now when I try to answer them in a serious way I’m censored! Please, again, you cannot put yourself on the side of fundamentalists inside your own website.
Emmanuel, I’ve approved that comment. I don’t know why the software put it into moderation.
Oh c’mmon man, don’t do it again. Comment 315 has been censored. I just wanna have a little bit of fun against that chris, just a little of red hot pepper in the conversation.
By the way, I suggest you to visit a webpage called squidoo.I’ve visited it just a couple of times and at least a part of it is dedicated to atheist famous people and movies. That was amazing!
Dear Michael:
There is a person that you have already spoken to, that uses the name “chris” who usually posts offensive comments in the famous atheists section. I’ve been answering to him in part because I know he is not going to shut up. If a very young or immature person watches that he always finishes the discussions, then could think that he is right. I suggest you to expelt him from the side and/or put all the new comments in evaluation before allowing them to be published. Thanks.
Dear Michael:
I don’t know if you paid attention to my last comment directed to you, but I see something unfair happening. You allowed that person “chris” to publish a comment calling my country a shit-hole. Then I try to answer in a more polite way and my comment is censored. I consider this unfair. Please, allow my comment to be published if you did the same with his.
Hi Michael!
I’ve already posted an edited version of my last comment. If possible, I would like you to publish this last version (#372). Thanks and excuses.
Dear Michael:
I have read that you have the intention to write a book about atheism. I think it would be amazing to do it about the main thoughts and quotes from remarkable atheists during the history. Something like The Portable Atheist, but more complete. We could start with Epicurus and Socrates and finish with you, for example ;-P Some quotes from Russell and Sagan would fit perfect. I would like you to mention the story of Hypathia and other atheist/agnostic women. And I see you already know a lot about atheists.
Second suggestion: to me it is senseless to separate the section famous atheists from dead atheists. In fact, I know that two of the listed famous ones are deceased, which are Christopher Hitchens and George Carlin. In other sides I have found that they mixture the past and the present ones but unfortunatelly the way they put the info is not the best one. You have done it very well, so this could be the exception (by the way, I may know you are very busy but there are a lot of names missing in both lists, you have work to do :-D)
Hello Michael, My comment #373 is currently awaiting moderation. What did I do? I hardly ever fucking swear, and I didn’t insult anyone except (mildly) Karl Marx.
Story of my life. I get ignored where ever I go. Et tu, Michael?
@ Christopher Lowe
Actually I have not ignored you, however you haven’t written anything to me lastly. Maybe Michael is busy now. Once one of my comments was two days awaiting aproval. I know it’s annoying and I have expressed him that sometimes I consider unfair his criteria.
If Y’all are done wit yer intellectual circle jerk…and yer colons are clear for takeoff… Francois Leotard, Melvin Pantyraid, Christine Tantric, Alan M. Turing. No separation of Church and Turing. You are a disorganized machine. Run to your site cum nicety forthwith and without remorse; leaving us in pacem.
Great site Michael, apart from the nutjobs, who are funny I suppose if they weren’t so sad. Carl Sagan is your biggest omission I reckon, but the list is long indeed and thankfully, for humanity’s sake, getting longer all the time.
WC Fields, Johnny von Neumann, Johnny von Goethe, WD 40, Richard Feynman.
Hello Michael, love your site, but just so`s you know; Amanda Donohoe (not Donohue), isn`t an American (sorry reasearchers). She was born on the 29th of June 1962, London, ENGLAND, U.K. Keep flying the Atheist flag. Live long and prosper! x
Hi Michael, not altogether sure if my emails have been delivering to you. I’m free for that interview anytime from Thursday on so whenever suits you would be great. My mobile number is 086 0888880. Thanks very much. Robert Higgins
Hi Michael, saw you on Vincent Browne’s new show last night. Well done in very difficult circumstances. It reminded me of (I think it was) Joe Higgins’ remark about how trying to argue with Bertie Ahern was like trying to play handball against a haystack – very difficult to have a meaningful debate when the opposition appears unable to make a meaningful statement about their beliefs.
Well done, again. Your work is much appreciated by many.
Conor Kelly.
Hi Mike,
I regard organised atheism as just another cult with its .semi-religious rituals. Why doed Dawkins, the St Paul of atheism, feel he has a mission to convert mankind to to his views
? Mankind always had tgo believe in something in order to explain the mystery of existence. Organised atheism as well as modern political ideologies are only substitute religions. There are de la carte atheists, who pick and choose parts of the atheist credo that suits them. They swear oaths to take seats in parliaments,to join the security forces and even act as godparents to children of relatives; they even have religious funerals when they die and have bishops in attendance.
Iam sure there are some atheists like Stalin and Mussolini that you don’t incluse in your calendar.
Ronnie
Munshigonj Union of Satkhira district,Bangladesh,though unique being just in the lap of the Sundarbans,is a land of superstition,people here are blindly obsessed with their respective supposed-sure-saver-creator-giver Almighty.Round the clock they are hysterically self-employed for mystic devil-devine causes-religiously spending their all,while they themselves,their families,their children are starving,they are making their children drop from schools for the very cause,some clever self claimed godguys are just making money out of others’innocence.As,there are different absolute creators,their arguments,their convictions germ communal tentions,a worldwide scenario,shamefully much more in this advanced century.If some permanent institution or camps can be installed here at intervals and preach them scientitic knowledges lying behind all causalities,people here surely would not do anything fanatic at impusle under the false beliefs-they surely would be much less incited by poisonous preaching of their religious wiseacres.Hopefully,people here though blind but not bloody,but the way the world is getting on they soon will be horribly bloody.Hope,if guided, people will understand and appreciate the truth and march by themselves to humanism.
Regards,
I really like what your promoting, and I was delighted to read about how you’re working with educators to add atheism curriculum to the elementary school system in Ireland.
In an effort to try to promote atheists, such as yourself, I just added a link to your blog from my web site, which you can see here:
Thanks for the great work you’re doing. I sincerely hope your efforts to promote “absence of theism” (atheism) as something that shouldn’t be vilified succeeds beyond your intent and expectation.
Yours very truly,
Randolf Richardson of the Atheist Frontier.
Thanks for your list of Atheists (AND the rest of the site).
Maybe Marilyn Manson is a good person to add. Many people say he is very provocative, but in discussions, he is very wellspoken and patient.
Keep up the good work!
Greatings from the Netherlands.
-JK-
Just a couple who would be a good addition Doug Stanhope and frontman from Muse Matt Bellamy.
Stephen Fry, Mitch Benn, Brian Cox, Dara O’Briain, Patrick Moore. All Brits or Irish.
Michael
Good to meet last night
We have submitted a few suggestions for changing the constitution though I think the best thing is not to tamper with it but re-write it as the PDs attempted
Look at our suggestion for a new preamble which excludes the Trinity and God and was put together by Mary Robinson, Sean McBride and the churches in the 70s. It is pretty good. It is under OTHER and in the name of Reform.
I saw Jane Donnelly re the Angelus. She was good. I think we need to say no other public broadcaster in the world relays it nor does Vatican radio. Also the prayer contains beliefs exclusive to RCs so is offensive to all other religions and none.
Very good website….if you can recomment anyone who can do our one, please let me know.
Regards
Robin
Enjoy your site. Thanks to you Leonie Hilliard (Ray “Bananaman” Comfort) and I have become friends. Anyway, you asked for suggestions for atheist songs. Roger Waters (late of Pink Floyd) has a solo album called “Amused to Death” which is full of thoughtful atheism and antitheism. “What God Wants” Parts I,II,III must rank amongst the best atheist songs ever. His last Pink Floyd album “The Final Cut” contains some good atheist stuff, as does “Animals” and”Dark Side of the Moon.”
Regards,
Scott de Long
You did nor include Stalin or any of the Bolsheviks among your list of Atheists. Do you think all atheists are secular saints? I think you are little naive.
Some of the world’s vilest people have been atheists such as Lenin, Stalin, Hitler There is something ugly and intolerant about aggressive atheism. If you do not believe, then fine but do not go on and on about it
@ Robin Bury.
Hi, Robin,
What is “aggressive atheism”; is it like “aggressive Christianity” or “aggressive Islam”or “aggressive Buddhism” ?
Robin & Ronnie,
If yours is an argument it is a bit silly. Why would any group, including atheists and religionists, “promote” by mentioning members of whom they are not proud or whose words would be refuted by their deeds? Not an oversight nor a dodge.
I really enjoyed this article. Thanks for composing it. I didn’t see any artist on the list though & off the top of my head I thought of Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera.
Some of the most ‘aggressive’ people in history have been ‘believers’ of any other thought or idea. In every group you will find extremist. Besides if you read the bible ‘god’ killed WAY more people than Stalin or Hitler just with the flood… & they were ancestral jews & jesus so techanically according to ‘believers’ proclaimed beliefs ..they followed someone who killed more Jews than Hitler!…How was god a good guy?
Besides all religions propse its followers should propogate the beliefs so if you are a ‘true’ believer technically by your own beliefs standards you have to be aggressive/militant. And I can’t tell you how many people who are religious go on & on about it to include even trying to force you to let them ‘pray’ for you (which pisses me off to no end) especially once they find out you don’t believe.
The Death total attributed to christianity is approximated around 17 million. The precentages are staggering for religion being far more vile & having intolerance than a few extreme athiest.
& btw… Hilter was catholic not atheist & baptized in 1889 was never ex-communicated. Here is a qoute from Hitler “we were convinced that the people need & require this faith. We have therefor undertaken to fight against the atheist movement, & that not merely with a few ttheoretical declarations: we have stamped it out” He also spoke of christian beliefs & ideas in his speeches & german christians supported him.
Asimov died in 92 but added in 94?
Dear Michael
Just wondering could you send me a mail with your contact details?
Kind Regards
Sinead
Adam Savage (from Mythbusters)
Stephen Fry
Was pleased to see Tom Lehrer on the list. 🙂
How about adding Eamon Gilmore and Ruairi Quinn, they don’t believe in God or indeed the need to keep their promises to protect those most vulnerable in Irish society.
Adh mor
Hi,
I’m interested in atheism and have noticed that it is really a middle class group who make up the members. What does this say about atheism? I think we need to reflect on this
John, it is partly because people in poorer societies are more vulnerable to religious thinking. Where people are focused on survival values, societies tend to have traditional religious values. When people shift towards self-expression values, societies become more secular rational.
Michael just to let you know, your friend Joe Davis in in hospital at the moment possibly dying following a heart attack, I’m John Fox a friend of his at if you need to contact me at [***********] or phone me at [*********], thank you very much
Michael, I’m disappointed with you view ” that poorer people are more vulnerable to religious thinking’. This is the problem with us in atheism – middle class. I regret your comment betrayed this attitude.
Thanks, John Fox. That’s very sad news.
John, it’s not a personal view of mine. It is based on the ongoing outcomes of the World Values Survey.
This is an ongoing global research project by a team of interdisciplinary social scientists, who have been researching world values in a scientific way for the past twenty five years. They have discovered that two sets of values dominate the picture.
When individual people are focusing on survival values, then societies tend to have traditional religious values.
But when investment in health, education, communications technology and democracy enable individuals to shift from survival values to self-expression values, that causes society to shift away from traditional religious values and towards secular rational values.
And that is happening throughout the world, at different speeds in different places, with the exception of Africa. Personal values have been shifting towards self-expression, and society values have been shifting towards secular-rational.
I think your use of the word ‘vulnerable’ betrayed a bias, but not to say that it is unearned. Thanks for the information on the survey. It appears there may be a bias going in, but it’s still valuable information. Once I’ve studied it, I may comment. Personal experiences support the connection between survival thinking and religious values & affiliation by individuals. On a societal level it may be clearer to extrapolate. I would only argue prima facie that your linking of secular with rational is unsupportable and sounds like bias. Is that in any way coming from the survey data or from you personally?
There are too many general points made without any substantional support in Michaels narrative. I’ve been very challenged and informed bu Primo Levi writings and human experience. General comments on vague surveys cheapen what he and others suffered and where they found ultimate meaning. But, middle class smugness is always right.
J9, the extrapolation from individual to society comes from an analysis on the World Values Survey website, not from me.
The description ‘Secular Rational Values’ also comes from the World Values Survey website, not from me.
John, I didn’t make a general comment on a vague survey without substantial support. I have linked to the website of the World Values Survey, which provides substantiation for what I am saying.
The results of those surveys don’t in any way cheapen what Primo Levi or others suffered or where he or others found (what they considered to be ultimate) meaning.
Describing being middle class as being a problem, and associating being middle class with being smug, don’t help your argument.
I’ve just finished reading Poe Francie encyclical ‘ The Joy of the Gospel’and his recent interview covering a range of topics. Could I preposr that on behalf of atheist Ireland we acknowledge the positive contribution he has made since become Pope….
To our Christian brothers on the celebration of our patron Patrick have a good weekend. From all atheists of good will and peace.
Following on my recent suggestion of message of support to Pope Francis, I was encouraged to hear that fellow atheist Evana Bachik has supported a motion to invite him to the Seanad.
The Pope may have given a little nod towards the atheists and seems to be focusing on the benevolent acts his church pursues, but don’t forget it is a corporation that seeks profits and is dedicated to spreading superstition. It is good we have a pope not “behaving badly”, but dream on if you think he’ll reform any of the core tenets of Catholicism.
Christopher. I don’t need to dream on about the Pope changing tenets of Christian faith. In fact, why should he! I’m more interested in his humanity and reaching out in solidarity to all people of faith and none. He has filled a vacuum left by many leaders including, regrettably, many leading atheists.
Well said, John. You don’t have to be a papist nor a theist nor a religionairre to welcome and engage reform and decency. Isn’t that what we all hope for? Unless it is disingenuous or ulteriorly motivated.
boy are you all in for a big surprise on Judgment Day !!!!!! =) In fact Hell is too good for you all.
The forthcoming meeting between M. Higgins and Elizabeth is a milestone for atheism. Our atheist president and the head of the Church of England. I wish them well.
Awww….Barbara, don’t be so mean spirited. If Hell is good enough for you then it should be good enough for us too!
Did anyone read David Quinns recent essay, ‘The atheists act of Faith? Any comments….
Oh Barbara, you are already surprised. If there were a Hell, why wouldn’t you be good enough for it right now? Wouldn’t that be the place for Haters such as ye? This is why I put no faith in humanity.
While a welcome the milestone of an Irish atheist president meeting the head of the Church of England, I was saddened by the gratuitous extravagant antics. Regrettably atheism is becoming associated with wealth…….
heard you this evening on the Joe Duffy show on RTE radio 1, you were inspirational well done Michael
The media is favourable to us atheists at present. We have to be careful though, it was once favourable to organised religion. Let’s not take their support for granted.
Interesting article in the Irish Times today by Rosemary McCabe – ‘what an atheist can learn at Mass’. I’m not in favour of our atheist know all Dawkins.
As we approach local and European elections it looks like Labour will suffer loss of seats. It is regrettable and sad that the political party with the greatest number of atheists have abandoned the poor of society. As an atheist I find this disturbing. Does the privileges of public office trump the needs of working people? Have we a social conscience?….
@John
Actually, what you are talking about is a very complex issue. From the beginning, it’s obvious that the behaviour of the Labour Party is not representative of all atheists. Some liberals such as Ayn Rand and Adam Smith were atheist. The problem about the lack of social conscience goes far beyond the atheist phenomena and has a relationship with cultural problems, as we live in a very individualistic society. Many of us are told to be selfish, and sometimes even if we grow in very conservative families, like myself, we can see serious moral inconsistencies, for example my parents punished me for giving my bicycle even if I never learned how to ride it. Those things happen and we must take into consideration that atheist have to tolerate many prejidices of people that say that we are going to burn in hell and those things. I understand we must be kind and generous but sometimes it becomes difficult, you know.
Emmanuel, I too understand we must be kind and generous. I have good friends who are catholic, they are good decent people. In fact, their charity, St. Vincent De Paul feeds hungry people. My point is that there are Five atheist cabinet members, an atheist president and fellow atheist senators! Yet poor people are disproportionately punished! Ergo who in the name of decent atheism is speaking up for them?
I think it’s wrong to assume that the Labour party is not speaking for the poor; although I would like to see them taking a position on and acting towards a basic income for every man, woman and child and establishing a Social Protection Floor below which no person should be condemned to sink.
I believe the Party’s ideal is based on social and distributive justice but it cannot achieve this objective sustainably without first creating a greater and more secure pot from which to distribute.
In the meantime are they failing to the point that they are unable to persuade their Government partner to share fairly what little we do have?
It’s a fact that poor people have been more disproportionately punished by austerity at a time when Labour are in power! All the upper echelons of Labour who are atheists earn multiples of the industrial wage. For us, in atheism this is a real credibility problem that we cannot ignore.
The axiom “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” was the golden rule adopted by Karl Marx (for communism rather than atheism). It is still a worthy aspiration for any -ism interested in human dignity.
However, our global market economy has added a corollary that goes something like this: To each according to his/her ability (or their leverage), from each according to what can be extracted painlessly from them.
Trinity College has dropped the bible as a symbol. But why did they not go all the way and scrap the name Trinity? One could suspect that they sold themselves out to the commercial world for money….
Does anyone contribute here anymore?
