Atheism Corner

Humanity in Progress

UCL’s Proud Past Cant Hold Back the Present

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They say the present is now, and its a gift, not much so for London’s University College London, the gem of the city’s universities, which has been the first English university to open its gates to everyone, without difference to religion, race or gender.

This university had Jeremy Bentham as one of its founders and conceptual fathers, and is currently ranked #20 world wide, #3 in Europe. It had produced over 20 nobel prize winners over the years.

And now it seems that this proud secular university is faced with a small crisis, one that has been practiced in the world a couple of times already and seems to be a very successful way of venting anger at secular and Western society.

The UCL atheist group had published a small cartoon in the university paper, it shows “Jesus and Mo” enjoying a drink at the local pub (anyone who goes to the university in the UK knows that this is as routine as writing papers), however this gave those who frantically love their religion that they can not keep from being offended in its name over and over again, a great chance to vent some anger.

And so once again we hear of how some are deeply offended by a picture, published in a paper that no one is forcing anyone to read, and that the mere knowledge that inside the pages of a paper there is an drawing of an idea that pictures someone who walked around the desert believing he has a direct line to god which no one else can hear, that knowledge is something that they can not bare.

It is of great shame to the city of London that instead of walking forward the focus needs to be on the delicate feelings of those who are constantly offended by the West and secular way of life, and not on real progress, especially when those who are so easily hurt by drawings remain stoic when viewing real photos of decapitated people.

University College London

That Angry God

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Every now and again when I talk to someone who believes there is a god above (or below) I am surprised to discover that even though the believers do readily admit that god can be very angry at times (but for all the right reasons, he punishes those who deserve punishment, he kill young people because they are not part of his grand plan etc) they do not think that he will be ever angry at them.

The idea of god, as ridiculous as some atheists find it, is appealing to some people, but its almost always on their terms, this god can be really  bad news to some people, bringing death and disease and natural catastrophes all over the place, but he needs to be loving and caring and attentive to them – always.

It is not rare to hear elderly women or men say “I have always talked to god about this… and he always listens” however even they must agree that every now and again good and true believers such as themselves get viciously attacked by disease or accidents, to find themselves in a very sad condition, only to turn again to that same god that seems to be punishing them (for whatever it might be) and talk to him about it, sometimes he makes things right.

But if just by talking to god you can make him reverse bad news, undo punishments and reconsider unleashing pain and misery upon you, why don’t everyone do it? well, most of the people do, when faced with serious problems, turn to something and ask for help – “make it go away” kind of thing, and as we know, most do not get any answer.

Touch me! touch me!
Touch me! touch me!

Next time someone tells you that god is helping him in every way, ask if he acknowledges the fact that he does the exact opposite to someone else at the same time, and that he might do the same to this poor believer in a day or two. Because if there was a god he/she/it would need to be a really sadistical and cruel being, watching all this terrible things from above, actually initiating them, and doing nothing to stop it.

A World Without Hitchens

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The New York Times redrew the printing of its front page, after news broke that legendary writer Christopher Hitchens had died Thursday night.
The New York Times told Poynter that the presses did not stop to include the story of Hitchen’s death, as was originally reported by the Atlantic’s Nicholas Jackson. According to Poynter, the story was confirmed before deadline and the front page was redrawn to “change the line-up of stories.”
The Atlantic’s Nicholas Jackson wrote early Friday morning that The New York Times redrew its front page to include news of Hitchen’s death. Jackson wrote, “That is, the most influential newspaper in the world has put its work and printing process on hold to make room on the front page for the obituary of a single man.”
Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the spring of 2010. He passed away late Thursday night from pneumonia, a complication of the esophageal cancer he had. Hitchens was named a contributing editor at Vanity Fair in 1992. He has authored two dozen books and wrote for publications such as The Nation, the Atlantic Monthly, Slate, Harper’s, The Washington Post and The Huffington Post.

Read more here

The Israeli Atheist Wave

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The news out of Israel should be very encouraging for any atheist out there, the writer Yoram Kaniuk has finally got his religion status removed from the nation registry, meaning he is no longer identified as “Jewish” in the governmental files. There should be no mistake here, this particular person is very much an Israeli, he had fight for this country and sacrificed much for it, however he is against the ever lasting embrace Israel has with the Jewish religion.

The author told journalists that “Personally, I have always been an atheist. I belong to the Jewish nation; I have never belonged to the Jewish religion”, which is fair enough, to be of the Jewish nation but not to participate or to support the main ideas of the religion is exactly what atheists need. Since we can not, or should want, to break away from our personal heritage we need to separate the religious condition into which we were born and the actual idea of that same religion.

Following the move to register Kaniuk as “without a religion” hundreds (some say thousands) of now “Jewish” Israelis are now asking to have the same done to their status in the registry, which just shows you that if only given the chance atheism could be the the fastest growing non religion of our time.

"Without Religion" and proud