Pete Waterman and Girl Guides

Pete Waterman is, of course, a complete idiot. I’m sure everyone reading this is fully aware of that fact. But I wonder if the producers of BBC Breakfast knew just how big an idiot he is when they invited him to be their guest newspaper reviewer this morning. Perhaps they were just desperate to find… Continue reading Pete Waterman and Girl Guides

Atheism, Humanism and Secularism

Yesterday’s news stories about prayer in Bideford council meetings and the Christian guesthouse owners have triggered the expected levels of outrage from the usual suspects. One thing that critics of this ruling often seem to (deliberately?) misunderstand is the differences between atheism, humanism and secularism. I thought it might be useful to post simple definitions… Continue reading Atheism, Humanism and Secularism

Please Don’t Label Me

Last night I was discussing my opinions of religion with some friends. I made it clear that, contrary to what it might appear from what I write, I don’t actually want religion banned. I believe that people should be free to believe whatever nonsense they like. There are, however, three conditions that need to be… Continue reading Please Don’t Label Me

The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas

I’m usually a big fan of keeping christmas in December, but I’m quite happy to make exceptions for a good cause. And this is a really good cause. Remember, the Atheist Bus Campaign? Well the people behind that campaign haven’t stopped campaigning and their book The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas is published this week. Ariane… Continue reading The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas

Darwin, Humanism and Science

Yesterday I was at the British Humanist Association’s one day conference, Darwin, Humanism and Science, at the Conway Hall. I confess that I was really going to see Richard Dawkins speak, but actually I got a whole day of fascinating speakers. Following a brief introduction by Polly Toynbee, Dawkins was the first speaker. His talk… Continue reading Darwin, Humanism and Science

Creationist Idiocy in the UK

To “celebrate” the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, Theos (the religious think-tank) commissioned a survey into the public perceptions of Darwin’s theories. The results were published yesterday and do not make comforting reading. It seems that about half of the UK don’t accept Darwin’s findings and only about a quarter of us… Continue reading Creationist Idiocy in the UK

More Christian Voice Idiocy

Christian Voice (Stephen Green’s one-man extreme christian hate-squad) have written to the Advertising Standards Authority registering an objection to the atheist bus adverts. Green is quoted as saying that the adverts “break the ASA’s codes on substantiation and truthfulness”. He claims that the atheists need to produce evidence that there’s probably no god and goes… Continue reading More Christian Voice Idiocy

Atheist Quotations

The Atheist bus campaign raised so much money last year that they have been able to massively expand their plans. Instead of the original 30 buses they were planning in London, they are now running 200 buses in London and 600 more in other places in the UK. The bus campaign officially launched yesterday. They… Continue reading Atheist Quotations

Non-Magic Bus

Last June, writer Ariane Sherine wrote an article on Comment is Free complaining about the amount of religious advertising on the side of London buses. As part of the research for the article she calculated that it would take about 4,500 atheists donating £5 each to get together enough money to have an atheist advertising… Continue reading Non-Magic Bus

Planet Atheist

I’ve mentioned before that I run a few planets. A planet is a simple web site which aggregates web feeds on a particular subject. They are named after the software which is used to build many such sites. I’m always looking out for good ideas of other planets to add to my collection. Yesterday on… Continue reading Planet Atheist