Fundies Say the Darndest Things

Sure, this might not represent everyone, but they are all actual passages taken from fundie messageboards, so NO POE!

Jizzle to the Crizzle Mothafizzle!

Happy Birthday Alan

Today is Alan's 25th Birthday!! A very big Happy Birthday to you Alan. You do such a fantastic job at keeping this blog up to date and so interesting, and it is enjoyed by many. You are a great freethinker and skeptic, always using reason in all that you do. Please, keep up the great work; it is appreciated by all. We love you very much.

Also sharing your birthday today is another of our favourite fellow atheists - Matt Dillahunty from the Atheist Experience!

So a big happy birthday to you both!! Keep up the fabulous work!!

What a Momentus Day

Today is a huge day in history, and there have been so many important events on this day throughout history.

Some historic events on 31/3 include:

1146: Bernard of Clairveaux urged the necessity of the second crusade, in which pretty much all the Christan groups got pissed off with each other.

1492 : The Alhambra Decree was issued, ordering 150000 jews to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.

1717: The Bangorian Controversy was initiated, which argued that there was no biblical justification for a church government of any sort.

1889: The Eiffel tower was inaugurated.

1921: The RAAF was formed.

1930: The MPPC was instituted, destroying freedom of expression and art in film by imposing strict censorship for 38 years.

1942: 5000 Jews were moved into the death camps in Stanislawow.

1951: The first US commercial computer UNIVAC I was delivered to the US census beureau.

1966: Luna 10, the first spaceprobe to orbit the moon was launched.

1985: The first Wrestlemania was held at Madison Square Garden.

1994: Nature reports the finding of the first complete Australopithacus afarensis Skull.


Notable Deaths:

1631: John Donne
1703: Johann Cristoff Bach
1727: Sir Isaac Newton
1993: Brandon Lee dies on set, while filming The Crow.

Notable Births:
250: Emperor Constantine
1499: Pope Pius IV
1596: Renee Descartes
1675: Pope Benedict XIV
1685: Johann Sebastian Bach
1732: Joseph Hayden
1777: Charles Cagniard de la Tour
1811: Robert Wilhelm Bunsen
1884: Adriaan van Maanen
1890: William Lawrence Bragg
1906: Sin-Itro Tomanoga
1914: Octavio Paz Lozano
1943: Christopher Walken
1948: Al Gore
1965: Jean-Cristophe Lafaille
1969: Matt Dillahunty

and most importantly...

1984: ME!

Darwin's Dangerous Idea Pt3. Life and Death

This is the third installment of the series, also see part 1 and part 2

5 under 5

Here's 5 interesting videos, each under 5 minutes in length, to get your week off to a running start.

Tabsocution

Over the weekend, I was a bit busy being horrible, so I didn't get any posts up. I did read a whole lot of stuff online though, and it's time to clean out my browser.

Enjoy:

The Visable Human Project
Yes, religion does cause harm
Rejection of defamation of religion campaign
A heartless faith
First Dog on the Moon's HANDY GUIDE TO HOW THE AUSTRALIAN INTERNET FILTER WILL WORK flow chart
At least they weren't facebook quizzes
Religion news roundup
Mexico destroys death saint
Scientology labor violations
Oldest brain ever found
Women told to commit suicide
Evolution is a scientific fact
You are not your brain
TAM London
3 steps to becoming a successful prophet
From the mouths of babes
Dumpster baby
Apocryphal Science
Brother Theodore on David Letterman
Art and anatomy tour
Medical Illustrations
Drunk otter
Texas on evolution
Kids slide cock train
Eat your saints, purge your demons
Jesus and Mo reconcile evolution
Hindus cannot burn each other
Must we cater for the faithful when teaching science?
Church gets legally stoned
The second coming
De-mask us on the road to God
Building a better way of understanding science
Honest to Jesus
Deluding Australia
Dead sea scrolls authors never existed
The reality of evolution
Evangelism = Predation
Jesus and Mo find the meaning of easter
Consciousness originates all over the brain
Science and faith
Murder, bashings and bullets
Anatomy of a serial killer

Critical:Thinking #1

By PQ

Some fun quizzes I took

I'm busy preparing for my HORROR PARTY this weekend and was doing a little horror themed websurfing. I came across these quizzes and was quite proud with my results

$200,000The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

97%

99%

89%

and there were some cool badges there too!



This one's for Jason...


Thanks to Rach, this one's true


You know this one's true


This is a pretty good feat for a skeptical blog


Even better than Zombies!


I'm sure there'd never be any contention over this.


Now the question is, which one should become a permanent fixture on the blog?

James Randi tests Psychic Investigator

In this video, a very young James Randi puts a 'Psychic Investigator' to the test. It is from a TV series of his called James Randi: Psychic Investigator.

I think we would all agree with her statement at 2:52

The real question is why would a self-aware fraud put themselves through a test like this on national television? There can be a few answers.

She may truly believe in her 'power', which sounds like a difficult thing to do, but it is actually quite easy for someone to give it a go, get some positive feedback (whether true or not), which becomes a self perpetuating feedback loop. It is not often that such a person would be tested and they then have the blinkers of the old 'counting the hits and ignoring the misses' fallacy. Thinking that she has a good chance to be able to display her powers to the public and change some people's minds, she decides to give it a go.

