Lay Theism

Abortion…  wait, really?!  This is old news revived by the new Mother Teresa stamp.

Friend to the Poor?

It’s so interesting how two groups can see an issue in two radically different ways.

I think it’s sad that with all the suffering, disease, and famine that Mother Teresa saw, that she thought abortion was the issue.

Catholics are all up in arms about the atheist viewpoint on this too:

Atheist group urges boycott of Mother Teresa stamp

I swear…

Mother Teresa: The Greatest Destroyer of Peace is Abortion

For the other perspective, check here:

Sam Harris on Mother Teresa

Atheism, History, Politics, Religion abortion, belief, Pope, stamp, usps, vatican

Lawmaker Launches Assault on Science Ed « Texas Freedom Network

Idiot.

Atheism, Politics, Religion, Science

Don’t ask Google because Google doesn’t know.

Just a little over two years ago, I noticed that Google had widely varying results in their search suggestions: http://www.laytheism.com/blog/2008/who-is-god/

Check out this radical piece of journalism hot off the press from Fox News:

Google’s search engine returns common results to most queries as you type. But the “don’t be evil” company appears to be censoring its results when it comes to Islam. …

Enter “Christianity is” and you’ll find results that, while offensive, at least indicate common discussions on the Internet. Likewise, type “Judaism is” and Google suggests other, potentially offensive searches such as “Judaism is false” and “Judaism is not a race.”

But type “Islam is” into the search engine and Google’s auto-results pane mysteriously vanishes, leading some to conclude that Google, whose mantra is “don’t be evil,” is censoring its search results.

According to Google’s Web site, the query suggestions that appear as you type are drawn from from searches you’ve done (if you’re logged in), searches done by users all over the world, sites in the search index and ads in Google’s network. …

Perhaps the returned results are so inappropriate that all results have simply been turned off, an option some Internet users label ‘cowardly.’ After all, search for hot-button items such as “scientology is” or “Muhammad is” and the results are even more offensive.

A Google spokesman explained that the weird absence of results is just a software problem: “This is in fact a bug and we’re working to fix it as quickly as we can.” But the company would not respond to requests for clarification.

An intriguing corollary: Google offers search suggestions for future tense queries as well. Ask “Christianity will” and Google suggests “Christianity will end, it will disappear,” and “Christianity will end.” Ask the same about Islam and Google notes that “Islam will dominate the world” and “Islam will destroy Europe.”

Pretty clever on the tense change.  Guess the Google engineers missed that.

Google, Religion censorship, fear, orwell, scary, search

I finally was able to skate through Christmas without attending a religious service.  In a family full of Christians, it’s pretty tough to not get roped into a evening service or a choral presentation or some other faith-based celebration.  Because of a scheduling fluke, my wife and I were able to bow out gracefully and head home to prepare dinner.

It’s been an interesting year for me…  Next year I want to open up more via this blog.  Seems the best blogs to me are the ones where people reveal a little about themselves and their life experience.  I like several “link puke” blogs, but I really like the ones where people have something to say or something to share that I might learn something from their point of view, or at least be entertained!

Many things that took place in my life this year will allow me to open up more next year, to my readers, and to my family.  I hope you have a happy, healthy, prosperous next year, and if you care one way or the other, please let me know.  I promise to be interesting, if you promise to tell me when I suck.  All the best…  Hugh.

Atheism, Religion Christian, church, doubt, holiday, honesty

I have been looking for a simple reference to cover the basic ideas of God’s existence and found this handy reference.

http://www.400monkeys.com/God/

Use it frequently and try to commit as much as you can to memory.  It should be helpful as you continue to pursue truth and good in life.

Best of luck!

Agnostic, Atheism, Religion, Science belief, existentialism, faith, god, reason