You forgot about Harry Potter! Daniel Radcliffe
I recently wrote on this site about the real concern that the Labour party had abandoned poor people. The election results proved the obvious. I also think this is a bad time for us atheists as the Labour party has little influence in the country, so there is no longer a strong atheist representation at local or national level.
Where does R. Dawkins stand on fairy – tales?
– Stephen Fry (Alan Davies and probably most of the “cast” of QI)
– Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA-member)
You might be interested in the following taken from the Times;
LAGOS; A chemical engineer from a Muslim family claims to have been beaten, drugged and held against his will in a Nigerian mental hospital after being committed by his relatives for being an athiest. Mubarak Bala, 29, says he is being detained in a psychiatric ward in Kano, after his father, an Islamic leader, beat and sedated him and had him declared insane. His father said that he had acted in his son’s best interests by committing him as he ‘could be lynched for denying God exists.’
30Aug14…..
……there is NO such thing as an atheist. Try all they might to convince people that they are atheists, it just does NOT work.
Agnostic —– YES
Atheist ——–NO
Ps:…..There have been many, many thousands of so self-proclaimed atheists in the past, that when they found themselves at death’s door…..cried out for absolution.
…and so they should for the life of LIES they lived.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
I disagree. Look at it this way. There are theists and atheists. If one believes there is a god or gods one is a theist. On the other hand if one believes there is no god one is an atheist.
A belief that there is a god is bestowed on many people by their parents but when they reach the ability to think for themselves they stop believing in their pre-packaged god. They may then seek a god that fits better with their individual inclinations.
Some may reach the conclusion that it is impossible to know whether or not there is a god and they become agnostics. But the true atheist comes to the BELIEF that there is NO god.
Now it is possible that many of the self-proclaimed atheists that you referred to were in fact agnostics who were open to a change of mind in times of danger. Agnosticism is not a belief and so is not the acceptance of an article of faith.
A true atheist, unless s/he chooses for some reason to change her/his opinion and thus her/his belief, will remain faithful to her/his atheistic convitions.
If you really want to debunk atheists’ default position of no existence of the supernatural, well then get to work. Give atheists (hold your nose!) the respect of coming to their conclusions honestly. Being offended by the point of view contrary to yours might also be come by honestly, but it is not an argument in your favour. What is it that makes you so sure you have a deity which to serve and do It’s will? And, this is the crux of the biscuit, what makes you sure you’ve got that right?
Bobloblolly, ultramaroon. Christopher Hitchens for one went to his deathbed unchanged. Many deists have gone scared and doubted on their deathbeds. That’s an old saw about foxholes. You’ve made no point. Saying is not believing and fear does not make belief nor unbelief. Grow up and into. what are you really mad about?
04Oct14…..Do you atheists think that you require as much Faith to be an atheist as for a person to believe in their religious Faith…??
BobLoblah
How much faith does it take to believe 2 + 2 = 4?
06Oct14…..
You can add to your list of ‘wannabeeee’ atheists…..
Tom Cruise
Richard Burton
Liza Minelli
Liz Taylor
All the Kardasians
Bill Clinton
Hilliary Clinton
Barack Obama
Rev. Al Sharpton
Rev. Jesse Jackson
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Jr.
Frank Sinatra
Alice Cooper
Ozzy Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne
Mickey Rooney
B.B. King
Sammy Davis Jr.
Gary Coleman (short-ass Gary )
Jane Fonda
Ted Turner
Henry Fonda
Bridget Fonda
Henry VIII
Caligula
Caesar
Nero
Herod
Former President Doc Chevalier
Idi Amin
Mohammed
ALL members of ISIL ( ISIS )
(To be continued)
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
As a moderate atheist, I find the utterings of the Pope of unbelief Richard Dawkins self serving and arrogant and really offensive to people coping with disabilities.
john
07Oct14…..There is NO such thing as a ‘ moderate ‘ atheist.
First of all, there is NO such thing as an atheist. Agnostic = yes, but atheist = no. Its only a word given a meaning.
Using the word ‘ moderate ‘ is like someone saying they are half-pregnant.
Ps: By the way, how do you know that there is NO God…!!!!!!!
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
I was born and raised an atheist. Don’t you dare insinuate there is no such thing as atheism. You might wish us to disappear, but then again wish- thinking and promoting that which cannot be anything but conjecture is the theist thing isn’t it?. Atheists utterly reject the supernatural, and consider religious dogma as complete nonsense. We also consider there is no need to replace religion with anything else.
Hatheists may ‘ think ‘ that they utterly reject the supernatural ( so do Christians – especially Roman Catholics ) but having FAITH ( which is something you don’t have ) enables them to ‘ believe ‘ in God and the Holy Trinity. To Catholics this is NOT supernatural. There are no boogy mans, nor fairies, nor dragons, nor athheists. Only wannabees.
Bob
We can’t be sure that there is no god, or gods. We just don’t see any evidence for them.
Agnostic = Not Knowing
Atheistic = Not Believing
None of us have seen a god/gods so we cannot know.
I have seen no evidence for god/gods so I cannot believe.
You pose a very interesting statement ‘ I have seen no evidence for god/gods so I cannot believe ‘…..but
…and its a big but….’ you have seen no evidence for there being NO God either. ‘
There is an old saying ” people of Faith ” and BobLoblah presumes that you just don’t have Faith.
Not having Faith does NOT make you right either.
Ps: Physicists believe that there are ‘ black holes ‘ out there in space even though they cannot see them.
Little Albert Einstein was taken to be such a fool when he proposed
that space bent and that time warped….and that the sun’s rays
on an eclipse proved that light did bend.
@ BobLoblah
Well fellow, I don’t wanna prank but you actually sound like a troll when you say such insults against atheists calling us “hatheists” and saying that real atheists don’t exist. If you pretend to sound reasonable you have to deffend reasonable postures and there is a basic principle of logic (you can call it whatever you want) according to which the weight of the proof rests on the one who affirms something. How can I prove that minotaures, fairies, gnomes, cyclops and all those beings of mythology do not exist? If you affirm that they exist you have to prove it. Talking about gods, I hope you have read the Bible and realized that the abrahamic god has some megalomaniac characteristics such as not being able to forgive a blasphemy against the holy spirit and condemning the ones who refuse to believe. He is so human-like that I just find it logically imposible (as much as morally) to believe and worship that being, and don’t come to talk about theology that is based upon speculation in a desperate atemp to make religion sound reasonable.
Personally, I am not going to hate someone because he believes but I know by the experience that believers oftenly do not respect you and always try to bother you and submit everybody to their beliefs and that is particularly annoying when religion determines political decisions (like in my country). Please, if you claim to be an agnostic don’t come here to deffend religious postures.
Little Bob, That’s a Bugs Bunny quote. And btw there is evidence that Bugs exists, every day on the cartoon channel.
@BobLoblah If you believe in fear as a justifiable mean to convince someone there is not a trace of reason inside you. If hell is full of non-believers, there must be thousands of interesting people there, and probably (just saying) if there’s a hell I’ll see you there 😀
Hey amigo!
@ Christopher Lowe
Ha, ha, ha! I though you had already forgotten about me (just saying) 😀 I’m fine and starting to feel (not completely unpleasantly) the hardness of living out of your parent’s house but right now, however a little bit affraid, I am living fine. Nice to see you again!
Ha…I still have Tico dreams. I just can’t seem to find a willing partner. At my stage of life I’m not going there alone. Buggered up my shoulder at work so now I have the time and lack of a life to come on this site.
@ John and @ Paddy Crean
Although you might rely slightly more for freethinkers among your politicians to tackle real rather than imagined problems, each individual is going to hold on to their own politics. To these MP’s ,I submit ,that you appeal to their reason that they not so readily pawn off social responsibilities to the iffy reliabilities of religious charities and their built-in biases and advocate for all, pointing out it is all constituents they represent. I don’t know if in your country your churches are tax exempt (in Canada they are) but they shouldn’t be. They should be able to stand up on their own or they are not viable. They certainly should not be rewarded for the occasional bribery of soup for souls.
@BobLoblah
Ha, ha, ha, ha! I bet you will find a little confusion choosing between christianity and Islam, as both religions send to hell the ones who don’t believe in them.
To the smarter people I want to share a thought with you. In my humble opinion, the arise of abrahamic religions put a corrupted notion of good and evil on western civilization by stablishing a standard according to which if you think the same as we do, we will love you, but if you don’t you will not be just our enemy but we will have the duty to correct you and even killing you if you refuse to regret in order to save you from eternal punishment. Only when brave people during the movement of Reinassance and later the Enlightenment dared to protest and differ the world started to progress again. Right now, some religious institutions like Catholic Church are trying to clean up their image adopting the teachings of such freethinkers (but only their own way) but they cannot deny they are doing it because now they are forced to do it and once they opposed to that and tried to silence those voices by the use of brute force.
It’s a shame that the arabic world is still in the middle ages…
07Oct14…..There is a belief in a Black Bus just as you have a belief in there being no God.
BobLoblah
BobLoblah spent 18 years amongst the arabs. Quite an education. Still do short-term Oil & Gas consulting contracts there. Have worked in ALL of them over the past 30 years.
Ps:…..Watched them jump for joy while waving their flags ( especially the Palestinians ) on the day the Twin Towers came down. Meanwhile, they continue to get ‘ free money ‘ from the West. What a joke…
08Oct14……18 years working ‘ directly ‘ for the arabs and 12 for Major Oil companies….for a total of 30 years.
Ps:….Yemen was something else….what eeejits…hellbent while chewing their Quat.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Who or what is Bob Loblah? What’s a hatheist? With his spelling and confusing misplaced punctuation, (refering to what I suspect is a typing error i.e. moroon), methinks it’s the pot calling the kettle black! This forum should be an opportunity to have intelligent debate, and I’m sure most theists find such drivel embarrassing. I’m supremely confident of a “moroonic” response when I declare that ALL theology is simply non evidence based (that’s NO EVIDENCE)!, and atheism is an unavoidable default position. Live long and prosper x
@ Mr. Stonehouse
As you probably noticed, this site is a rather juicy steak for trolls. You can either treat it with dismay or as sport. Occasionally and almost always unintentionally they may come up with a nugget of worthy response. The term ultramaroon is a play on words. I “got it” instantly. It is quite understandable that this would go completely over mr Loblah’s head.
Until the mid-eighteenth century, virtually every government on earth was theocratic so it should come as no surprise to anyone that large swaths of our planet are blatantly or implicitly religious in their politics now. Things like misogyny and ethnical oppression are more cultural than than religious but I’m not going to give religion a mulligan on this point. Too bad people in power in some of these places justify their ill will and power grabbing by appealing to the more than willing cooperation of religious authorities among them.Who doesn’t like to be on the winning team? Occasionally they endow themselves with this title. To be fair atheistic despotisms follow this same pattern.
My point is religion in power politics is used to justify murder, oppression, discrimination (Big Time!). Atheist Big Dog Assholes also murder, oppress, and discriminate usually not bothering to furnish an excuse for their crimes.
How is it that eliminating godless tyrants is such an easy call, but when leaders do the same thing in the name of religion to warp and bastardize culture to hold their minions in thrall we have a problem?
Gott mit unst!
‘Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool’
Mark Twain 1835 – 1910
09Oct14…..Religion was invented by the ‘ first ‘ early man who found out he could creep up on another man who had just killed an animal for food….and shouted at him…causing him to almost faint with a heart attack. Through mutual agreement, one agreed to NOT creep up on the other, while the other agreed to give the other man free meat for not doing so.
Ps:…..Their names were Christopher and Philip.
Bob, you are so out of Samuel Clemens’ league!
10Oct14…..’ hatheists’ are the opium of the eeejits.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Bob, Actually we do know that Christopher Hitchens went to his death unchanged. He wrote a journal on it precisely to debunk naysayers and future revisionists. It was then published as a book called “Mortality’. I’m sorry, it doesn’t have any pictures or comics in it, but it is quite short, so maybe you could handle it.
Things were short for Marlon Brando who bandied about his ‘ thoughts ‘ if he believed or didn’t believe. He wasn’t taking any chances on account of the mayhem he left behind. Several of his lovers committed suicide; his daughter committed suicide; his son ended up in jail for years…and no one knows what’s going on with the rest of the litter he was responsible for producing.
…by the way, Katherine Hepburn is on ‘ your ‘ list. But, during an interview with David Frost….she stated that when it came to her believing in God…she said ‘ she didn’t know. ‘
…Back to Marlon, when asked one time what an actor was all about…he said ‘ its a job for someone who is too lazy to do a real job. ‘
How right he was.
He was also asked who he thought was the greatest actor that ever lived and he replied….’ Mickey Rooney. ‘ For once he is very correct.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
17Oct14…..Neil Tyson recently gave Richard Dawkins a ‘ run for his money. ‘ When such a person as Mr. Tyson believes, it only confirms that there are far superior people in education and thinking than the lot that runs around herein.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
@BobLoblah
You really don’t know what you are talking about. If you were aware of what Dr. Tyson has said in interviews and the Cosmos series you would know that he is actually a strictly scientific agnostic, but he doesn’t accept to be called either way because he only admits to be called scientist and he has criticized severely religious fanaticism but very much his way.
17Oct14….Emmanuel, Mr. Tyson debated your Richard Dawkins and made jelly of what he (Dawkins) had to say and think. Yes, he wants to be called a scientist and yes ye has criticized severely ‘ some ‘ religious fanacicism….especially that coming out of the muslims….of which BobLoblah has not nor has never had any partiality. As far as BobLoblah is concerned, this ISIS cancer should be ‘ shaved ‘ off the planet with a straight-razor.
Ps:…..You seem to have gotten your dander up whenever BobLoblah comments on what hatheists have to say. By the way, why don’t you contact some of the key people involved in stopping / curing the Ebola virus and who make reference to God in their prayers.
Again, Neil Tyson believes in God…..just as Einstein said that the universe wasn’t created by the roll of the dice.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
@BobLoblah please, don’t try to disguise Tyson and Einstein as they were religious because they aren’t. They just don’t dare to affirm they have any certainty about the issue of god, but Einstein himself said that he didn’t believe in any personal god nor the existence of an eyernal life. Fir him, god is a metaphor of some principle of order in the universe that probably we will never understand (and let me point out that Einstein never accepted the basic principles of quantum mechanics because they show that at atomic level the matter behaves in such unpredictable way that it seems to tear appart all our notions about absolute order). Now quantum mechanics are the most accepted theory of modern physics. I could speak a lot more about these two characters but you will not pay attention anyway.
I’m sure that many atheists are trying to help to combat ebola (and, as ussually, it had to happen a disgrace, this time an outbreak, to turn the eyes of the world).
@BobLoblah these two people said the following:
Neil DeGrasse Tyson:
“…is that, I’m not totally convinced (about the existence of god) because it is said that he is all good and all mighty. But you see natural disasters happening which don’t have anything to relate to the free will of others. Therefore, if there is a god then he is not all mighty or he is not all good as he cannot prevent bad things to happen or he doesn’t want to”.
Albert Einstein:
“It surprises me the audacity with which you say lies about me. It is obvious that from the viewpoint of a jesuit I am an atheist but it is something I have never said about myself”
He said that because some fanatics started to say he had converted to christianity. Einstein was a jew but later he left that religion behind to become an agnostic. He also said that the Bible catained feebles and religions were childish superstitions.
Bob Loblah, let me clear out that if you AFFIRM that there is a god you cannot just say that it is “a god” because people learn to believe in god through religion. In what god do you believe? The christian god? Allah? Yahve? Krishna? Ganesh? Zeus? If there were no religions, there would be no gods.
18Oct14.. God is God. He always was and always will be. You forget one important thing when it comes to people of Faith. Such people have Faith in God. You wouldn’t understand that, would you. There are billions of people in the Roman Catholic church who think that you are a lost, and blinded soul well on the way to your final destination. To put it simply, you have a Black Bus to catch to carry you there….for all eternity.
I have deleted from the Bob Loblah dialogue all personal attacks, and left those parts of the content that are discussing issues. Can you please remain civil while posting here? Thanks, Michael.
@BobLoblah
It seems the administrator of this site has deleted the first comment where you said “black bus to hell”. Well, that is a really sad metaphor. I don’t see how can someone justify such a belief. Do you really think there is a god who will send to hell all the non belirvers? Now, that is really sadistic and remember all major religions discredit each other. If one is right, the others condemn you, therefore life becomes a lottery.
You say I don’t understand faith but actually I do, somehow, and it has very complex consequences. Faith divides people. It makes them feel anguish when their children don’t share the same faith, no matter the reason. It makes some to hate others who don’t share their idea of ethics. It makes people live with fear. Don’t come here to deny that. I know that faith makes people apply a totalistic reasoning to everything, assuming there is not any other way to think. It makes them belief that their notion of good and evil is the only one. I frankly could not understand you, but definitely, you are not an agnostic.
P.S. if you check out history you will see that society has progressed by questioning the certainty of absolute commandments. If it weren’t so, we would still be lapidating women and burning people alive for ridiculous reasons.
Is this comment line for real!
it shouldn’t be
28Oct14…..No freedom of the press ‘ herein.’
With BobLoblah gone, this topic has turned back into its
former self…….boring and without worth.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Ipcan an atheist accept support from St. Vincent De Paul?
@John
As much as a Christian can accept help from an Atheist.
