Rebecca Vitsmun: I'm Actually An Atheist

Do you remember that devastating tornado this past Spring in Moore, Oklahoma and the VERY awkward CNN interview where Wolf Blitzer asked the woman who had survived the tornado but lost her house, "You've got to thank the lord, don't you?" And she replied, "I'm actually an atheist"... Well this video is a very moving interview with her months after the tornado and the Wolf Blitzer interview that went viral and changed her life.

What I didn't realize at the time of the original CNN interview is that up until that point she was in the closet as an atheist to her family, her extended family and many of her friends. So her decision to say, "I'm actually an atheist" on national television meant that now all of those people knew about her lack of belief in god, divine intervention, the afterlife, etc... And in a place as conservative and religious as Oklahoma (my entire extended family lives in Oklahoma, so I know), that is a truly brave thing to do given the potential fallout of relationships with friends and family.

Those Satanic 1980's Toys

A good Halloween post... Do you remember the satanic panic of the 1980's? Dungeons and Dragons, heavy metal, Lord of the Rings and anything that even smacked of the fantasy genre was automatically associated with Satanism. This video shows how it was taken to the level of complete absurdity on evangelical talk shows.

Bible Scholar and Author of 'Misquoting Jesus' Speaks on the Contradictions and Misinterpretations in the Bible

This lecture is well worth the listen if you've got some extra time. I love listening to lectures, audiobooks and music while I'm in the studio working on art. My hands and eyes are busy with art, but I can listen to things all day long. I am considering buying Ehrman's more recent 2010 book called Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them)

'Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why' is a book by Bart D. Ehrman, a New Testament scholar at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The book introduces lay readers to the field of textual criticism of the Bible. Ehrman discusses a number of textual variants that resulted from intentional or accidental manuscript changes during the scriptorium era. This book made it to the New York Times Best Seller list.

A Conversation with Richard Dawkins and John Huddlestun (College of Charleston)

It's interesting to hear Richard Dawkins sit down in conversation with biblical historian, John Huddlestun, a scholar who studies biblical myths from an evidence-based historical approach. It seems that Dawkins was trying to keep the discussion brief, but I would have loved to have heard more from the historian on the questions posed by Dawkins. I could easily see this 30 minute conversation expanded into a more meaty 2 hour discussion.

Superstition

From QualiaSoup

Footage of Derek Acorah 'possessed' by Kreed Kafer (anagram of 'Derek faker'):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbF_l5...
Footage of Derek 'possessed' by Rik Eedles (anagram of 'Derek lies'):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdS28i...

BBC programme 'Bullshit Detectors' exposes 3 'mediums'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIWdk0...

Intelligence Squared: Science Refutes God - Full Debate

Lawrence Krauss and Michael Shermer debate Dinesh D'Souza and Ian Hutchinson over the question of whether science refutes god. IQ2-Science Refutes God - Full Debate from Intelligence Squared U.S. on Vimeo.

On the fundamental question--evolution or creation?--Americans are on the fence. According to one survey, while 61% of Americans believe we have evolved over time, 22% believe this evolution was guided by a higher power, with another 31% on the side of creationism. For some, modern science debunks many of religion's core beliefs, but for others, questions like "Why are we here?" and "How did it all come about?" can only be answered through a belief in the existence of God. Can science and religion co-exist?

"Ghost" caught on surveillance camera

I promise this is not one of those "zombie pops up and scares the daylights out of you" videos.

Sam Harris on The Illusion of Free Will: Lecture at Caltech

The idea that we do not have our own free will is a notion that runs so deeply and disturbingly counter-intuitive to the way we tend to think of ourselves that it seems completely absurd... I mean, I choose to do something and then I do it, right? It seems like a no-brainer.

But in his new book titled, Free Will, and in this lecture, Sam Harris describes how that is most likely an illusion. From what I gather from his lecture, the genes that were passed down from your parents that make up your body, the millions of neurons in your brain, and the sum total of your experiences and influences all work together to create a picture of yourself that feels very much like "I" or "me". But since this "I" is not separate from the brain and its individual chemistry thanks to its genes, this "I" will act exactly how its individual brain is wired to act and shaped to act through experiences.