Or she may be a fraud who thinks that she can outwit James Randi (watch out, he's pretty sharp!) with some Barnum statements and cold reading techniques. Out of the three items that she 'receives psychic energies' from, one, she says may have been used for something innocent (which covers her for both a crime situation, or a mundane one), the hammer 'makes her feel glass', which isn't a stretch, using a hammer to smash glass is probably the most common use of the item in a crime situation. She also goes out on a limb with the axe/pick, saying that it makes her think of a heavy vehicle tyre. This could mean it was used to damage such a tyre, that it was transported in such a vehicle, that the crime was committed near one, or that somebody involved in the crime owned such a ehicle. It sounds specific, but has cast the net pretty wide, increasing the chance of a hit. I would say that in a less controlled situation, where she would be able to discuss back and forth abit, it wouldn't take long before she hits on some information that sounds pretty amazing (if you'll pardon the pun, Randi) but is actually no different to a cold reading, fortune cokie or astrological reading.

Have a think about whether she is truly self-deluded, or a charlatain. Enjoy her explaination at 2:52.

Adam Carolla and Seth Macfarlane on Religion

Adam Carolla has been doing the rounds as an 'opinion personality' through TV, Radio and now podcasting. He also co-created Crank Yankers and has done voice work for Family Guy and Drawn Together. Oh yeah... he also has a FREAKING ASTEROID NAMED AFTER HIM!

Seth Macfarlane is the creator of Family Guy and American Dad. He also produces the Seth Comedy channel and I am certain that if you cut him, he'll bleed cool.

They are both atheists and this is a pretty intereting discussion on Carolla's podcast.

Religious Advice

This is an old video, from mid last year, I think.

Beating:
He seems to say that it is ok to beat your wife, then goes on to explain that to beat your wife means to tap them with a toothbrush. I feel that this could be easily misconstrued, leading to increased acceptance of violence against women. If not straight away, it is wide open for a 'slippery slope' wherein a a tap becomes a slap, becomes a shove, becomes a fist, becomes a hospital visit. I'm not saying that it will happen, I'm just saying that putting the idea out there is a dangeous thing to do.

Rape:
Your wife must respond to your sexual advances. He even accepts that this is legally defined as rape in Australia. This again opens the door for abuse to take place. It is advocating that a man force himself upon his wife if he's 'in the mood'. It says that a man 'cannot rape his wife' as if, by marrying him, she has become his servant and must satisfy his every desire even if she is occupied cleaning your house for you!

Divorce:
So what can a woman do if she is not happy? Well, she cannot divorce her husband 'without reason' because she will be denied entry to heaven. There is a bit of fuzzy ground around the 'without reason' inclusion, and I'd be pretty sure that being beaten and raped (in the above context) would be unlikely to be reason enough to divorce her husband. I wonder if it would be easier to divorce him for eating pork?... stupid religions...

Great advice!

I'd like to see these kinds of signs being mandated on churches, along with these signs on the bibles:

Something New is Coming...

There's a rustle in the hedge-row, there's a whisper on the breeze...

We are about to witness the biggest news in Critical Mass history!!!!!

This Friday, we will be welcoming a NEW CONTRIBUTOR to the Critical Mass family!

They will be bringing a new dimension to the blog that I am so excited about!

Get ready for the launch of...

Coming 27.3.09

ooh... aaahhh... suspense... excitement... intrigue...

The Placebo Effect

Why do quack doctors, sham treatments and ineffective medicines continue to gain public appeal despite being shown time and time again not to have an affect?

Because people will believe anything!

Testing remote blogging

Here's a little pic of a good friend of mine. Actually it's Rachel's god, so now when she says 'oh my god' you'll know what she's referring to.

Good sex, from the mind of a Catholic monk

Who better than a sexually repressed man in a dress to write a sex-guide?

I buggered the feed. Sorry...

Hi there,

It seems that by posting the first million digits of Pi to celebrate Pi Day (March 14th) I completely buggered our syndication feeds.

I think I've fixed it now, and hope the last week wasn't too hard to deal with without regular Critical Mass updates to keep you happy.

And, as a consolation, please accept this religiously critical stick figure webcomic, courtesy of 909sickle.

The Pope is Wrong, Put a Condom on!

It seems that there has been a whole lot of discussion about the intersection of sex and religion doing the rounds recently.

The Sydney Atheists recently participated in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, wearing buses with slogans including 'Keep religion out of the bedroom', 'Out of the atheist closet' and 'Queer and happy without god'.

Also at the mardi gras were nuns (1, 2), Jews, devils, angels, and of courde, the Raelians. It looks like they had a lot of fun and it was a good opportunity to reach out to a portion of the population which is generally frowned upon by organised religion.

The pope publicly announced that that condoms could make the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa worse.

Which has been reported much better than I could by the BBC (1, 2 3), Guardian, Times, and the Age , among many others.

Basically, with over 22 million African people infected with AIDS, it is criminal to be putting forward such unfounded crap. I agree with the 'experts' quoted in the video below, who say "People really just need to listen to the healthcare workers and experts of the community leaders on how to avoid HIV infection."

Listen to religious experts for religious advice, listen to health experts for health advice.




I came across this little Jesus and Mo 'toon which helps to unearth the real problem.
But I guess things could be worse... this guy probably just needs a good shag! (the xtian gay-fixer, not Sascha Baron Cohen)

When you think you've seen it all...

I love all things capuchin. Firstly, capuchin monkeys are sooo cute.

Also, when Rach and I were in Ialy a few years back, we had a chance to visit the Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception, or more specifically, the crypt. It was perhaps one of the most intriguing, disturbing and amazing experiences that we had in Europe. In a little crypt, consisting of about 6 small rooms, the walls are plastered in intricately patterned and designed human remains. Each room has a theme to it, ending in a room with 3 children's skeletons.

It was so bizarre, it blew my mind.

And then, while surfing the net this morning, I came across this wacky vid. It's a capuchin monk that heads up an Italian heavy metal band!

I've gotta get me a capuchin of my own, those friars are pretty cool!