Unfortunatelly, Christians use to mention their acts of altruism as a way of religious proselitism. At least, when one of them recognizes that many Atheists have contributed to the progress of the World, they start to develop a notion of broad mind. We all must be humble, however, at the end, whether or not you accept somebody’s help is a matter of personal choice.
since Bob Loblah phonate-equates to Bah-Blah-Blah (blah blah blah), perhaps he is jesting you all.
Emmanuel, ‘humble’…hmmm, that’s a thought for us all. so, thanks for that.
29Nov14…..Mr. ‘ j9 ‘ has more brains than the rest of you. As for the rest of you, there’s more brains in a bottle of wadda.
Ps:…..’ j9 ‘….keeeeeep up the goot verk.
Now BobLoblah has to get things in order for a
Merry Christmas to celebrate the birth of
Our Lord Jesus Christ….from whom all good things come.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
29Nov14….
J9 April 7, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Oh Barbara, you are already surprised. If there were a Hell, why wouldn’t you be good enough for it right now? Wouldn’t that be the place for Haters such as ye? This is why I put no faith in humanity.
….j9….surely you jest. Do you not believe that there are fellow humans assisting the ones inflicted with the ebola virus presently…!!!….and how about the REAL soldier who is completing his task by being in the midst of danger to protect your hypocritical ass….!!!!!
……Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…surely you jest. You are not that stupid, are you…???
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
“why, why,’ said the junk in the yard.” what brings you to the yard? ms to you btw.
I recently discovered the fee for my humanist wedding minister is €550!
This is too expensive for me. Could something be done about this please?
10Dec14….Joseph…if you Really and Truly loved the woman, money doesn’t matter. Get a job.
Ps:….If you’re an atheist, why get a minister in the first place….!!!!
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
If money does not matter as you claim, will you give me the fee ?
Straight question. I still believe 550€ is expensive and will my fellow atheists explore getting the fee reduced.
@Joseph
Well fellow, I don’t use to talk about other people’s lives but I need to comment about your absurd claim. If you are an atheist I think you don’t need to pay such quantity of money, to a minister just get a lawyer. Weddings are expensive and I suppose you have limited income, do something simple and that’s all, try to save money, your girlfriend will understand if she loves you. Besides it all, this is a site for debating not to comment personal issues.
@Bob Loblah
You are as arrogant as always. Why don’t you just go away?
I am trying to do something simple. Myself, my partner and two witnesses! No reception. The humanist/atheist fee is 550. that’s expensive. I am curious as to why you presume that I intend to marry a female……..
@Joseph
Ha, ha, ha! I think I talked too much. I supposed that because it’s the most ussual and when Loblah said it you did not deny that, so I just supposed. No problem about what person you want to marry. I live in Costa Rica and don’t know the laws of your country but here you only need a lawyer to get married in a civilian way, I wonder if you can do the same or you really need a minister, it sounds very exotic to me. What I can suggest you is to ask for a loan or tell me if you are british (I suppose) or whatever and I will try to find out something but I don’t get the difference between a minister and a lawyer or why you really need it.
10Dec14…..As usual, Joseph being a queer, is as screwed up as the rest of them.
Ps:….All the idiot has to do is go down to the local registry and get a
JP to marry ‘ them. ‘…..he can also go on board a ship and have the
captain carry out the deed.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
ha, i am starting to like this boblahblah. i am a bit appalled by this joseph person’s lack of intelligence and lack of common sense. perhaps he is not being serious here. avoid licensing your relationship at all costs. just use your two witnesses and do it in common law (law common to your particular country, as long as it’s a western nation based upon Judeo-Greco principals of law) without any moronic minister or humunculus humanist. Sorry to have to point out that the two witnesses are of Biblical origin; and before you say of Hammurabic origin, you’re mistaken prima facie. so say we all. so let it be written: so let it be done. notice to principal is notice to agent et vice versa.
Thanks Bob, your use of language is regrettable and disappointing. But I wish you well and all people of good will.
@ Joseph
Congrats on the nuptials. Why not hire a shaman? Cheap and highly entertaining.
10Dec14…..Merry Christmas to you j9, but to the hatheist joseph…think about the song ” You always hurt the one you love when you put sand in the vaseline. ”
Ps:….as an aside, if you are an hatheist joseph, then you don’t neet a minister because he would be a person ‘ of the Book ‘ which means nothing to you lot.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Never mind those pseudonymous smartdonkeys, Joseph.
Last week Irish humanist weddings were featured on a radio programme, either RTE or Newstalk, which is probably available as a podcast. If I remember correctly, the average fee was quoted as 400 Euro.
@ Bob Loblah
“a person ‘of the Book’ which means nothing to you lot.”
You’ve got that right!
@Joseph
As you can see this site is frequented by trolls and impolite people. I did not want to offend you in any way but I cannot give you a hint if I don’t know the legislation of your country. I think you don’t really need some kind of minister but if you want one search more options. Don’t listen to Loblah and those other clowns, conversations use to become very agressive here.
11Dec14…..’ troll ‘, ‘ impolite ‘……moi….
you must be off your skull.
Ps: As with hatehists, while ‘ feigning ‘ no religious affiliations….you can bet your bottom dollar ( joseph doesn’t have one ) that you lot are gettin’ all your Christmas booze and thingys together to celebrate the festive season which is, of course, the celebration of the Birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
by the way, watcha gettin’ yer girl for Christmas. Don’t forget ‘ er or she will give you a french kiss on the asshole with ‘er boot.
Merry Christmas.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
so be happy, you are the “smart” guys, say your brothers-out-arms:
Study shows religious people are less intelligent than non … http://www.examiner.com/…/study-shows-religious-people-are-less-intelligent-t...
Aug 13, 2013 – Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a recently released Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a recently released scientific study. A systematic meta-analysis of 63 studies conducted between 1928 and 2012 show a significant negative association between intelligence and religiosity.
@Bob Loblah
Your cynical opinion is nothing surprising to me. With every “argument” you post you are putting yourself in a more ridiculous position. With no respect to others feelings nor to the people with money shortages you show your ignorance again by not taking into consideration that christmass celebration has a pagan origin and is derived from god Saturn parties in ancient Rome, so the origin by itself is not christian but the christians took the idea. Now, please disappear and remember that marriage exists in many religions and cannot be monopolized by certain belief or the lack of.
14Dec14….With a name like ‘ sanchez ‘ we can understand that you never did get anything from Santa Clause. Hence, began your bitterness towards God in general and Jesus Christ in particular.
Ps:…..Everything we do today is adapted from something or
someone from the past….even your name and how your momma
made you.
…..and in the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bend…and so they will.
…In the meantime, Merry Christmas as you enjoy the festive season you hypocritical prick.
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Good morning Michael,
Just listened back to your discussion of Lourdes and miracles on the William Crawley programme (Radio Ulster, I guess). Nice to see some quantitative evidence being deployed in debates of this kind. It would be interesting to compare Knock and Lourdes, or maybe we’re only in the ha’penny place.
Btw, you should get a new T-shirt, or change the colour for a bit of variation.
Slán is beannacht.
Liam
PS but only a suggestion on the sartorial front. L
16Dec14…..Is ‘ Liam ‘ an arabic name….!!!
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Will Atheist Ireland be organising a petition to remove blasphemy as an offence, in light of recent events?
09Jn15…..Hppy New Year to ALL you believers in God out there. To those that don’t, well it makes no difference from one year to the next. After all, according to them they are not getting anything after they croak anyways. That’s what they think. Everyone gets their just reward.
Ps:…..Simon Hall: England was deemed to be a non-Christian country last year. Guess many of the hatheists herein will have to start wearing turbans and other ragTops to ‘ please ‘ the multitudes….Yes…!!!…
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
you should add biggie smalls, tupac, p diddy, tribe called quest and david nugent
Why is it that the same person always speaks for atheism in Ireland?Could someone else get an opportunity. Or how is the official spokes person chosen?
22Jan15…..There is NO atheism in Ireland because there are NO atheists because there is No such thing as an atheist.
Agnostics = YES
Atheists = NO
Hateists = YES
A Word Called Atheist =YES & With A Meaning = YES
Wannabeeeee atheists YES…..
Ps: Ireland is predominately Roman Catholic and Protestant ( Church of England – even Henry VII had enough sense NOT to forsake God ).
On the other hand, England was deemed ( last year ) to be a non-Christian Country ). Make no wonder the muslimes have setup their ‘ nests ‘ of deviates there to preach their murdering methods towards the infidels…..anyone who is NOT a muslime. That includes you wannabee- atheists. As a matter of fact, if ISIS were to capture a Christian and a wannabee-atheist at the same time…..the wannabee-atheist would get his head chopped off first. The muslimes are beginning to graduate to liking ‘ pigs ‘. Once accepted, they will use the pigs to eat the body parts of those they have chopped the heads off.
Isn’t love grand.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
For and Ever
BobLoblah
22Jan15…..’ Henry VIII ‘…..you know the one. The same one that went against the Pope because he wanted to divorce his wife in order to get his nooky from another carpet-bagger.
….’ Henry VIII ‘….mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
@ B. Loblah,
I’m sure the Atheist Irishmen who founded this website will appreciate the Irish history lesson.
24Jan15…..Christopher Lowe…..How many times does pwm have to try to stuff into your schidt-for-brains that there’s NO such thingy as an atheist.
The ‘ wannabee-Hatheist Irishmen ‘ who founded this website must be turning over in their graves…..
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Bob, I don’t mind you saying that I don’t exist, but I’ve asked you before to please be respectful to people while commenting here.
24Jan15…..Attention: Michael Nugent……If you proclaim yourself to be an atheist ( which in your mind means that there is NO God )….why are you so mindful of trying to be respectful when doing so will get you no brownie points to determine where you are going at your ‘ end-days ‘….!!!…..
It’s like the doctor saying you have 3 days to live and you still worry about paying your mortgage…..
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Bob, you’ve got it exactly right.
As an atheist I try to be kind for the benefit of other sentient beings, not in order to get brownie points for my end days.
24Jan15…..But why be kind…!!!!!….when there’s nothing to believe in…??…..Stalin was the same and ‘ol Hitler went the same way. They were both very, very kind to their family members and friends. But when it came to those that did not fit into their plans, they murdered millions.
Which leads one to believe that an atheist would have no second thoughts of murdering someone except for the man-made law…
Forever And Ever
Bob Loblh
If there are no atheists, how could they have second thoughts?
I just read this great old Playboy interview with Frank Sinatra. Could he be added to the list?
I think the focus of M. Nugent et al is secular humanism which takes god out of the political conversation. No one is advocating the elimination or restriction of personal beliefs here. It would be nice if people would take personal responsibility for their thoughts and actions rather than putting the blame on or giving credit to a deity. Blaming the weather on the sexual preference of a few is not a mindset you really need when running a modern 21st century nation. And ruling by favouring one sect or belief over another is a recipe for conflict. Stay true to your beliefs, but respect that your’s may not be your neighbour’s. What goes on in church or the mosque or the temple should stay there. Treat your own place of worship as sacrosanct, but give that respect to opposing beliefs too. If those who would rule start putting their dogmas in their legislation and they are not your dogmas, wouldn’t you be the first to howl and whine?
@Bob Loblah
Well, Mr. Loblah, you have shown your ignorance and rudeness again. There is not a single trace of humanism, consideration or humbleness inside you. You can insist in your semantical mistakes, but the concept of Atheist does exist and it is the person who doesn’t believe in or worship any god. As I mentioned before, all gods are product of religion and you show a morbid fascination about the hatred and violence inspired by religions. You are miserable. By the way, it is true that Henry VIII was an immoral man but it is also true that the breakup he started with Catholic Church served as a platform for an environment of freedom and tolerance in United Kingdom more tolerable that in the rest of Europe (I know it was not perfect and you could get involved in trouble for being a non believer but figures as important as Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley did not have to fear the Holly Inquisition. You may also know that protestants and catholics killed each other during centuries in Ireland and the embarrasing fact that they celebrated a referendum in the late 90’s (I don’t remember if it was in 1995 or 1997) to authorize married couples to get divorced… the horror! As if all marriages could be forever! Augh! Also, religious fanaticism was one of the reasons of the split of Ireland (religion can divide a country, literally). Now, can you just put your hipocrisy and self-interested morality based on the search of personal reward and avoiding punishment somewhere else?
25Jan15…..Christ our ‘ Emmanuel ‘ has spoken and he can be smelled all the vey over here.
Ps:….Usually when he speaks such words, his momma cries her heart out. Either that, or she pole-dances.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Actually Mr. Loblah, you make me laugh. My mother is not a pole dancer, but that is totally out of the question. You are a superficial religious troll. What are you, a regreted muslim converted to christianity or something like that? Because of people like you, Hypathia was murdered, Giordano Bruno was burned and Galileo was inprisoned.
Bob Loblah has every right to spew his taunting hate filled bigotry and let him be smug in our obvious purchasing of first class tickets to hell. It is not a requisite on this site to show any class so don’t expect any from this pathetic creature. Best bet is to ignore him completely as he has no intelligent contribution to make to this conversation.
@cl of jan23
very cogent. agree & appreciate.
‘blaming the weather on the sexual preference of a few’
‘what goes on in the church or the mosque or the temple should stay there.’
agreed, and would add the lunchbreak, bedroom, and privy, et al. first do no harm should be everyone’s starting point.
25Jan15….’ What evil lurks in the hearts of men ‘ such as Emmanuel Sandwich and Christopher High…..
Ps:…Obviously, BobLoblah is saying something effective in order for you two arseholes to keep ranting on about what you think and believe.
Hypocrites….both of you….
AS an aside: Wadcha dink j9…..!!!!!…..
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Saying something effective? No you’re not.
25Jan15…..How dis for effectiveness:
‘ Bob Loblah does not want to be a member of any organization that would have people like Bob Loblah as a member. ‘…..or any of you rot either.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
“It happens sometimes: people just explode.”
“As for “First Principles,” basing them on divinities is, I think, a very bad idea. That leaves anyone free to pick the “first principles” they choose on other grounds, and to disguise the choices as “what God commands.” –Chomsky
Michael,
There are reports that one of the racist Chelsea fans is Richard Barklie, the head of a human rights NGO in the North.
Do any secular groups in NI have ties to this man? If so I think they should cut them immediately, and that would obviously apply to atheist activists in the Republic.
23Feb15…..Wherever you find Evil…you will find atheists ( wannabee atheists ). ALL terrorists within the ISIS terror group are atheists….as were Stalin, Hitler, Mao tse tung, Pol Pot, Napoleon, leaders of the former USSR that followed Stalin, mass – murderers, and the other whole-nine-yards.
There’s is NOT a happy lot, but they sure know how to pretend.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
23Feb15…..The three ( 3 ) males ( excuses for human beings ) from the UK that would NOT allow a black man board a train on his way home from work….and kept up their chant and rant ‘ we are racist and that’s the way we like it ‘……were all atheists.
Great stuff…..huh. Wannabee atheists must be proud to be a member of such a schidtty group.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Bob, I’ve already asked you twice over the past few months to be civil while commenting here.
From now on, your comments here will go into moderation until I get a chance to see them.
Hi Michael,
For my 1st post on your site, could I recommend Iain (M) Banks to your atheist list? See for example http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bp017 (Not sure how to turn it into a link).
Also Chris Brookmyre, another Scottish novelist is an atheist (I believe).
Pete.
03Mar15…..Under what authority and qualifications do you ( Zwischenzug ) make recommendations for people to be atheists….!!!!…
Ps:…..There is NO such thing as an atheist. Go figure…
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Thanks, Pete. I hope you find the site useful.
Bob, I asked people to let me know if they would like to see anyone added to the list.
Under what authority and qualifications do you declare that there is no such thing as an atheist?
Hi All,
Two questions. Why was Prof. Dawkins lecture in Trinity college so expensive 50 euro!
As an atheist,I’m confused as to the recent term evangelical atheist?
help!
05Mr15…..Dawkins lecture in trinity college was so expensive because like a whole lotta hAtheists……( more so than Christians )….he is fulla ‘ greed. ‘ There are tens of thousands of so-called people who say they do NOT believe in God…( impossible ) who are rotting in jails…and they are there because they neglected to pay attention to the Common Sense given to them by GOD…..YES…..!!!!!…..
Ps:…..If Dawkins was that interested in letting people know his ‘ good news ‘……he would have offered it for FREE…..and don’t anyone dare say his fees were that expensive to cover the cost of hiring the ‘ hall. ‘
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Hi Bob,
thanks for the reply. I think 50euro was too expensive. I totally accept payment for the use of the hall, light heat etc… but perhaps atheist leaders need to investigate this. I am a working class atheist with limited resources.
James,
Atheist Ireland didn’t host that event.
We did jointly host a talk by Lawrence Krauss two days later, along with two TCD societies, and there was no charge for that.
We typically only charge for conferences, not talks.
We’ve had AC Grayling and others talk at events with no charge, and we’ll have Aron Ra coming in April.
We also have monthly Secular Sunday brunches around the country (the next Dublin one is this Sunday at 1 pm in the Trinity City Hotel on Pearse Street) as well as occasional Atheists in the Pub sessions at which there is a speaker, again with no charge.
I hope you’ll be able to come along to one or more of our coming events.
Bob,
Richard Dawkins has spoken at several Atheist Ireland events, and has helped us in various campaigns, and he has never charged to do so.
Thanks for the information. I hope someone in need benefited from the 50 euro a head fee.
No problem, James. Always happy to help.