If that sounds like complete nonsense, watch the lecture and Sam Harris describes it much more eloquently. The lecture itself runs about 55 minutes and the Q&A afterwards runs about 20 minutes.

Jonathan Haidt: Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence

http://www.ted.com Psychologist Jonathan Haidt asks a simple, but difficult question: why do we search for self-transcendence? Why do we attempt to lose ourselves? In a tour through the science of evolution by group selection, he proposes a provocative answer.

Kony 2012: The New Face of Christian Evangelism

By now you've probably seen the slickly produced and obviously well financed video called "Kony 2012". When you first see the video, it's hard not to be moved by it. But what is never discussed amid all of the heartstring plucking is that "Invisible Children", the group who produced the video, are financed in part by the National Christian Foundation, the very same group who funds anti-gay groups such as Focus on the Family and The Family Research Council. This article in The Advocate has a deeper analysis and I thought this portion of 10 O'Clock Live with Charlie Brooker was also insightful on the subject.


Here is correspondent for The Advocate, Jim Morrison's take on it.

All of this could have never prepared me for the completely surreal and ironic turn of events within the last day or so. The seemingly angelic director of the "Kony 2012" video, Jason Russell, was detained by the San Diego police Thursday for being publicly naked, masturbating and obviously drug-induced (although his business partners claim it was stress related). The video is NSFW, so I will link to it and you can watch at your own discretion.

Neil Tyson talks about UFOs and the argument from ignorance

We need more scientists like Neil deGrasse Tyson. He is not only one of the most prominent astronomers living today, he is also one of the best public communicators on the subject of science.

The argument from ignorance, also known as argumentum ad ignorantiam ("appeal to ignorance" , argument by lack of imagination, or negative evidence, is a logical fallacy in which it is claimed that a premise is true only because it has not been proven false, or is false only because it has not been proven true.

After The Rapture

This video is a little bit snarky, but I found it funny.

The Rapture

A bit of advice for those concerned about the 21st of May.

Is The Bible Still Relevant Today? (1/4)

I don't own a television for a very good reason (because 99% of it is crap), but this is a good illustration as to why British television is more interesting than American.

Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins: Who Says Science Has Nothing to Say About Morality?

 I finished reading the book "The Moral Landscape" by Sam Harris a few months ago, and initially I was very skeptical of the entire premise. At first, the idea that science could determine human values seemed entirely Utopian and totalitarian in the vein of "Brave New World" or even as bad as "1984"... But I think Sam Harris really does understand those fears and goes to great lengths to confront them head-on.

This video is a great short synopsis of what is contained in the book.

The Four Horsemen

I hadn't seen this video in a few years and it's been nice to go back and revisit some of the topics they discuss.

On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion, convened by RDFRS and filmed by Josh Timonen.

All four authors have recently received a large amount of media attention for their writings against religion - some positive, and some negative. In this conversation the group trades stories of the public's reaction to their recent books, their unexpected successes, criticisms and common misrepresentations. They discuss the tough questions about religion that face the world today, and propose new strategies for going forward.

This video is provided free online by The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS) and http://RichardDawkins.net . If you would like to support our work and help us provide more videos like this, please purchase the DVD through our online store http://richarddawkins.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&... and/or consider donating to RDFRS: http://richarddawkinsfoundation.org/foundation,donations

Books by these authors:
"The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins
"The End of Faith" by Sam Harris
"Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris
"God is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens
"Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" by Daniel Dennett

Filmed and Edited by Josh Timonen

Hitch Delivers ... in classic Hitchens style

David Christian: Big history

http://www.ted.com Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline.

'Morality: From the Heavens or From Nature?' by Dr. Andy Thomson, AAI 2009

Dr. Andy Thomson gives a talk on morality at the Atheist Alliance International 2009 Conference in Burbank, California. Dr. Thomson uses Francis Collins' claim that morality is proof of God as a jumping-off point to discuss what we know about how morality works and where it came from.

Tim Minchin's "Storm": The Animated Movie

I've posted the audio to "Storm" once on this blog before, but now someone has gone and put it to animation in that wonderful early 1960's future-mod style which perfectly fits with Tim Minchin's original idea to create a beat poem set to music. Ken Nordine is well known for popularizing that style which he calls Word Jazz.