I do have Jerry Coyne’s book “Why Evolution Is True” and it’s a fantastic book. I’ve also read “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Richard Dawkins and this is a natural partner to Coyne’s book with a fair amount of overlap but both complementary to each other. Here’s a talk by Coyne with an introduction from Dawkins:
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
Just came across this video upload from richarddawkins.net of a lecture by Lawrence Krauss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
I lot of this I already knew but there was a wealth of information such as what happens inside a proton. Good stuff.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
Yes, Sathya Sai Baba. Good riddance. He was a fraud, a leech on society.
But he’s not the only leech. Just look at all those faith healers in the Bible Belt of the USA and elsewhere.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
Disgusting. Afghans, leaving mosques after Friday Prayer, descended on the UN headquarters in Mazer-e-Sharif killing and beheading some of the UN staff.
Religion, contrary to the naivety expressed by some, cannot lay claim to morality. Religion is a source of enslavement, a source of inequality, a source of barbarity. Humans, as a community-based species, have derived morality from within itself, from within the community, influenced by the social interactions that takes place. And morality changes, progresses, as communities advance. But religion stakes a claim on morality, claims itself as a source of morality, and distorts it for its own means. Here we are, in the 21st century, with the inhumanity and unreason of religion exposed by advances in science and by application of critical thinking. Religion has not only passed its sell-by-date but was defective when conceived and manufactured. Let’s move on and free ourselves.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
Got this Reuters article via richarddawkins.net:
Islamic countries set aside their 12-year campaign to have religions protected from "defamation", allowing the U.N. Human Rights Council to approve a plan to promote religious tolerance on Thursday.
Western countries and their Latin American allies, strong opponents of the defamation concept, joined Muslim and African states in backing without vote the new approach that switches focus from protecting beliefs to protecting believers.
By ROBERT EVANS – REUTERS
Rationality, critical thinking, the tools of science, have shown not only no evidence for gods but also no requirement for gods. Religions are a human construct, all flawed, but some more than others. The barbarity of religions, the enslavement of the religious, are sufficient to earn scorn and contempt. There is certainly no case for respect. The religious can be seen as both victim and villain but, in both cases, irreverence is a useful method to allow the enslaved to break free and for the slavers to be toppled. I therefore view any initiatives to “protect” religions or the religious as nothing more than a mechanism to expand the ignorance that religions bring and as an attack on human progress. Religions have not earned special privileges and the sooner such privileges are stripped away the better. Religions, therefore, are to be resisted and fought, even if that means “offending”.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
I was going to post something about the recent BBC Horizon episode “Science Under Attack” but I held off as I needed to calm down after witnessing, in my humble opinion, the bizarre behaviour of Daily Telegraph journalist James Delingpole. Well, I’ve calmed down now and have seen that richarddawkins.net has some commentary on this so I’d recommend people to go there and contribute to a very interesting discussion.
I would just like to add that, after slagging off the general state of Horizon a while ago, I was most impressed with this week’s episode “Science Under Attack”. It looks as if someone at the BBC has been putting some hard work into making Horizon a premier science documentary again. Well done BBC.
The main point about “Science Under Attack” is that the scientific community needs to become a bit more media-savvy. This is especially important when cranks and kooks, with their siren songs of unreason, get equal or more air-time than true science. And, as Ben Goldacre so wonderfully explains in his book Bad Science, the public have a warped idea of what a scientist is and this is reinforced by the behaviour of the media such as when a newspaper reports “scientists have come up with an equation that indicates that your best chance to meet your most compatible partner is on the first Friday after a public holiday” or other such nonsense. Science is not decided by journalists; there are established processes, the scientific method, presentation of evidence, peer review, etc. It isn’t done in the headlines of a newspaper. But at the same time, science needs to be more inclusive of the general populace. And that’s a real challenge.
The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
- Carl Sagan
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011
Via richarddawkins.net:
The local Palestinian Authority has detained Mr. Hasayin on suspicion of being a blasphemer. Pathetic Palestinian response. What is it with religions that they demand slaves to dogmas? That they deign to call unreasonable actions reasonable? That evils are perpetuated and even demanded in their name?
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010
Andrew Anthony of “The Guardian” interviews Christopher Hitchens:
Christopher Hitchens: ‘You have to choose your future regrets’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/14/christopher-hitchens-cancer-interview 
More discussion at:
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010
I came across this article from an ex-Muslim explaining how reading the Quran led him to become an atheist:
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010
Saw this YouTube compilation of Christopher Hitchens talks at http://richarddawkins.net/videos/529709-christopher-hitchens-compilation which, in turn, points to http://www.atheistmedia.com/2010/10/christopher-hitchens-compilation.html
Brilliant stuff.
Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010