If you want to help people in need, there are several secular charities that you can contribute to – for example, Red Cross, Red Crescent, Doctors Without Borders, Engineers Without Borders, UNICEF, Oxfam, Foundation Beyond Belief and more.
There is also Kiva, through which you can lend money to entrepreneurs in developing countries. The Atheist Ireland Kiva team has lent nearly $10,000 and atheist teams generally have lent nearly $20 million.
I look forward to meeting you at one of our events.
06Mar15….If one is so inclined, one can also contribute to the Christian Charity Foundation, the Call To The Priesthood Foundation, the upkeep of the Vatican ( costs pertinent to lighting, cleaning, rug replacement costs )…..which allows people of ALL faiths and even those who ‘ dance ‘ with the idea that there is NO GOD.
In addition, wannabee atheists should startup a charity to alleviate those within their midst who struggle with alcoholism, drugs, sex addiction, and the other WholeNineYards that they ‘ think ‘ pertains to those of religious thoughts but also pertains to those among themselves. Albeit, such monies can be put to better use by repairing the roof on the local church…..
[I’ve deleted some abusive comments about Muslims – MN]
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the suggestions about donations. In fact I’ve support many parish church fund raising appeals including church roof repairs and intend to in the future. The local parish hall is at the service of all the community where I live. I have someveryclose Christian and Muslim friends and often cringe when I hear Dawkins go on like a medieval bishop.
now, that’s getting along. charity shouldn’t stop at the mine-ilk personal space. that’s how you mend and maintain fences. and finally, someatheist embarrassed by Dawkins; a medievalist who whenever he opens his gob reminds one of a shrewish disgruntled disparaging ex-spouse. always gabbing outside of his supposed-expertise and grinding his obviously-exposed personal and we-wish private axe. the biskop reference is a shrewd one, John; kudos.
25Mar15
” The Taming Of The Shrewd “……see willy boy…..
…..The greatest writer of all times ( if his landlord didn’t do it ) and a firm believer in God.
Ps:…..along with that genius of a man ‘ Michaelangelo ‘……..Much Obliged…..BobLoblah
Hello michael, ive just heard one of reps, on downtown radio, put his atheist view, to a priest, he didnt do a very good job, he mostly said things that are not true, an i was wondering does he want to debate me on radio or in person, im a christian, the priest done a ok job, but i would like to talk to the fella live on radio, or maybe by phone, i look forward to your response, my email, address is above, thanks christy
Hello Michael, I wish to inform you about the book I recently purchased on Amazon about an Author who lost his religion over people. He found self-hood as a better alternative than believing in stories that are full of parables and metaphors. His website is http://www.irelandsmiraclebaby.com.
He describes on how the Catholic people including his own family turned him against all religions. It’s a very good read and its only published since a couple of weeks. It should do well.
P.S. – I am a proud Atheist and people should wake up and listen to you and others like Stephen Fry in order for Humanity to move forward and provide a peaceful world for us all to live in.
I look forward to your reply.
Jon
Add thoughts of a dying Atheist by Muse to your list of songs !
Glad to have found your site .. have just skimmed through in a hurry this morning, but am looking forward to going through your archives later and reading everything here! Thank you for putting it all together!
20Aug15…..Naz…..Don’t thank sickMick, without ALL the persons making comments herein, the topic would NOT exist. sickMick put nothing together. It just all ‘ fell ‘ together….well, not exactly together….it isn’t any masterpiece and still has a long, long way to go. The hAtheists are gettin’ a good come-uppance though….go figure..
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Dear michael, pro-life means you are for life, and against death; did you and your wife have an abortion in your life together, is this why you take the stand you do? you are deceived if you think it is good to kill a baby, and especially a baby that should be safe in the womb, and that from conception a baby is a baby, never to be repeated, ever! I have every sympathy with anyone, male or female, suffering the grief and oppression of having had an abortion, or taken an abortion pill, out of fear most likely. I can tell you I know what that is like, and that the Power of Grace and Mercy, the Gentleness of God, of Jesus Christ, has understood me and as I faced truth and owned it to be murder of my own child, faced it to be what it truly is, and asked His Wonderful Forgiveness, I indeed received that forgiveness and the Power to forgive myself; you think you are helping people, but you are actually condemning them to ongoing depression, oppression and many related illnesses, due to the fact that our inner selves do know, that our bodies and souls have suffered a death; I have experienced this so I am speaking from real life, real world, my life. yours sincerely Lizzy
Hi Michael,
My name is Emer Ryan I am a studio executive at the Limerick Student Radio Station called Wired FM. I am contacting you today to request an interview with you on the subject of religious education being taught in Irish schools and what your views and or concerns would be upon this topic. The interview would take place over the phone. Our Current Affairs program is on today at 3pm and we would hope to have you on at that time. I look forward to your reply.
Yours Faithfully,
Emer Ryan
Michael is not Christmas all about Christ and his coming into the world to be the light of the world?
We do live in a world where many have chosen darkness than light because their deeds were evil you will find that in John’s gospel chapter 3.
Jesus is the light of the world within a dark fallen and sinful world and for the person that comes to him he will in no wise cast out.
Michael just watched your chat with Gad Saad ,brilliant (Love the Cat)
looking forward to hearing Aron Ra tomorrow , Keep up the good work
will you add Why Don’t Bees Go to Heaven? (its on toutube, awesome song) to your list?
Swearing an oath to “almighty god” is their an theist option??
Mr. Nugent, I’m sure you’ve heard of Ray Comfort, the banana man, creator of execrable “films” like genius, the atheist delusion, 180, and The real reason for school shootings. You should make a video about him called “the so-called love of Ray Comfort”. In it you can showcase all of his hateful comments, like his statement that Blacks are too smart for atheism, or that pornography, prostitution, adultery, premarital sex, and homosexuality are the reasons for rejecting God! And let’s not forget blaming Dawkins and Hitchens for school shootings! Include in the video Steven Anderson and Fred Phelps, and point out that unlike Ray, they don’t pretend to love people! Include the clip of Haytham saying in Asassins creed 3, that he doesn’t feign affection!
Check out these commenters on Pharyngula who call for the joke about murdering trump supporters and someone who sent him an email! What if I told you I’ve already killed 3 Trump supporters?
raven
8 September 2020 at 6:39 pm
They can’t hide the exhaust coming from their underground city.
Why should they? They are Morlocks.
Someone as clever as Phil should be able to find the entrance.
The Morlocks will be glad to help him.
They will be having Phil over for dinner.
Phil can finally and for once make himself useful.
@9 Tricky of those Centralians to have hidden all the buildings. They can’t hide the exhaust coming from their underground city. Someone as clever as Phil should be able to find the entrance.
timgueguen
8 September 2020 at 3:22 pm
“Phil” apparently isn’t afraid that you’ll read his stuff, decide “Hmmm, he’s right, lets start a violent revolution,” and choose him as your first target. https://freethoughtblogs.com/…/08/let-the-hatred-flow/…
hank you for being outstanding freethinkers and doers!
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Hi.
This is a monogrammar ☝️ language 📜.
For reasons obvious, if you read this, directly translating a monogrammar ☝️ language 📜 into the non-monogrammar ❌☝️ languages 📜📜📜 humans 👥👥👥👥 have results in gibberish 😵💫.
Thus, in order to translate a monogrammar ☝️ language 📜, you need to know a monogrammar ☝️ language 📜.
——————————————————————————
Anyway, the point is, it disproves the common mystical importance of rich grammar like humans have to complex articulation. This will be helpful to your cause, because it tackles the root 🌱 reasons many people are religious.
Please establish in Ireland the Physicalist Institution, to popularize: 1. the chemical abiogenesis of life, 2. philosophical analyses on personhood and mechanical/ procedural prerequisites for a biological or digital personhood-yielding computer = brain, 3. the axiomatic prerequisites for physical foundations (David Hilbert, David Tong), cosmological calculability (Max Tegmark), cosmological constructor (David Deutsch and Chiara Marletto), 4. popularization of astrophysics and other sciences. | Why a Physicalist Institution should be established in Ireland? Many scientists leave gaps for the supernatural, which is an unprocedural impossibility. A Physicalist Institution will popularize with lectures all rigorous fields of study, which don’t include the supernatural. It is a specific goal to describe everything logical. Not all atheist scientists care to establish a Physicalist Institution and popularize or create academic lectures on all fields used by supernaturalists to introduce anthropic biases. Astrobiology is part of physicalism. I was born to help establish a Physicalist Institution. I am not rich and famous. Please establish a Physicalist Institution in Ireland for all humans, even theist students who are rationalists.
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Matt Dillahunty, of course! He is president of the Atheist Community of Austin, host of the live internet radio show “Non-Prophets Radio” and of the Austin Public-access television cable TV show “The Atheist Experience”.
Just thought Virginia Woolf would be a good person to add to your list of famous atheists.
Donald Sutherland, Seth MacFarlane and Bill Maher would be great additions to your list of famous atheists.
Hi Michael,
just read your article in the irish time and was struck by its almost apologetic tone.
I am a non-militant atheist (so Dawkins is not on my mailing list!). I defend the right of the individual to believe in what they want provided it does not harm or negatively influence.
However I notice that a lot of literature and comments, related to atheism, mention or imply that atheism is a ‘rejection’. To quote your article ‘Why are atheists so certain that gods do not exist? Actually, most of us aren’t. We merely reject the assertion that one or more gods do exist, based on the best currently available evidence.’
But the question is more: why assume a god. in the absence of any evidence, why must the (even the term is misleading) ‘non-believers’ have to defend themselves, surely it should be the ‘believers’.
THis argument runs to the heart of teh true atheist position: I do not reject, I merely do no accept. This leaves the believer as the one who is looking for acceptence (of their views).
The total absence of evidence (to support a god-concept) makes atheism a default position.
keep up the good work
Finbarr
stephen hawkings!!
he authored the book the brief history of time and the grand design!! in which he has theoretically proved that god is not necessary!!
Derren Brown. Safe to say he’s an Atheist.
I second Derren Brown!
Woody Allen; Christopher Hitchens; Bill Maher; Richard Dawkins; Billy Connolly; George Carlin; Bill Gates; Noam Chomsky; Janeane Garofalo; Sir Ian McKellen; John Lennon; Henry Rollins… and the list goes on!
you have a wonderful mind! I teach creativity and innovation in goa at the goa institute of management, India.
I also teach raelity and language to the students…loved your thoughts sir.
be well. be loved.
cedric serpes
REVELATIONS OF TRUTH:
GO TO:
http://web.me.com/rthorne2/Site_2/REVELATIONS_OF_TRUTH.html
Mikey –
Just wanted to say Hi and commend you on the excellent job you’re doing for us down here, its so greatly appreciated as its saving us a lot of time and effort. The work you’re doing along with all the others who’s souls I own and who embrace our strong beliefs in socialism – democratic atheism – gay rights – abortion – sexual freedoms with beast and children – destruction of good families – marriage and all moral values – standing up against these fundamentalists – born again, Christians and Jews, and other religions involving phobias of god/s and the supernatural. Also important to mention are the removal of crosses – Jesus statues – the prayer and bible reading – the coinage phrase, ‘In God We Trust’ – of the USA – religious holidays – (Except our day of Halloween) from society as a whole. You with OBAMA – the Clintons – and all other like minded people are really helping our cause worldwide – you’re making my job so much easier – and I can’t wait to shake you hand and reward you and all the others like you –who are working for me – too spent eternity with me! Looking forwarded to meeting you all personally! Keep up the good work!
Signed – LUCIFER ie.. satan the devil — See ya soon!
Ps – Ted Kennedy and his brothers – along with John Paul II and little Michael sent their best – await your arrival.
I think people like Bill Maher and Stephen Hawking would be natural additions to the list.
Seth Macfarlane, creator of Family Guy and the Cleveland show could attract some attention.
Angela Gossow, singer of heavy metal band Arch Enemy is a devoted atheist as well.
I think these additions would cover a large area of people, ranging from intellectuals, comedy fans and metalheads. Like myself.
Thank you.
Daniel Andreassen, Denmark.
Hi Michael,
I’d like to see more Irish atheists on the list
regards,
Padraic
America’s first militant atheist, Charles Chilton Moore, should be in the Dead Atheist Society. He lived from 1837-1906.
Here’s his Twitter page:
https://twitter.com/#!/search/users/chilltownmoore
Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Chilton_Moore
Hi, I tried to click on the “see also” links on the “famous atheists by date” page, but unfortunately, all I got were 404 errors. I thought it might be good if you would know that 🙂
Jake
Im running Steamtown too this year. My fourth trip down the Highway to Hell that is the marathon. Best of luck to you!
Hi Michael,
Congratulations on your ovation from Richard Dawkins’ audience at the National Concert Hall yesterday evening. When Richard Dawkins’ replied to a question from an auditor about how to further progress secularism in Ireland, Richard Dawkins referred to Atheist Ireland and to yourself, by name, which induced a widespread ovation throughout the National Concert Hall. It was an evening of which to be proud: Richard Dawkins received frequent spontaneous ovations and the audience’s questions were overwhelmingly supportive of Richard Dawkins and his ideas. Yesterday evening proved that Ireland has matured and that Atheist Ireland, and you yourself, can take some credit for that progress. It was auspicious to observe that the audience was disproportionately teenage, twenty-something and thirty-something which indicates further progress for Irish secularism throughout the century.
Bravissimo!
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Thanks, Ryan. It is nice to see the developments of the past few decades. Twenty years ago we would have been trying to change public opinion on a lot of these matters; now we are trying to get the get the government to recognize that public opinion has already changed (in most of the country, anyway – there are still pockets of religious bigotry and misogyny to tackle). It’s an ongoing process, and we can each contribute a bit to it and keep it going.
Please contact me in relation to a request for an interview.
01 6445129
V interesting read thanks
How about Dara O’Briain, an excellent
example and someone said they wanted
to see more Irish
HETAC are considering the accreditation of the academic programme validation of certain complementary therapies. Something we should all be concern about.
http://www.hetac.ie/publications_other.htm
(see links for Summary, Final Report etc).
Really enjoyed your talk at Cork Humanists yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself but intend joining Atheist Ireland as a start. Trained in New york I’m a practicing clinical psychiatrist in Co Kerry for the past four years.
Will try to access Atheist Ireland now.
Best,
Maeve
‘trific ‘tcle, Myths about atheism ‘scures its ‘cular values, in IrishTimes.
unjumbled, “right on”, and dispelling.
my thanks.
Hi Michael,
Impressed by your article in IT 16 inst.
I wish you well and would encourage you to keep on
fighting the good fight.
Audrey
Hi,
I have few questions and I need honest answers.
1) Is really God does not exist?
2) Why God does not exist?
3) Is it the nature that made us?
4) If yes, then the nature is God or the Creator, is it true?
5) If the nature or something else that made me then I think I have to obey its rules not mine is it right?
6) Why I should not believe in God? Is it because you hate religion?
I don’t know, could you please explain to the point and in relation to the questions above.
regards,
Sam
Michael how have you been. it’s been a long time.I see you’ve been busy living life.I would appreciate if you could write me a few lines on your life. Still the big bohs man i’m glab to see.I’m currently living in new jersey and have recently retired so have time to spend surfing the net and came across your web site. So write me take care
Your twitthis button does not work.
I would add Carl Sagan, Sigmund Freud, Max Stirner, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Trotsky, Stan Lee, Keira Knightley, Bruce Lee and obviously there are many more ones.
I would add Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Max Stirner, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Stan Lee, Bruce Lee and Keira Knightley. Thanks.
I vote for the addition of Michael Shermer! You just gotta love his charming good-old-boy personality and his ability to make complex philosophy sound simple. And he’s an ex-evangelical like me!
Michael,
A lot of people are asking if the debate Monday night (science/faith) was videotaped. I know you had it recorded, and was wondering if I could get a copy please.
Jo Peters
Just found out about you, your work, and your website and I want to thank you for the work you’re doing. Your website is now on my weekly must-see list and I’ll be sure to tell everyone at Seattle Atheists in case they haven’t seen it. Enjoyed your excellent speech at U College, Cork, also.
There are a few problems with the arguments in your Trinity spiel. For a start, the reason why the Irish Roman Catholic church had such influence in health & education was because the state had abdicated its responsibilities to provide those kinds of services to a reasonable level. So comparing Irish Catholic schools to state-run atheist institutions is based on historical confusion – in Ireland, the ABSENCE of the state was the problem….
Secondly, the western philosophical tradition has never managed to completely conceptually separate concepts such as “the Good,” “the Beautiful” and “the True.” So whether we like it or not, our truth-seeking activity is genealogically grounded in transcendentalist monotheism. It makes very little sense to swear an oath (for example, to tell “the truth”) on the basis of a metaphysical/transcendental vacuum. Atheists have no symbolic use for oaths – their symbolism would be meaningless to an atheist. Cultural non-post-monotheists don’t have a concept of “Truth” which is strictly equivalent to that generally internalized by people from initially monotheistic cultural groups. Write the word “truth” in any university essay for any professor specializing in sinology or east Asian aesthetics, and you’ll get it back with a big red X. Sure, “The Truth” has become a secularized concept, but the point remains that it’s still genealogically inseparable from monotheism. The linguistic philosopher Hilary Putnam has analyzed our conception of “truth” to the positing of a “God’s-eye-view,” and even Nietzsche remarks that we created Gods because we needed somebody who could see in the dark. So whether we like it or not, we still implicitly invoke the metaphysical in our ordinary day-to-day speech, insofar as that speech represents itself as a “truth-seeking” activity…. “God” is just buried so deep in the implicature our occidental day-to-day communicative norms that it’s impossible to remove him completely.
