Most Linux distributions have a neat little program that can be installed called fortune. It will give a short little inspirational quote, a saying, poetry, a joke, etc. The pool of fortunes is over 16,000 with a base install on Debian Etch.

Now the interesting thing is that there is another fortune package called fortunes-off. Offcolor, offbeat, offensive. Use your imagination. Being immune to all manner of inappropriate material, I of course installed it, and lo and behold, the first "offensive" (and randomly chosen) quote was as follows:

jamonation@scarab:~$ fortune -o
"Then there are those who really do believe, but take very good care to separate their religion off in a separate part of their mind. They don't let clashing thoughts ever literally clash. Either they do it by only thinking about religion on Sunday, or they somehow manage to keep their religious thoughts separate from their scientific ones. Those are the ones I find least easy to understand. And then, of course, there are those who just aren't very bright."
[Richard Dawkins, "A Trick of Light:
Richard Dawkins on Science and Religion"]

There's a three part video interview of Dan Dennett on Danish television. It's definitely worth watching as the man is so good at expressing his thoughts in an easily understandable fashion.

Dan Dennett Part 2

Dan Dennett Part 3

I didn’t write anything this week for our This Sunday feature so I’ll direct the reader to a couple blogs that are worth a look at.

First, using the narration of a baseball game as his framework, the Friendly Atheist ties together blog submissions as it's his turn to host the bi-monthly Carnival of the Godless #70. Thanks goes to Hemant for including a link to a post at Jamonation in this edition of "the carnival".

Then, at Berlzebub’s Inferno, Berlzebub, tired of hearing the usual criticisms directed towards Atheists, writes a response with a Letter From an Atheist.

From the Blog Against Theocracy blogroll, Realitology gives us a rational perspective on separation of church and state: A Government Based on Facts and Logic, Not Delusions. The author sums up by suggesting that cults and religion have much in common.

They are all 100% sure that they are right, that their leaders and writings are infallible, and that they have the only "true" path to god. It’s the same shit, different smell. That’s all. They’re all delusional, controlling, conniving, brain-washing, and destructive; and they need to be kept as far away from government as possible.

 The second Blog Against Theocracy is happening this weekend - July 1 to July 4. The following is an updated version of an earlier post here on Jamonation.

Biblical Literacy: The Not So Hidden Agenda

The issue of biblical literacy has been bothering me since it came to the forefront of the news media earlier this spring. I view the infiltration of the public school system by Evangelical Christians as one of the greatest dangers to the continued separation of church and state. I’ve attempted to piece together some thoughts about the issue that have been simmering in my mind for a few weeks now.

Who are the people that insist that the bible needs to be taught in the public school system? Simple logic would dictate that it would be a group with a vested interest - a group like Evangelical Christians. Has any faction other than Evangelical Christians demanded that biblical literacy be taught in public schools? I can’t imagine that other faith groups or unbelievers of any stripe would be pushing this issue. Why would Evangelical Christians, who are supposedly already well versed in the teachings of the bible, want to promote teaching biblical literacy in public schools? It can’t be specifically for their own children for they have already been saved through attendance at private Christian schools. So why have Evangelicals made it a mission to have the bible taught in the public school system?

Let's move from the comedic thrashing of religion by Eddie Izzard to the serious warning of the dangers of religion from Edward Tabash. From the same ship that Richard Dawkins read the preface to the new paperback edition of The God Delusion, Mr. Tabash discusses The Present Threat of the Religious Right to Our Modern Freedoms. A very sobering talk. The Q & A session is well worth a view as well.

Since the Eddie Izzard - Jesus & the Dinosaurs video that I posted a while back is no longer available, here's another Eddie Izzard video via YouTube: Religion ala Eddie Izzard. I love the part where he sings Christian hymns!

I haven't had time to write anything for This Sunday, so I thought I'd let one of the world's foremost proponents of Atheism and Darwinism look after things today via video. From the lounge of a ship somewhere near the Galapagos Islands, Richard Dawkins, in shorts, bare feet and wearing a Tee-shirt emblazoned with a picture of a dinosaur and the words "How To Keep Dinosaurs", reads the new preface to the paperback edition of The God Delusion. In the new preface, Prof. Dawkins addresses criticisms of the hardcover edition of the book. After the reading, he takes questions from the on-board audience.

Ah, summer solstice is here again. It has to be one of my favourite times of the year. I love these long evenings.. It’s10 o’clock PM, 23 degrees Celsius and the air is still. I sit out on the back deck nursing a favourite beverage taking it all in. The dark silhouettes of the trees starkly contrast against the sky as the afterglow of the day gradually diminishes in the west. Bats flit helter-skelter along the edge of the trees snapping up insects. I feel thankful to be alive and be part of it.

Sitting here in my reverie, I got to thinking about how Pagan festivals in pre-Christian times revolved around the cycles of the earth’s movement around the sun. To the ancients, the summer and winter solstices were two of the year’s most important times of celebration. The sun played a central role in these celebrations. In fact, many pre-Christian societies worshiped the sun as part of their religious practices. The sun was their god.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Worshiping the sun, the ancients worshiped something tangible, something that they could see, something that had a direct influence on their lives. They worshiped something that they had direct existential evidence of, unlike the unseen god of Christianity which came to replace their Pagan rites.

Three thousand or so years later, the sun is still the force that maintains life on this planet. Considering the scientific illiteracy of their time, perhaps it was perfectly logical that the ancients would practice a religion centered on sun worship. Without the sun, life would perish on earth. Can the same be said if we didn’t have the concept of a Christian god?

It would seem that Richard Dawkins was a very busy man during his recent visit to Toronto.

* Richard Dawkins: Atheist - RD is interviewed by Avi Lewis at CBC Newsworld.

* Mr. Dawkins is interviewed on Toronto's CFRB radio - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

* The God Delusion: Dawkins Feature - RD is interviewed by Anna Maria Tremonti on CBC Radio One.

* Interview With Richard Dawkins - John Oakley, 640 AM Toronto.

* And finally, in an article entitled A contest of one , Anthony Black reviews the evidence that supports evolution in the Hamilton Spectator.