Thirdly, the insistence that only religious practitioners within certain religious denominations should work for certain religious institutions (such as schools) is maintained most stridently by religious minorities in Ireland, not by Catholic institutions. The minority religious groups’ argument (quite understandably) is that, in order for pluralism to be a meaningful political and social concept, different identities must first exist, as opposed to a single ill-formed monolithic non-identity. Anglicans, Presbyterians and Muslims are the people most often insisting that the ethos of their educational institutions should be preserved, not Roman Catholics. This is the aspect of the pluralism issue which atheists don’t really get – it’s not just about literal personal belief – it’s about culture and identity in a much broader sense. Personally, I think that the fact that Ireland was the first nation-state in the EU to publicly fund an Islamic primary school makes indicates a conception of pluralism which is quite sophisticated, far more sophisticated than blatantly assimilationist policies such as those in France, for example. Ultimately, pluralism is about everybody having the opportunity to throw their values into the public arena.
The philosopher Paul Feyerabend once argued that, while the written constitutions of most western nation-states make some passing reference to “cherishing all traditions equally,” or words to that effect, what actually happens in the best possible case scenario is that everybody, regardless of their ethnic, religious or cultural background, is given equal access the same tradition, and that tradition is called scientific post-industrialism. This is the clandestine state-religion of every nation-state in the western world, including Ireland. And before you answer that science is just a matter of fact, please note that phenomenologists and philosophers of natural science (including eminently secular people like Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend) began deconstructing the intellectual naivete of that position a long long long time ago…. You can dismiss religious people’s skepticism about the epistemic foundations of what we call “the scientific method,” but to ignore everybody else’s grounds for skepticism would be a bit obtuse, especially considering that skepticism is one of the intellectual virtues which you claim to prioritize most highly….
Non-Holy Moly, isn’t or wasn’t this the ‘add an atheist’ or atheiaddendum page? Now I can’t just add a name and be quiet without adding a comment as well. I second many of the additions above and add one or two: most notably the great philosophers like Bertrand Russel, Nietsche, Kant, Hume, Locke, Hobbs,etc. and a few great scientists and mathematicians like Hawking, Godel…to which I add the non-great popularist Carl Sagan.
Thanks for such an interesting and thought-provoking and intelligence-provoking webpage. Too few of the ilk out there. Sorry the comments turn into just hissy fits from the respective bleachers. Those of us down on the field of play don’t appreciate the cheap distraction.
Though definitely definitely no longer an atheist, I find the intelligence, wit, and well-meaning of many if not most on the list to be ‘majorly’ refreshing. (I’m an Americate, not an Irishman)
The “trouble with atheists,” it seems to me, is the arrogance and ill-will that many seem to aim at theists, spawned no doubt, as with other minority populations, from the defensive position they are placed in by the majority population. So I applaud the well-mannered and witty like Hitchens and the ‘without unequivocal proof on either side, I choose non-offensive, non-proselytizing atheism’ [I’m paraphrasing, not really quoting] of James Randi . The other “trouble with atheists” is that they, by and large, lump all theism into Judeo-Christian tradition and criticize on that basis, and with a shallow understanding of any but perhaps standard, non-repentant (a pun) Catholicism. So please start doing unto theists as you would do unto your atheist self: treat strangers with respect, non-judgment, kind humor & kindness void of pity; all the things you have wished from them. Please set a good example, in other words, for the theists you demure. Eschew arrogance & ill-will in them as you. Atheism doesn’t make you anything but you, any more than any religion, creed or philosophy automatically makes you something you were not.
Hi Michael,
I emailed you regarding a talk this Saturday. Can you give me a call on 087 7810037, if you can.
Thanks,
Shona
Mr. Nugent, as a courtesy I am notifying you about this blog post I made which mentions you:
http://schrodingerstherapist.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-slymepit-and-pendulum.html
So I keep trying to post this link as my website with comments sometimes http://slymepitintrom.blogspot.com/2013/03/incredibly-ironic-post-of-century.html & it wont post if I do that. I tried changing .com to .ca, nothing. Did you block it and forget? Do you… *sniffles*… think my blog is BAD?
Steven Pinker would be a good addition. I am a rather ‘lonely’ atheist in South Africa, a beautiful country riddled with superstition. But heard on the news the other day that our society is 19% less religious than it was in previous times. [Radio 702 South Africa.]
Thanks for your list of Atheists and comments. Because we have no support groups down here, I enjoy these websites and the You Tube debates.
Regards,
Christiaan
Padraig McGrath stated in post 33
“There are a few problems with the arguments in your Trinity spiel. For a start, the reason why the Irish Roman Catholic church had such influence in health & education was because the state had abdicated its responsibilities to provide those kinds of services to a reasonable level. So comparing Irish Catholic schools to state-run atheist institutions is based on historical confusion – in Ireland, the ABSENCE of the state was the problem….”
Here is a quote from http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/695/Ireland-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html which suggests that, rather than the state abdicating its reponsibilties, religious interests, both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland elbowed the state out of education.
“Perhaps the most significant time in the establishment of a countrywide, state-aided educational system of elementary schools was in 1831, championed by Lord Edward G.S.M. Stanley. Conflicts immediately arose over the matter of keeping religious influence out of schools because the elementary schools were told that churches had the right to provide pupils with supplementary religious education. Even though, in theory, no aid was to be given to the primary schools and emerging secondary schools, in reality, religious influences permeated all levels of the educational system, particularly the school boards, which were headed by priests or vicars, depending on the district’s religious makeup.
At first, however, Protestants were the main critics against “godless” schools, while Catholic leaders, worried about high illiteracy rates among their people, generally supported the state-run educational system, at least at first. Eventually, Catholics came to despise the system, saying students were exposed to pro-British and anti-Catholic influences. Nonetheless, the formation of national schools was an important step forward in the history of education in Ireland. It was intended to give an equal education to all pupils without meddling from churches. It gave Irish schools a semblance of structure, and it established a policy of local districts to pick up their fair share of costs for teacher salaries, school lots and building costs, and schoolbooks.”
Read more: Ireland – Educational System—overview – Schools, Irish, Students, and School – StateUniversity.com http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/695/Ireland-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html#ixzz2Qijwmdyp
It is inspiring (see..we can use that word too) to note that Ireland is rapidly becoming secularized, a trend across most of Europe, where science and philosophy and a sense of irony push back against the notions of provincial, ignorant, and superstitious writings long ago by provincial, ignorant, superstitious people in a backward corner of civilization. When every discipline of science exposes the holy books of all 3 monotheisms as superstitious man made rubbish that has been perpetuated and enforced by virtually every regime through out Europe and western Asia for 2 millennia. Savour, if you will, the paltry couple of hundred years of our human existence where in at least some small areas of our planet we can question or criticize organized religion without fear for our lives. Feel too the strident and powerful and deadly and serious counter push of the religious. From Canada I cast a baleful eye to the south where there is a concerted attempt to marginalize freethinking, atheism, and even science. The exact opposite direction taken by your country due to the efforts of people like yourself. Although prohibited by law to impose any religious belief upon anyone else(haleighluja!) there is a great deal of lawyering going on to do just that. Laws and policies are trying to be snuck through customs, as it were, imposing religious dogma as the law of the land. This is a frightfully powerful lobby, backed by an overwhelming majority of its citizens. Ways have already be found to skirt around the separation of church and state, the first nation on the planet to adopt this principle. They are capable of voting in a government with a president sympathetic to these causes who would have the power to appoint supreme court judges and judicial appointees. Ammendments to the constitution have been both repealed and added to shape and design desired social outcomes before. This is troubling and this is real. Promulgation of religion has always been backed by government. And we can all hearken back to the days when religion had it all their own way! Indeed we see it now among us. Thank God (heh heh) for people and organizations like yourselves.
Michael, I previously submitted for quotation the set and a few of the names of the great/famous philosophers who were atheists. I even threw in the mathematician Kurt Godel, but he is commonly considered a theist; one could find an argument for either side, but then who wants to argue?
Hello Michael!
I’ve been posting comments recently and I was surprised that ine of my last ones appeared as “comment awaiting moderation”. Please, I consider it very unfair that some users have really made abuses of expression insulting others and now when I try to answer them in a serious way I’m censored! Please, again, you cannot put yourself on the side of fundamentalists inside your own website.
Emmanuel, I’ve approved that comment. I don’t know why the software put it into moderation.
Oh c’mmon man, don’t do it again. Comment 315 has been censored. I just wanna have a little bit of fun against that chris, just a little of red hot pepper in the conversation.
By the way, I suggest you to visit a webpage called squidoo.I’ve visited it just a couple of times and at least a part of it is dedicated to atheist famous people and movies. That was amazing!
Dear Michael:
There is a person that you have already spoken to, that uses the name “chris” who usually posts offensive comments in the famous atheists section. I’ve been answering to him in part because I know he is not going to shut up. If a very young or immature person watches that he always finishes the discussions, then could think that he is right. I suggest you to expelt him from the side and/or put all the new comments in evaluation before allowing them to be published. Thanks.
Dear Michael:
I don’t know if you paid attention to my last comment directed to you, but I see something unfair happening. You allowed that person “chris” to publish a comment calling my country a shit-hole. Then I try to answer in a more polite way and my comment is censored. I consider this unfair. Please, allow my comment to be published if you did the same with his.
Hi Michael!
I’ve already posted an edited version of my last comment. If possible, I would like you to publish this last version (#372). Thanks and excuses.
Dear Michael:
I have read that you have the intention to write a book about atheism. I think it would be amazing to do it about the main thoughts and quotes from remarkable atheists during the history. Something like The Portable Atheist, but more complete. We could start with Epicurus and Socrates and finish with you, for example ;-P Some quotes from Russell and Sagan would fit perfect. I would like you to mention the story of Hypathia and other atheist/agnostic women. And I see you already know a lot about atheists.
Second suggestion: to me it is senseless to separate the section famous atheists from dead atheists. In fact, I know that two of the listed famous ones are deceased, which are Christopher Hitchens and George Carlin. In other sides I have found that they mixture the past and the present ones but unfortunatelly the way they put the info is not the best one. You have done it very well, so this could be the exception (by the way, I may know you are very busy but there are a lot of names missing in both lists, you have work to do :-D)
Hello Michael, My comment #373 is currently awaiting moderation. What did I do? I hardly ever fucking swear, and I didn’t insult anyone except (mildly) Karl Marx.
Story of my life. I get ignored where ever I go. Et tu, Michael?
@ Christopher Lowe
Actually I have not ignored you, however you haven’t written anything to me lastly. Maybe Michael is busy now. Once one of my comments was two days awaiting aproval. I know it’s annoying and I have expressed him that sometimes I consider unfair his criteria.
If Y’all are done wit yer intellectual circle jerk…and yer colons are clear for takeoff… Francois Leotard, Melvin Pantyraid, Christine Tantric, Alan M. Turing. No separation of Church and Turing. You are a disorganized machine. Run to your site cum nicety forthwith and without remorse; leaving us in pacem.
Great site Michael, apart from the nutjobs, who are funny I suppose if they weren’t so sad. Carl Sagan is your biggest omission I reckon, but the list is long indeed and thankfully, for humanity’s sake, getting longer all the time.
WC Fields, Johnny von Neumann, Johnny von Goethe, WD 40, Richard Feynman.
Hello Michael, love your site, but just so`s you know; Amanda Donohoe (not Donohue), isn`t an American (sorry reasearchers). She was born on the 29th of June 1962, London, ENGLAND, U.K. Keep flying the Atheist flag. Live long and prosper! x
Hi Michael, not altogether sure if my emails have been delivering to you. I’m free for that interview anytime from Thursday on so whenever suits you would be great. My mobile number is 086 0888880. Thanks very much. Robert Higgins
Hi Michael, saw you on Vincent Browne’s new show last night. Well done in very difficult circumstances. It reminded me of (I think it was) Joe Higgins’ remark about how trying to argue with Bertie Ahern was like trying to play handball against a haystack – very difficult to have a meaningful debate when the opposition appears unable to make a meaningful statement about their beliefs.
Well done, again. Your work is much appreciated by many.
Conor Kelly.
Hi Mike,
I regard organised atheism as just another cult with its .semi-religious rituals. Why doed Dawkins, the St Paul of atheism, feel he has a mission to convert mankind to to his views
? Mankind always had tgo believe in something in order to explain the mystery of existence. Organised atheism as well as modern political ideologies are only substitute religions. There are de la carte atheists, who pick and choose parts of the atheist credo that suits them. They swear oaths to take seats in parliaments,to join the security forces and even act as godparents to children of relatives; they even have religious funerals when they die and have bishops in attendance.
Iam sure there are some atheists like Stalin and Mussolini that you don’t incluse in your calendar.
Ronnie
Munshigonj Union of Satkhira district,Bangladesh,though unique being just in the lap of the Sundarbans,is a land of superstition,people here are blindly obsessed with their respective supposed-sure-saver-creator-giver Almighty.Round the clock they are hysterically self-employed for mystic devil-devine causes-religiously spending their all,while they themselves,their families,their children are starving,they are making their children drop from schools for the very cause,some clever self claimed godguys are just making money out of others’innocence.As,there are different absolute creators,their arguments,their convictions germ communal tentions,a worldwide scenario,shamefully much more in this advanced century.If some permanent institution or camps can be installed here at intervals and preach them scientitic knowledges lying behind all causalities,people here surely would not do anything fanatic at impusle under the false beliefs-they surely would be much less incited by poisonous preaching of their religious wiseacres.Hopefully,people here though blind but not bloody,but the way the world is getting on they soon will be horribly bloody.Hope,if guided, people will understand and appreciate the truth and march by themselves to humanism.
Regards,
I really like what your promoting, and I was delighted to read about how you’re working with educators to add atheism curriculum to the elementary school system in Ireland.
In an effort to try to promote atheists, such as yourself, I just added a link to your blog from my web site, which you can see here:
http://www.atheistfrontier.com/resources/atheism/blogs.pl#michaelnugent
Thanks for the great work you’re doing. I sincerely hope your efforts to promote “absence of theism” (atheism) as something that shouldn’t be vilified succeeds beyond your intent and expectation.
Yours very truly,
Randolf Richardson of the Atheist Frontier.
Thanks for your list of Atheists (AND the rest of the site).
Maybe Marilyn Manson is a good person to add. Many people say he is very provocative, but in discussions, he is very wellspoken and patient.
Keep up the good work!
Greatings from the Netherlands.
-JK-
Just a couple who would be a good addition Doug Stanhope and frontman from Muse Matt Bellamy.
Stephen Fry, Mitch Benn, Brian Cox, Dara O’Briain, Patrick Moore. All Brits or Irish.
Michael
Good to meet last night
We have submitted a few suggestions for changing the constitution though I think the best thing is not to tamper with it but re-write it as the PDs attempted
Look at our suggestion for a new preamble which excludes the Trinity and God and was put together by Mary Robinson, Sean McBride and the churches in the 70s. It is pretty good. It is under OTHER and in the name of Reform.
I saw Jane Donnelly re the Angelus. She was good. I think we need to say no other public broadcaster in the world relays it nor does Vatican radio. Also the prayer contains beliefs exclusive to RCs so is offensive to all other religions and none.
Very good website….if you can recomment anyone who can do our one, please let me know.
Regards
Robin
Enjoy your site. Thanks to you Leonie Hilliard (Ray “Bananaman” Comfort) and I have become friends. Anyway, you asked for suggestions for atheist songs. Roger Waters (late of Pink Floyd) has a solo album called “Amused to Death” which is full of thoughtful atheism and antitheism. “What God Wants” Parts I,II,III must rank amongst the best atheist songs ever. His last Pink Floyd album “The Final Cut” contains some good atheist stuff, as does “Animals” and”Dark Side of the Moon.”
Regards,
Scott de Long
You did nor include Stalin or any of the Bolsheviks among your list of Atheists. Do you think all atheists are secular saints? I think you are little naive.
Some of the world’s vilest people have been atheists such as Lenin, Stalin, Hitler There is something ugly and intolerant about aggressive atheism. If you do not believe, then fine but do not go on and on about it
@ Robin Bury.
Hi, Robin,
What is “aggressive atheism”; is it like “aggressive Christianity” or “aggressive Islam”or “aggressive Buddhism” ?
Robin & Ronnie,
If yours is an argument it is a bit silly. Why would any group, including atheists and religionists, “promote” by mentioning members of whom they are not proud or whose words would be refuted by their deeds? Not an oversight nor a dodge.
I really enjoyed this article. Thanks for composing it. I didn’t see any artist on the list though & off the top of my head I thought of Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera.
Some of the most ‘aggressive’ people in history have been ‘believers’ of any other thought or idea. In every group you will find extremist. Besides if you read the bible ‘god’ killed WAY more people than Stalin or Hitler just with the flood… & they were ancestral jews & jesus so techanically according to ‘believers’ proclaimed beliefs ..they followed someone who killed more Jews than Hitler!…How was god a good guy?
Besides all religions propse its followers should propogate the beliefs so if you are a ‘true’ believer technically by your own beliefs standards you have to be aggressive/militant. And I can’t tell you how many people who are religious go on & on about it to include even trying to force you to let them ‘pray’ for you (which pisses me off to no end) especially once they find out you don’t believe.
The Death total attributed to christianity is approximated around 17 million. The precentages are staggering for religion being far more vile & having intolerance than a few extreme athiest.
& btw… Hilter was catholic not atheist & baptized in 1889 was never ex-communicated. Here is a qoute from Hitler “we were convinced that the people need & require this faith. We have therefor undertaken to fight against the atheist movement, & that not merely with a few ttheoretical declarations: we have stamped it out” He also spoke of christian beliefs & ideas in his speeches & german christians supported him.
Asimov died in 92 but added in 94?
Dear Michael
Just wondering could you send me a mail with your contact details?
Kind Regards
Sinead
Adam Savage (from Mythbusters)
Stephen Fry
Was pleased to see Tom Lehrer on the list. 🙂
How about adding Eamon Gilmore and Ruairi Quinn, they don’t believe in God or indeed the need to keep their promises to protect those most vulnerable in Irish society.
Adh mor
Hi,
I’m interested in atheism and have noticed that it is really a middle class group who make up the members. What does this say about atheism? I think we need to reflect on this
John, it is partly because people in poorer societies are more vulnerable to religious thinking. Where people are focused on survival values, societies tend to have traditional religious values. When people shift towards self-expression values, societies become more secular rational.
Michael just to let you know, your friend Joe Davis in in hospital at the moment possibly dying following a heart attack, I’m John Fox a friend of his at if you need to contact me at [***********] or phone me at [*********], thank you very much
Michael, I’m disappointed with you view ” that poorer people are more vulnerable to religious thinking’. This is the problem with us in atheism – middle class. I regret your comment betrayed this attitude.
Thanks, John Fox. That’s very sad news.
John, it’s not a personal view of mine. It is based on the ongoing outcomes of the World Values Survey.
This is an ongoing global research project by a team of interdisciplinary social scientists, who have been researching world values in a scientific way for the past twenty five years. They have discovered that two sets of values dominate the picture.
When individual people are focusing on survival values, then societies tend to have traditional religious values.
But when investment in health, education, communications technology and democracy enable individuals to shift from survival values to self-expression values, that causes society to shift away from traditional religious values and towards secular rational values.
And that is happening throughout the world, at different speeds in different places, with the exception of Africa. Personal values have been shifting towards self-expression, and society values have been shifting towards secular-rational.
http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org
I think your use of the word ‘vulnerable’ betrayed a bias, but not to say that it is unearned. Thanks for the information on the survey. It appears there may be a bias going in, but it’s still valuable information. Once I’ve studied it, I may comment. Personal experiences support the connection between survival thinking and religious values & affiliation by individuals. On a societal level it may be clearer to extrapolate. I would only argue prima facie that your linking of secular with rational is unsupportable and sounds like bias. Is that in any way coming from the survey data or from you personally?
There are too many general points made without any substantional support in Michaels narrative. I’ve been very challenged and informed bu Primo Levi writings and human experience. General comments on vague surveys cheapen what he and others suffered and where they found ultimate meaning. But, middle class smugness is always right.
J9, the extrapolation from individual to society comes from an analysis on the World Values Survey website, not from me.
The description ‘Secular Rational Values’ also comes from the World Values Survey website, not from me.
John, I didn’t make a general comment on a vague survey without substantial support. I have linked to the website of the World Values Survey, which provides substantiation for what I am saying.
The results of those surveys don’t in any way cheapen what Primo Levi or others suffered or where he or others found (what they considered to be ultimate) meaning.
Describing being middle class as being a problem, and associating being middle class with being smug, don’t help your argument.
I’ve just finished reading Poe Francie encyclical ‘ The Joy of the Gospel’and his recent interview covering a range of topics. Could I preposr that on behalf of atheist Ireland we acknowledge the positive contribution he has made since become Pope….
To our Christian brothers on the celebration of our patron Patrick have a good weekend. From all atheists of good will and peace.
Following on my recent suggestion of message of support to Pope Francis, I was encouraged to hear that fellow atheist Evana Bachik has supported a motion to invite him to the Seanad.
The Pope may have given a little nod towards the atheists and seems to be focusing on the benevolent acts his church pursues, but don’t forget it is a corporation that seeks profits and is dedicated to spreading superstition. It is good we have a pope not “behaving badly”, but dream on if you think he’ll reform any of the core tenets of Catholicism.
Christopher. I don’t need to dream on about the Pope changing tenets of Christian faith. In fact, why should he! I’m more interested in his humanity and reaching out in solidarity to all people of faith and none. He has filled a vacuum left by many leaders including, regrettably, many leading atheists.
Well said, John. You don’t have to be a papist nor a theist nor a religionairre to welcome and engage reform and decency. Isn’t that what we all hope for? Unless it is disingenuous or ulteriorly motivated.
boy are you all in for a big surprise on Judgment Day !!!!!! =) In fact Hell is too good for you all.
The forthcoming meeting between M. Higgins and Elizabeth is a milestone for atheism. Our atheist president and the head of the Church of England. I wish them well.
Awww….Barbara, don’t be so mean spirited. If Hell is good enough for you then it should be good enough for us too!
Did anyone read David Quinns recent essay, ‘The atheists act of Faith? Any comments….
Oh Barbara, you are already surprised. If there were a Hell, why wouldn’t you be good enough for it right now? Wouldn’t that be the place for Haters such as ye? This is why I put no faith in humanity.
While a welcome the milestone of an Irish atheist president meeting the head of the Church of England, I was saddened by the gratuitous extravagant antics. Regrettably atheism is becoming associated with wealth…….
heard you this evening on the Joe Duffy show on RTE radio 1, you were inspirational well done Michael
The media is favourable to us atheists at present. We have to be careful though, it was once favourable to organised religion. Let’s not take their support for granted.
Interesting article in the Irish Times today by Rosemary McCabe – ‘what an atheist can learn at Mass’. I’m not in favour of our atheist know all Dawkins.
As we approach local and European elections it looks like Labour will suffer loss of seats. It is regrettable and sad that the political party with the greatest number of atheists have abandoned the poor of society. As an atheist I find this disturbing. Does the privileges of public office trump the needs of working people? Have we a social conscience?….
@John
Actually, what you are talking about is a very complex issue. From the beginning, it’s obvious that the behaviour of the Labour Party is not representative of all atheists. Some liberals such as Ayn Rand and Adam Smith were atheist. The problem about the lack of social conscience goes far beyond the atheist phenomena and has a relationship with cultural problems, as we live in a very individualistic society. Many of us are told to be selfish, and sometimes even if we grow in very conservative families, like myself, we can see serious moral inconsistencies, for example my parents punished me for giving my bicycle even if I never learned how to ride it. Those things happen and we must take into consideration that atheist have to tolerate many prejidices of people that say that we are going to burn in hell and those things. I understand we must be kind and generous but sometimes it becomes difficult, you know.
Emmanuel, I too understand we must be kind and generous. I have good friends who are catholic, they are good decent people. In fact, their charity, St. Vincent De Paul feeds hungry people. My point is that there are Five atheist cabinet members, an atheist president and fellow atheist senators! Yet poor people are disproportionately punished! Ergo who in the name of decent atheism is speaking up for them?
I think it’s wrong to assume that the Labour party is not speaking for the poor; although I would like to see them taking a position on and acting towards a basic income for every man, woman and child and establishing a Social Protection Floor below which no person should be condemned to sink.
I believe the Party’s ideal is based on social and distributive justice but it cannot achieve this objective sustainably without first creating a greater and more secure pot from which to distribute.
In the meantime are they failing to the point that they are unable to persuade their Government partner to share fairly what little we do have?
It’s a fact that poor people have been more disproportionately punished by austerity at a time when Labour are in power! All the upper echelons of Labour who are atheists earn multiples of the industrial wage. For us, in atheism this is a real credibility problem that we cannot ignore.
The axiom “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” was the golden rule adopted by Karl Marx (for communism rather than atheism). It is still a worthy aspiration for any -ism interested in human dignity.
However, our global market economy has added a corollary that goes something like this: To each according to his/her ability (or their leverage), from each according to what can be extracted painlessly from them.
Trinity College has dropped the bible as a symbol. But why did they not go all the way and scrap the name Trinity? One could suspect that they sold themselves out to the commercial world for money….
Does anyone contribute here anymore?
You forgot about Harry Potter! Daniel Radcliffe
I recently wrote on this site about the real concern that the Labour party had abandoned poor people. The election results proved the obvious. I also think this is a bad time for us atheists as the Labour party has little influence in the country, so there is no longer a strong atheist representation at local or national level.
Where does R. Dawkins stand on fairy – tales?
– Stephen Fry (Alan Davies and probably most of the “cast” of QI)
– Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA-member)
You might be interested in the following taken from the Times;
LAGOS; A chemical engineer from a Muslim family claims to have been beaten, drugged and held against his will in a Nigerian mental hospital after being committed by his relatives for being an athiest. Mubarak Bala, 29, says he is being detained in a psychiatric ward in Kano, after his father, an Islamic leader, beat and sedated him and had him declared insane. His father said that he had acted in his son’s best interests by committing him as he ‘could be lynched for denying God exists.’
30Aug14…..
……there is NO such thing as an atheist. Try all they might to convince people that they are atheists, it just does NOT work.
Agnostic —– YES
Atheist ——–NO
Ps:…..There have been many, many thousands of so self-proclaimed atheists in the past, that when they found themselves at death’s door…..cried out for absolution.
…and so they should for the life of LIES they lived.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
I disagree. Look at it this way. There are theists and atheists. If one believes there is a god or gods one is a theist. On the other hand if one believes there is no god one is an atheist.
A belief that there is a god is bestowed on many people by their parents but when they reach the ability to think for themselves they stop believing in their pre-packaged god. They may then seek a god that fits better with their individual inclinations.
Some may reach the conclusion that it is impossible to know whether or not there is a god and they become agnostics. But the true atheist comes to the BELIEF that there is NO god.
Now it is possible that many of the self-proclaimed atheists that you referred to were in fact agnostics who were open to a change of mind in times of danger. Agnosticism is not a belief and so is not the acceptance of an article of faith.
A true atheist, unless s/he chooses for some reason to change her/his opinion and thus her/his belief, will remain faithful to her/his atheistic convitions.
If you really want to debunk atheists’ default position of no existence of the supernatural, well then get to work. Give atheists (hold your nose!) the respect of coming to their conclusions honestly. Being offended by the point of view contrary to yours might also be come by honestly, but it is not an argument in your favour. What is it that makes you so sure you have a deity which to serve and do It’s will? And, this is the crux of the biscuit, what makes you sure you’ve got that right?
Bobloblolly, ultramaroon. Christopher Hitchens for one went to his deathbed unchanged. Many deists have gone scared and doubted on their deathbeds. That’s an old saw about foxholes. You’ve made no point. Saying is not believing and fear does not make belief nor unbelief. Grow up and into. what are you really mad about?
04Oct14…..Do you atheists think that you require as much Faith to be an atheist as for a person to believe in their religious Faith…??
BobLoblah
How much faith does it take to believe 2 + 2 = 4?
06Oct14…..
You can add to your list of ‘wannabeeee’ atheists…..
Tom Cruise
Richard Burton
Liza Minelli
Liz Taylor
All the Kardasians
Bill Clinton
Hilliary Clinton
Barack Obama
Rev. Al Sharpton
Rev. Jesse Jackson
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Jr.
Frank Sinatra
Alice Cooper
Ozzy Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne
Mickey Rooney
B.B. King
Sammy Davis Jr.
Gary Coleman (short-ass Gary )
Jane Fonda
Ted Turner
Henry Fonda
Bridget Fonda
Henry VIII
Caligula
Caesar
Nero
Herod
Former President Doc Chevalier
Idi Amin
Mohammed
ALL members of ISIL ( ISIS )
(To be continued)
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
As a moderate atheist, I find the utterings of the Pope of unbelief Richard Dawkins self serving and arrogant and really offensive to people coping with disabilities.
john
07Oct14…..There is NO such thing as a ‘ moderate ‘ atheist.
First of all, there is NO such thing as an atheist. Agnostic = yes, but atheist = no. Its only a word given a meaning.
Using the word ‘ moderate ‘ is like someone saying they are half-pregnant.
Ps: By the way, how do you know that there is NO God…!!!!!!!
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
I was born and raised an atheist. Don’t you dare insinuate there is no such thing as atheism. You might wish us to disappear, but then again wish- thinking and promoting that which cannot be anything but conjecture is the theist thing isn’t it?. Atheists utterly reject the supernatural, and consider religious dogma as complete nonsense. We also consider there is no need to replace religion with anything else.
Hatheists may ‘ think ‘ that they utterly reject the supernatural ( so do Christians – especially Roman Catholics ) but having FAITH ( which is something you don’t have ) enables them to ‘ believe ‘ in God and the Holy Trinity. To Catholics this is NOT supernatural. There are no boogy mans, nor fairies, nor dragons, nor athheists. Only wannabees.
Bob
We can’t be sure that there is no god, or gods. We just don’t see any evidence for them.
Agnostic = Not Knowing
Atheistic = Not Believing
None of us have seen a god/gods so we cannot know.
I have seen no evidence for god/gods so I cannot believe.
You pose a very interesting statement ‘ I have seen no evidence for god/gods so I cannot believe ‘…..but
…and its a big but….’ you have seen no evidence for there being NO God either. ‘
There is an old saying ” people of Faith ” and BobLoblah presumes that you just don’t have Faith.
Not having Faith does NOT make you right either.
Ps: Physicists believe that there are ‘ black holes ‘ out there in space even though they cannot see them.
Little Albert Einstein was taken to be such a fool when he proposed
that space bent and that time warped….and that the sun’s rays
on an eclipse proved that light did bend.
@ BobLoblah
Well fellow, I don’t wanna prank but you actually sound like a troll when you say such insults against atheists calling us “hatheists” and saying that real atheists don’t exist. If you pretend to sound reasonable you have to deffend reasonable postures and there is a basic principle of logic (you can call it whatever you want) according to which the weight of the proof rests on the one who affirms something. How can I prove that minotaures, fairies, gnomes, cyclops and all those beings of mythology do not exist? If you affirm that they exist you have to prove it. Talking about gods, I hope you have read the Bible and realized that the abrahamic god has some megalomaniac characteristics such as not being able to forgive a blasphemy against the holy spirit and condemning the ones who refuse to believe. He is so human-like that I just find it logically imposible (as much as morally) to believe and worship that being, and don’t come to talk about theology that is based upon speculation in a desperate atemp to make religion sound reasonable.
Personally, I am not going to hate someone because he believes but I know by the experience that believers oftenly do not respect you and always try to bother you and submit everybody to their beliefs and that is particularly annoying when religion determines political decisions (like in my country). Please, if you claim to be an agnostic don’t come here to deffend religious postures.
Little Bob, That’s a Bugs Bunny quote. And btw there is evidence that Bugs exists, every day on the cartoon channel.
@BobLoblah If you believe in fear as a justifiable mean to convince someone there is not a trace of reason inside you. If hell is full of non-believers, there must be thousands of interesting people there, and probably (just saying) if there’s a hell I’ll see you there 😀
Hey amigo!
@ Christopher Lowe
Ha, ha, ha! I though you had already forgotten about me (just saying) 😀 I’m fine and starting to feel (not completely unpleasantly) the hardness of living out of your parent’s house but right now, however a little bit affraid, I am living fine. Nice to see you again!
Ha…I still have Tico dreams. I just can’t seem to find a willing partner. At my stage of life I’m not going there alone. Buggered up my shoulder at work so now I have the time and lack of a life to come on this site.
@ John and @ Paddy Crean
Although you might rely slightly more for freethinkers among your politicians to tackle real rather than imagined problems, each individual is going to hold on to their own politics. To these MP’s ,I submit ,that you appeal to their reason that they not so readily pawn off social responsibilities to the iffy reliabilities of religious charities and their built-in biases and advocate for all, pointing out it is all constituents they represent. I don’t know if in your country your churches are tax exempt (in Canada they are) but they shouldn’t be. They should be able to stand up on their own or they are not viable. They certainly should not be rewarded for the occasional bribery of soup for souls.
@BobLoblah
Ha, ha, ha, ha! I bet you will find a little confusion choosing between christianity and Islam, as both religions send to hell the ones who don’t believe in them.
To the smarter people I want to share a thought with you. In my humble opinion, the arise of abrahamic religions put a corrupted notion of good and evil on western civilization by stablishing a standard according to which if you think the same as we do, we will love you, but if you don’t you will not be just our enemy but we will have the duty to correct you and even killing you if you refuse to regret in order to save you from eternal punishment. Only when brave people during the movement of Reinassance and later the Enlightenment dared to protest and differ the world started to progress again. Right now, some religious institutions like Catholic Church are trying to clean up their image adopting the teachings of such freethinkers (but only their own way) but they cannot deny they are doing it because now they are forced to do it and once they opposed to that and tried to silence those voices by the use of brute force.
It’s a shame that the arabic world is still in the middle ages…
07Oct14…..There is a belief in a Black Bus just as you have a belief in there being no God.
BobLoblah
BobLoblah spent 18 years amongst the arabs. Quite an education. Still do short-term Oil & Gas consulting contracts there. Have worked in ALL of them over the past 30 years.
Ps:…..Watched them jump for joy while waving their flags ( especially the Palestinians ) on the day the Twin Towers came down. Meanwhile, they continue to get ‘ free money ‘ from the West. What a joke…
08Oct14……18 years working ‘ directly ‘ for the arabs and 12 for Major Oil companies….for a total of 30 years.
Ps:….Yemen was something else….what eeejits…hellbent while chewing their Quat.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Who or what is Bob Loblah? What’s a hatheist? With his spelling and confusing misplaced punctuation, (refering to what I suspect is a typing error i.e. moroon), methinks it’s the pot calling the kettle black! This forum should be an opportunity to have intelligent debate, and I’m sure most theists find such drivel embarrassing. I’m supremely confident of a “moroonic” response when I declare that ALL theology is simply non evidence based (that’s NO EVIDENCE)!, and atheism is an unavoidable default position. Live long and prosper x
@ Mr. Stonehouse
As you probably noticed, this site is a rather juicy steak for trolls. You can either treat it with dismay or as sport. Occasionally and almost always unintentionally they may come up with a nugget of worthy response. The term ultramaroon is a play on words. I “got it” instantly. It is quite understandable that this would go completely over mr Loblah’s head.
Until the mid-eighteenth century, virtually every government on earth was theocratic so it should come as no surprise to anyone that large swaths of our planet are blatantly or implicitly religious in their politics now. Things like misogyny and ethnical oppression are more cultural than than religious but I’m not going to give religion a mulligan on this point. Too bad people in power in some of these places justify their ill will and power grabbing by appealing to the more than willing cooperation of religious authorities among them.Who doesn’t like to be on the winning team? Occasionally they endow themselves with this title. To be fair atheistic despotisms follow this same pattern.
My point is religion in power politics is used to justify murder, oppression, discrimination (Big Time!). Atheist Big Dog Assholes also murder, oppress, and discriminate usually not bothering to furnish an excuse for their crimes.
How is it that eliminating godless tyrants is such an easy call, but when leaders do the same thing in the name of religion to warp and bastardize culture to hold their minions in thrall we have a problem?
Gott mit unst!
‘Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool’
Mark Twain 1835 – 1910
09Oct14…..Religion was invented by the ‘ first ‘ early man who found out he could creep up on another man who had just killed an animal for food….and shouted at him…causing him to almost faint with a heart attack. Through mutual agreement, one agreed to NOT creep up on the other, while the other agreed to give the other man free meat for not doing so.
Ps:…..Their names were Christopher and Philip.
Bob, you are so out of Samuel Clemens’ league!
10Oct14…..’ hatheists’ are the opium of the eeejits.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Bob, Actually we do know that Christopher Hitchens went to his death unchanged. He wrote a journal on it precisely to debunk naysayers and future revisionists. It was then published as a book called “Mortality’. I’m sorry, it doesn’t have any pictures or comics in it, but it is quite short, so maybe you could handle it.
Things were short for Marlon Brando who bandied about his ‘ thoughts ‘ if he believed or didn’t believe. He wasn’t taking any chances on account of the mayhem he left behind. Several of his lovers committed suicide; his daughter committed suicide; his son ended up in jail for years…and no one knows what’s going on with the rest of the litter he was responsible for producing.
…by the way, Katherine Hepburn is on ‘ your ‘ list. But, during an interview with David Frost….she stated that when it came to her believing in God…she said ‘ she didn’t know. ‘
…Back to Marlon, when asked one time what an actor was all about…he said ‘ its a job for someone who is too lazy to do a real job. ‘
How right he was.
He was also asked who he thought was the greatest actor that ever lived and he replied….’ Mickey Rooney. ‘ For once he is very correct.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
17Oct14…..Neil Tyson recently gave Richard Dawkins a ‘ run for his money. ‘ When such a person as Mr. Tyson believes, it only confirms that there are far superior people in education and thinking than the lot that runs around herein.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
@BobLoblah
You really don’t know what you are talking about. If you were aware of what Dr. Tyson has said in interviews and the Cosmos series you would know that he is actually a strictly scientific agnostic, but he doesn’t accept to be called either way because he only admits to be called scientist and he has criticized severely religious fanaticism but very much his way.
17Oct14….Emmanuel, Mr. Tyson debated your Richard Dawkins and made jelly of what he (Dawkins) had to say and think. Yes, he wants to be called a scientist and yes ye has criticized severely ‘ some ‘ religious fanacicism….especially that coming out of the muslims….of which BobLoblah has not nor has never had any partiality. As far as BobLoblah is concerned, this ISIS cancer should be ‘ shaved ‘ off the planet with a straight-razor.
Ps:…..You seem to have gotten your dander up whenever BobLoblah comments on what hatheists have to say. By the way, why don’t you contact some of the key people involved in stopping / curing the Ebola virus and who make reference to God in their prayers.
Again, Neil Tyson believes in God…..just as Einstein said that the universe wasn’t created by the roll of the dice.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
@BobLoblah please, don’t try to disguise Tyson and Einstein as they were religious because they aren’t. They just don’t dare to affirm they have any certainty about the issue of god, but Einstein himself said that he didn’t believe in any personal god nor the existence of an eyernal life. Fir him, god is a metaphor of some principle of order in the universe that probably we will never understand (and let me point out that Einstein never accepted the basic principles of quantum mechanics because they show that at atomic level the matter behaves in such unpredictable way that it seems to tear appart all our notions about absolute order). Now quantum mechanics are the most accepted theory of modern physics. I could speak a lot more about these two characters but you will not pay attention anyway.
I’m sure that many atheists are trying to help to combat ebola (and, as ussually, it had to happen a disgrace, this time an outbreak, to turn the eyes of the world).
@BobLoblah these two people said the following:
Neil DeGrasse Tyson:
“…is that, I’m not totally convinced (about the existence of god) because it is said that he is all good and all mighty. But you see natural disasters happening which don’t have anything to relate to the free will of others. Therefore, if there is a god then he is not all mighty or he is not all good as he cannot prevent bad things to happen or he doesn’t want to”.
Albert Einstein:
“It surprises me the audacity with which you say lies about me. It is obvious that from the viewpoint of a jesuit I am an atheist but it is something I have never said about myself”
He said that because some fanatics started to say he had converted to christianity. Einstein was a jew but later he left that religion behind to become an agnostic. He also said that the Bible catained feebles and religions were childish superstitions.
Bob Loblah, let me clear out that if you AFFIRM that there is a god you cannot just say that it is “a god” because people learn to believe in god through religion. In what god do you believe? The christian god? Allah? Yahve? Krishna? Ganesh? Zeus? If there were no religions, there would be no gods.
18Oct14.. God is God. He always was and always will be. You forget one important thing when it comes to people of Faith. Such people have Faith in God. You wouldn’t understand that, would you. There are billions of people in the Roman Catholic church who think that you are a lost, and blinded soul well on the way to your final destination. To put it simply, you have a Black Bus to catch to carry you there….for all eternity.
I have deleted from the Bob Loblah dialogue all personal attacks, and left those parts of the content that are discussing issues. Can you please remain civil while posting here? Thanks, Michael.
@BobLoblah
It seems the administrator of this site has deleted the first comment where you said “black bus to hell”. Well, that is a really sad metaphor. I don’t see how can someone justify such a belief. Do you really think there is a god who will send to hell all the non belirvers? Now, that is really sadistic and remember all major religions discredit each other. If one is right, the others condemn you, therefore life becomes a lottery.
You say I don’t understand faith but actually I do, somehow, and it has very complex consequences. Faith divides people. It makes them feel anguish when their children don’t share the same faith, no matter the reason. It makes some to hate others who don’t share their idea of ethics. It makes people live with fear. Don’t come here to deny that. I know that faith makes people apply a totalistic reasoning to everything, assuming there is not any other way to think. It makes them belief that their notion of good and evil is the only one. I frankly could not understand you, but definitely, you are not an agnostic.
P.S. if you check out history you will see that society has progressed by questioning the certainty of absolute commandments. If it weren’t so, we would still be lapidating women and burning people alive for ridiculous reasons.
Is this comment line for real!
it shouldn’t be
28Oct14…..No freedom of the press ‘ herein.’
With BobLoblah gone, this topic has turned back into its
former self…….boring and without worth.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Ipcan an atheist accept support from St. Vincent De Paul?
@John
As much as a Christian can accept help from an Atheist.
Unfortunatelly, Christians use to mention their acts of altruism as a way of religious proselitism. At least, when one of them recognizes that many Atheists have contributed to the progress of the World, they start to develop a notion of broad mind. We all must be humble, however, at the end, whether or not you accept somebody’s help is a matter of personal choice.
since Bob Loblah phonate-equates to Bah-Blah-Blah (blah blah blah), perhaps he is jesting you all.
Emmanuel, ‘humble’…hmmm, that’s a thought for us all. so, thanks for that.
29Nov14…..Mr. ‘ j9 ‘ has more brains than the rest of you. As for the rest of you, there’s more brains in a bottle of wadda.
Ps:…..’ j9 ‘….keeeeeep up the goot verk.
Now BobLoblah has to get things in order for a
Merry Christmas to celebrate the birth of
Our Lord Jesus Christ….from whom all good things come.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
29Nov14….
J9 April 7, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Oh Barbara, you are already surprised. If there were a Hell, why wouldn’t you be good enough for it right now? Wouldn’t that be the place for Haters such as ye? This is why I put no faith in humanity.
….j9….surely you jest. Do you not believe that there are fellow humans assisting the ones inflicted with the ebola virus presently…!!!….and how about the REAL soldier who is completing his task by being in the midst of danger to protect your hypocritical ass….!!!!!
……Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…surely you jest. You are not that stupid, are you…???
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
“why, why,’ said the junk in the yard.” what brings you to the yard? ms to you btw.
I recently discovered the fee for my humanist wedding minister is €550!
This is too expensive for me. Could something be done about this please?
10Dec14….Joseph…if you Really and Truly loved the woman, money doesn’t matter. Get a job.
Ps:….If you’re an atheist, why get a minister in the first place….!!!!
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
If money does not matter as you claim, will you give me the fee ?
Straight question. I still believe 550€ is expensive and will my fellow atheists explore getting the fee reduced.
@Joseph
Well fellow, I don’t use to talk about other people’s lives but I need to comment about your absurd claim. If you are an atheist I think you don’t need to pay such quantity of money, to a minister just get a lawyer. Weddings are expensive and I suppose you have limited income, do something simple and that’s all, try to save money, your girlfriend will understand if she loves you. Besides it all, this is a site for debating not to comment personal issues.
@Bob Loblah
You are as arrogant as always. Why don’t you just go away?
I am trying to do something simple. Myself, my partner and two witnesses! No reception. The humanist/atheist fee is 550. that’s expensive. I am curious as to why you presume that I intend to marry a female……..
@Joseph
Ha, ha, ha! I think I talked too much. I supposed that because it’s the most ussual and when Loblah said it you did not deny that, so I just supposed. No problem about what person you want to marry. I live in Costa Rica and don’t know the laws of your country but here you only need a lawyer to get married in a civilian way, I wonder if you can do the same or you really need a minister, it sounds very exotic to me. What I can suggest you is to ask for a loan or tell me if you are british (I suppose) or whatever and I will try to find out something but I don’t get the difference between a minister and a lawyer or why you really need it.
10Dec14…..As usual, Joseph being a queer, is as screwed up as the rest of them.
Ps:….All the idiot has to do is go down to the local registry and get a
JP to marry ‘ them. ‘…..he can also go on board a ship and have the
captain carry out the deed.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
ha, i am starting to like this boblahblah. i am a bit appalled by this joseph person’s lack of intelligence and lack of common sense. perhaps he is not being serious here. avoid licensing your relationship at all costs. just use your two witnesses and do it in common law (law common to your particular country, as long as it’s a western nation based upon Judeo-Greco principals of law) without any moronic minister or humunculus humanist. Sorry to have to point out that the two witnesses are of Biblical origin; and before you say of Hammurabic origin, you’re mistaken prima facie. so say we all. so let it be written: so let it be done. notice to principal is notice to agent et vice versa.
Thanks Bob, your use of language is regrettable and disappointing. But I wish you well and all people of good will.
@ Joseph
Congrats on the nuptials. Why not hire a shaman? Cheap and highly entertaining.
10Dec14…..Merry Christmas to you j9, but to the hatheist joseph…think about the song ” You always hurt the one you love when you put sand in the vaseline. ”
Ps:….as an aside, if you are an hatheist joseph, then you don’t neet a minister because he would be a person ‘ of the Book ‘ which means nothing to you lot.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Never mind those pseudonymous smartdonkeys, Joseph.
Last week Irish humanist weddings were featured on a radio programme, either RTE or Newstalk, which is probably available as a podcast. If I remember correctly, the average fee was quoted as 400 Euro.
@ Bob Loblah
“a person ‘of the Book’ which means nothing to you lot.”
You’ve got that right!
@Joseph
As you can see this site is frequented by trolls and impolite people. I did not want to offend you in any way but I cannot give you a hint if I don’t know the legislation of your country. I think you don’t really need some kind of minister but if you want one search more options. Don’t listen to Loblah and those other clowns, conversations use to become very agressive here.
11Dec14…..’ troll ‘, ‘ impolite ‘……moi….
you must be off your skull.
Ps: As with hatehists, while ‘ feigning ‘ no religious affiliations….you can bet your bottom dollar ( joseph doesn’t have one ) that you lot are gettin’ all your Christmas booze and thingys together to celebrate the festive season which is, of course, the celebration of the Birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
by the way, watcha gettin’ yer girl for Christmas. Don’t forget ‘ er or she will give you a french kiss on the asshole with ‘er boot.
Merry Christmas.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
so be happy, you are the “smart” guys, say your brothers-out-arms:
Study shows religious people are less intelligent than non …
http://www.examiner.com/…/study-shows-religious-people-are-less-intelligent-t...
Aug 13, 2013 – Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a recently released Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a recently released scientific study. A systematic meta-analysis of 63 studies conducted between 1928 and 2012 show a significant negative association between intelligence and religiosity.
@Bob Loblah
Your cynical opinion is nothing surprising to me. With every “argument” you post you are putting yourself in a more ridiculous position. With no respect to others feelings nor to the people with money shortages you show your ignorance again by not taking into consideration that christmass celebration has a pagan origin and is derived from god Saturn parties in ancient Rome, so the origin by itself is not christian but the christians took the idea. Now, please disappear and remember that marriage exists in many religions and cannot be monopolized by certain belief or the lack of.
14Dec14….With a name like ‘ sanchez ‘ we can understand that you never did get anything from Santa Clause. Hence, began your bitterness towards God in general and Jesus Christ in particular.
Ps:…..Everything we do today is adapted from something or
someone from the past….even your name and how your momma
made you.
…..and in the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bend…and so they will.
…In the meantime, Merry Christmas as you enjoy the festive season you hypocritical prick.
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Good morning Michael,
Just listened back to your discussion of Lourdes and miracles on the William Crawley programme (Radio Ulster, I guess). Nice to see some quantitative evidence being deployed in debates of this kind. It would be interesting to compare Knock and Lourdes, or maybe we’re only in the ha’penny place.
Btw, you should get a new T-shirt, or change the colour for a bit of variation.
Slán is beannacht.
Liam
PS but only a suggestion on the sartorial front. L
16Dec14…..Is ‘ Liam ‘ an arabic name….!!!
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Will Atheist Ireland be organising a petition to remove blasphemy as an offence, in light of recent events?
09Jn15…..Hppy New Year to ALL you believers in God out there. To those that don’t, well it makes no difference from one year to the next. After all, according to them they are not getting anything after they croak anyways. That’s what they think. Everyone gets their just reward.
Ps:…..Simon Hall: England was deemed to be a non-Christian country last year. Guess many of the hatheists herein will have to start wearing turbans and other ragTops to ‘ please ‘ the multitudes….Yes…!!!…
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
you should add biggie smalls, tupac, p diddy, tribe called quest and david nugent
Why is it that the same person always speaks for atheism in Ireland?Could someone else get an opportunity. Or how is the official spokes person chosen?
22Jan15…..There is NO atheism in Ireland because there are NO atheists because there is No such thing as an atheist.
Agnostics = YES
Atheists = NO
Hateists = YES
A Word Called Atheist =YES & With A Meaning = YES
Wannabeeeee atheists YES…..
Ps: Ireland is predominately Roman Catholic and Protestant ( Church of England – even Henry VII had enough sense NOT to forsake God ).
On the other hand, England was deemed ( last year ) to be a non-Christian Country ). Make no wonder the muslimes have setup their ‘ nests ‘ of deviates there to preach their murdering methods towards the infidels…..anyone who is NOT a muslime. That includes you wannabee- atheists. As a matter of fact, if ISIS were to capture a Christian and a wannabee-atheist at the same time…..the wannabee-atheist would get his head chopped off first. The muslimes are beginning to graduate to liking ‘ pigs ‘. Once accepted, they will use the pigs to eat the body parts of those they have chopped the heads off.
Isn’t love grand.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
For and Ever
BobLoblah
22Jan15…..’ Henry VIII ‘…..you know the one. The same one that went against the Pope because he wanted to divorce his wife in order to get his nooky from another carpet-bagger.
….’ Henry VIII ‘….mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
@ B. Loblah,
I’m sure the Atheist Irishmen who founded this website will appreciate the Irish history lesson.
24Jan15…..Christopher Lowe…..How many times does pwm have to try to stuff into your schidt-for-brains that there’s NO such thingy as an atheist.
The ‘ wannabee-Hatheist Irishmen ‘ who founded this website must be turning over in their graves…..
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Bob, I don’t mind you saying that I don’t exist, but I’ve asked you before to please be respectful to people while commenting here.
24Jan15…..Attention: Michael Nugent……If you proclaim yourself to be an atheist ( which in your mind means that there is NO God )….why are you so mindful of trying to be respectful when doing so will get you no brownie points to determine where you are going at your ‘ end-days ‘….!!!…..
It’s like the doctor saying you have 3 days to live and you still worry about paying your mortgage…..
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Bob, you’ve got it exactly right.
As an atheist I try to be kind for the benefit of other sentient beings, not in order to get brownie points for my end days.
24Jan15…..But why be kind…!!!!!….when there’s nothing to believe in…??…..Stalin was the same and ‘ol Hitler went the same way. They were both very, very kind to their family members and friends. But when it came to those that did not fit into their plans, they murdered millions.
Which leads one to believe that an atheist would have no second thoughts of murdering someone except for the man-made law…
Forever And Ever
Bob Loblh
If there are no atheists, how could they have second thoughts?
I just read this great old Playboy interview with Frank Sinatra. Could he be added to the list?
http://deadstate.org/frank-sinatras-views-on-organized-religion-were-decades-ahead-of-his-time
I think the focus of M. Nugent et al is secular humanism which takes god out of the political conversation. No one is advocating the elimination or restriction of personal beliefs here. It would be nice if people would take personal responsibility for their thoughts and actions rather than putting the blame on or giving credit to a deity. Blaming the weather on the sexual preference of a few is not a mindset you really need when running a modern 21st century nation. And ruling by favouring one sect or belief over another is a recipe for conflict. Stay true to your beliefs, but respect that your’s may not be your neighbour’s. What goes on in church or the mosque or the temple should stay there. Treat your own place of worship as sacrosanct, but give that respect to opposing beliefs too. If those who would rule start putting their dogmas in their legislation and they are not your dogmas, wouldn’t you be the first to howl and whine?
@Bob Loblah
Well, Mr. Loblah, you have shown your ignorance and rudeness again. There is not a single trace of humanism, consideration or humbleness inside you. You can insist in your semantical mistakes, but the concept of Atheist does exist and it is the person who doesn’t believe in or worship any god. As I mentioned before, all gods are product of religion and you show a morbid fascination about the hatred and violence inspired by religions. You are miserable. By the way, it is true that Henry VIII was an immoral man but it is also true that the breakup he started with Catholic Church served as a platform for an environment of freedom and tolerance in United Kingdom more tolerable that in the rest of Europe (I know it was not perfect and you could get involved in trouble for being a non believer but figures as important as Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley did not have to fear the Holly Inquisition. You may also know that protestants and catholics killed each other during centuries in Ireland and the embarrasing fact that they celebrated a referendum in the late 90’s (I don’t remember if it was in 1995 or 1997) to authorize married couples to get divorced… the horror! As if all marriages could be forever! Augh! Also, religious fanaticism was one of the reasons of the split of Ireland (religion can divide a country, literally). Now, can you just put your hipocrisy and self-interested morality based on the search of personal reward and avoiding punishment somewhere else?
25Jan15…..Christ our ‘ Emmanuel ‘ has spoken and he can be smelled all the vey over here.
Ps:….Usually when he speaks such words, his momma cries her heart out. Either that, or she pole-dances.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Actually Mr. Loblah, you make me laugh. My mother is not a pole dancer, but that is totally out of the question. You are a superficial religious troll. What are you, a regreted muslim converted to christianity or something like that? Because of people like you, Hypathia was murdered, Giordano Bruno was burned and Galileo was inprisoned.
Bob Loblah has every right to spew his taunting hate filled bigotry and let him be smug in our obvious purchasing of first class tickets to hell. It is not a requisite on this site to show any class so don’t expect any from this pathetic creature. Best bet is to ignore him completely as he has no intelligent contribution to make to this conversation.
@cl of jan23
very cogent. agree & appreciate.
‘blaming the weather on the sexual preference of a few’
‘what goes on in the church or the mosque or the temple should stay there.’
agreed, and would add the lunchbreak, bedroom, and privy, et al. first do no harm should be everyone’s starting point.
25Jan15….’ What evil lurks in the hearts of men ‘ such as Emmanuel Sandwich and Christopher High…..
Ps:…Obviously, BobLoblah is saying something effective in order for you two arseholes to keep ranting on about what you think and believe.
Hypocrites….both of you….
AS an aside: Wadcha dink j9…..!!!!!…..
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Saying something effective? No you’re not.
25Jan15…..How dis for effectiveness:
‘ Bob Loblah does not want to be a member of any organization that would have people like Bob Loblah as a member. ‘…..or any of you rot either.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
“It happens sometimes: people just explode.”
“As for “First Principles,” basing them on divinities is, I think, a very bad idea. That leaves anyone free to pick the “first principles” they choose on other grounds, and to disguise the choices as “what God commands.” –Chomsky
Michael,
There are reports that one of the racist Chelsea fans is Richard Barklie, the head of a human rights NGO in the North.
Do any secular groups in NI have ties to this man? If so I think they should cut them immediately, and that would obviously apply to atheist activists in the Republic.
23Feb15…..Wherever you find Evil…you will find atheists ( wannabee atheists ). ALL terrorists within the ISIS terror group are atheists….as were Stalin, Hitler, Mao tse tung, Pol Pot, Napoleon, leaders of the former USSR that followed Stalin, mass – murderers, and the other whole-nine-yards.
There’s is NOT a happy lot, but they sure know how to pretend.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
23Feb15…..The three ( 3 ) males ( excuses for human beings ) from the UK that would NOT allow a black man board a train on his way home from work….and kept up their chant and rant ‘ we are racist and that’s the way we like it ‘……were all atheists.
Great stuff…..huh. Wannabee atheists must be proud to be a member of such a schidtty group.
Forever and Ever
BobLoblah
Bob, I’ve already asked you twice over the past few months to be civil while commenting here.
From now on, your comments here will go into moderation until I get a chance to see them.
Hi Michael,
For my 1st post on your site, could I recommend Iain (M) Banks to your atheist list? See for example http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bp017 (Not sure how to turn it into a link).
Also Chris Brookmyre, another Scottish novelist is an atheist (I believe).
Pete.
03Mar15…..Under what authority and qualifications do you ( Zwischenzug ) make recommendations for people to be atheists….!!!!…
Ps:…..There is NO such thing as an atheist. Go figure…
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Thanks, Pete. I hope you find the site useful.
Bob, I asked people to let me know if they would like to see anyone added to the list.
Under what authority and qualifications do you declare that there is no such thing as an atheist?
Hi All,
Two questions. Why was Prof. Dawkins lecture in Trinity college so expensive 50 euro!
As an atheist,I’m confused as to the recent term evangelical atheist?
help!
05Mr15…..Dawkins lecture in trinity college was so expensive because like a whole lotta hAtheists……( more so than Christians )….he is fulla ‘ greed. ‘ There are tens of thousands of so-called people who say they do NOT believe in God…( impossible ) who are rotting in jails…and they are there because they neglected to pay attention to the Common Sense given to them by GOD…..YES…..!!!!!…..
Ps:…..If Dawkins was that interested in letting people know his ‘ good news ‘……he would have offered it for FREE…..and don’t anyone dare say his fees were that expensive to cover the cost of hiring the ‘ hall. ‘
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Hi Bob,
thanks for the reply. I think 50euro was too expensive. I totally accept payment for the use of the hall, light heat etc… but perhaps atheist leaders need to investigate this. I am a working class atheist with limited resources.
James,
Atheist Ireland didn’t host that event.
We did jointly host a talk by Lawrence Krauss two days later, along with two TCD societies, and there was no charge for that.
We typically only charge for conferences, not talks.
We’ve had AC Grayling and others talk at events with no charge, and we’ll have Aron Ra coming in April.
We also have monthly Secular Sunday brunches around the country (the next Dublin one is this Sunday at 1 pm in the Trinity City Hotel on Pearse Street) as well as occasional Atheists in the Pub sessions at which there is a speaker, again with no charge.
I hope you’ll be able to come along to one or more of our coming events.
Bob,
Richard Dawkins has spoken at several Atheist Ireland events, and has helped us in various campaigns, and he has never charged to do so.
Thanks for the information. I hope someone in need benefited from the 50 euro a head fee.
No problem, James. Always happy to help.
If you want to help people in need, there are several secular charities that you can contribute to – for example, Red Cross, Red Crescent, Doctors Without Borders, Engineers Without Borders, UNICEF, Oxfam, Foundation Beyond Belief and more.
There is also Kiva, through which you can lend money to entrepreneurs in developing countries. The Atheist Ireland Kiva team has lent nearly $10,000 and atheist teams generally have lent nearly $20 million.
I look forward to meeting you at one of our events.
06Mar15….If one is so inclined, one can also contribute to the Christian Charity Foundation, the Call To The Priesthood Foundation, the upkeep of the Vatican ( costs pertinent to lighting, cleaning, rug replacement costs )…..which allows people of ALL faiths and even those who ‘ dance ‘ with the idea that there is NO GOD.
In addition, wannabee atheists should startup a charity to alleviate those within their midst who struggle with alcoholism, drugs, sex addiction, and the other WholeNineYards that they ‘ think ‘ pertains to those of religious thoughts but also pertains to those among themselves. Albeit, such monies can be put to better use by repairing the roof on the local church…..
[I’ve deleted some abusive comments about Muslims – MN]
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the suggestions about donations. In fact I’ve support many parish church fund raising appeals including church roof repairs and intend to in the future. The local parish hall is at the service of all the community where I live. I have someveryclose Christian and Muslim friends and often cringe when I hear Dawkins go on like a medieval bishop.
now, that’s getting along. charity shouldn’t stop at the mine-ilk personal space. that’s how you mend and maintain fences. and finally, someatheist embarrassed by Dawkins; a medievalist who whenever he opens his gob reminds one of a shrewish disgruntled disparaging ex-spouse. always gabbing outside of his supposed-expertise and grinding his obviously-exposed personal and we-wish private axe. the biskop reference is a shrewd one, John; kudos.
25Mar15
” The Taming Of The Shrewd “……see willy boy…..
…..The greatest writer of all times ( if his landlord didn’t do it ) and a firm believer in God.
Ps:…..along with that genius of a man ‘ Michaelangelo ‘……..Much Obliged…..BobLoblah
Hello michael, ive just heard one of reps, on downtown radio, put his atheist view, to a priest, he didnt do a very good job, he mostly said things that are not true, an i was wondering does he want to debate me on radio or in person, im a christian, the priest done a ok job, but i would like to talk to the fella live on radio, or maybe by phone, i look forward to your response, my email, address is above, thanks christy
Hello Michael, I wish to inform you about the book I recently purchased on Amazon about an Author who lost his religion over people. He found self-hood as a better alternative than believing in stories that are full of parables and metaphors. His website is http://www.irelandsmiraclebaby.com.
He describes on how the Catholic people including his own family turned him against all religions. It’s a very good read and its only published since a couple of weeks. It should do well.
P.S. – I am a proud Atheist and people should wake up and listen to you and others like Stephen Fry in order for Humanity to move forward and provide a peaceful world for us all to live in.
I look forward to your reply.
Jon
Add thoughts of a dying Atheist by Muse to your list of songs !
Glad to have found your site .. have just skimmed through in a hurry this morning, but am looking forward to going through your archives later and reading everything here! Thank you for putting it all together!
20Aug15…..Naz…..Don’t thank sickMick, without ALL the persons making comments herein, the topic would NOT exist. sickMick put nothing together. It just all ‘ fell ‘ together….well, not exactly together….it isn’t any masterpiece and still has a long, long way to go. The hAtheists are gettin’ a good come-uppance though….go figure..
Forever and Ever
Bob Loblah
Dear michael, pro-life means you are for life, and against death; did you and your wife have an abortion in your life together, is this why you take the stand you do? you are deceived if you think it is good to kill a baby, and especially a baby that should be safe in the womb, and that from conception a baby is a baby, never to be repeated, ever! I have every sympathy with anyone, male or female, suffering the grief and oppression of having had an abortion, or taken an abortion pill, out of fear most likely. I can tell you I know what that is like, and that the Power of Grace and Mercy, the Gentleness of God, of Jesus Christ, has understood me and as I faced truth and owned it to be murder of my own child, faced it to be what it truly is, and asked His Wonderful Forgiveness, I indeed received that forgiveness and the Power to forgive myself; you think you are helping people, but you are actually condemning them to ongoing depression, oppression and many related illnesses, due to the fact that our inner selves do know, that our bodies and souls have suffered a death; I have experienced this so I am speaking from real life, real world, my life. yours sincerely Lizzy
Hi Michael,
My name is Emer Ryan I am a studio executive at the Limerick Student Radio Station called Wired FM. I am contacting you today to request an interview with you on the subject of religious education being taught in Irish schools and what your views and or concerns would be upon this topic. The interview would take place over the phone. Our Current Affairs program is on today at 3pm and we would hope to have you on at that time. I look forward to your reply.
Yours Faithfully,
Emer Ryan
Michael is not Christmas all about Christ and his coming into the world to be the light of the world?
We do live in a world where many have chosen darkness than light because their deeds were evil you will find that in John’s gospel chapter 3.
Jesus is the light of the world within a dark fallen and sinful world and for the person that comes to him he will in no wise cast out.
Michael just watched your chat with Gad Saad ,brilliant (Love the Cat)
looking forward to hearing Aron Ra tomorrow , Keep up the good work
will you add Why Don’t Bees Go to Heaven? (its on toutube, awesome song) to your list?
Swearing an oath to “almighty god” is their an theist option??
Mr. Nugent, I’m sure you’ve heard of Ray Comfort, the banana man, creator of execrable “films” like genius, the atheist delusion, 180, and The real reason for school shootings. You should make a video about him called “the so-called love of Ray Comfort”. In it you can showcase all of his hateful comments, like his statement that Blacks are too smart for atheism, or that pornography, prostitution, adultery, premarital sex, and homosexuality are the reasons for rejecting God! And let’s not forget blaming Dawkins and Hitchens for school shootings! Include in the video Steven Anderson and Fred Phelps, and point out that unlike Ray, they don’t pretend to love people! Include the clip of Haytham saying in Asassins creed 3, that he doesn’t feign affection!
Check out these commenters on Pharyngula who call for the joke about murdering trump supporters and someone who sent him an email! What if I told you I’ve already killed 3 Trump supporters?
raven
8 September 2020 at 6:39 pm
They can’t hide the exhaust coming from their underground city.
Why should they? They are Morlocks.
Someone as clever as Phil should be able to find the entrance.
The Morlocks will be glad to help him.
They will be having Phil over for dinner.
Phil can finally and for once make himself useful.
@9 Tricky of those Centralians to have hidden all the buildings. They can’t hide the exhaust coming from their underground city. Someone as clever as Phil should be able to find the entrance.
timgueguen
8 September 2020 at 3:22 pm
“Phil” apparently isn’t afraid that you’ll read his stuff, decide “Hmmm, he’s right, lets start a violent revolution,” and choose him as your first target.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/…/08/let-the-hatred-flow/…
hank you for being outstanding freethinkers and doers!
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Hi.
This is a monogrammar ☝️ language 📜.
For reasons obvious, if you read this, directly translating a monogrammar ☝️ language 📜 into the non-monogrammar ❌☝️ languages 📜📜📜 humans 👥👥👥👥 have results in gibberish 😵💫.
Thus, in order to translate a monogrammar ☝️ language 📜, you need to know a monogrammar ☝️ language 📜.
——————————————————————————
Anyway, the point is, it disproves the common mystical importance of rich grammar like humans have to complex articulation. This will be helpful to your cause, because it tackles the root 🌱 reasons many people are religious.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D1OJ0VjhZ-Fhc5KG8aKGuKScBiuqn8boB5Jo8DWsTQg/edit?usp=sharing
Please establish in Ireland the Physicalist Institution, to popularize: 1. the chemical abiogenesis of life, 2. philosophical analyses on personhood and mechanical/ procedural prerequisites for a biological or digital personhood-yielding computer = brain, 3. the axiomatic prerequisites for physical foundations (David Hilbert, David Tong), cosmological calculability (Max Tegmark), cosmological constructor (David Deutsch and Chiara Marletto), 4. popularization of astrophysics and other sciences. | Why a Physicalist Institution should be established in Ireland? Many scientists leave gaps for the supernatural, which is an unprocedural impossibility. A Physicalist Institution will popularize with lectures all rigorous fields of study, which don’t include the supernatural. It is a specific goal to describe everything logical. Not all atheist scientists care to establish a Physicalist Institution and popularize or create academic lectures on all fields used by supernaturalists to introduce anthropic biases. Astrobiology is part of physicalism. I was born to help establish a Physicalist Institution. I am not rich and famous. Please establish a Physicalist Institution in Ireland for all humans, even theist students who are rationalists.
Hi. Nice talking to you. Here is the link to it.
https://www.lendgeeks.com/form?c=287717
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