Libel laws here in the UK are ridiculous. They are vastly skewed in favour of the accuser, with a huge burden on those who are accused. Given that average libel cases run into the millions of £s, it’s an effective way of silencing debate and dissent – just as the recent case brought by [...]
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The recent earthquake in Haiti is a major disaster. From the what I have heard and read there are thousands, probably hundreds of thousands dead, and the immediate area is in chaos. Governments and organisations the world over are promising aid and financial assistance, and people of all beliefs are dipping into their pockets to give money to the various aid agencies that have sprung into action. [...]  January 15th, 2010 |  Tags: Aid, Disaster, Earthquake, Haiti, Pat Robertson, Pope |  Category: General, News, Religion |  5 comments | Well, the festive season is nearly over now, but there is one more night of frivolity to go! Happy New Year everyone! I’ve been trying to decide if I should post something about Global Warming (or Anthropogenic Global Climate Change AGCC – my preferred moniker) for a while now. Following a couple of posts by leading sceptic James Randi (see here and here) which cause a little bit of a storm amongst the sceptic community I thought I’d add my own twist on the matter (although I doubt it’ll cause even a ripple). December 24th, 2009 | Tags: AGCC, Sceptic | Category: Climate Change, Evolution, General, Science | 3 comments | Actually, I’m not really, but I do have to admit that the spirit of the season hasn’t really gripped me yet. Oh well, it will once I finish work for the rest of the year I’m sure. One thing that is annoying me however is the propensity for web sites to add stupid little [...] The average human being is a simple creature. They go about their daily lives, obeying the law, obeying any commands given to them by authoritative figures, and obeying signs and notices all over the place. So it was that a week or so ago in the kitchen of my place of work (I work for a large US based international IT company with offices in most countries) a cardboard box appeared, with a note attached requesting that milk bottle lids be left therein. No further information was given at all. Being the human sheep (sheople?) that we all are, milk bottle tops began to appear in the box. [...] As I’m English, I’m well aware that today is St Georges Day – St George being the patron saint of England for my foreign visitors. Seeing as I made mention of St Patrick not so long ago, I felt I could hardly ignore St George. Now that smoking is seriously on the decline, all the health campaigns that used to warn us about the seriousness of tobacco have had to move on to other things. Today is of course Easter Sunday in many western countries. It’s worth taking a few moments to reflect on the deep meaning and origins on this day. April 12th, 2009 | Tags: Chocolate, Easter, Rabbits | Category: General, News, Superstition | One comment | I heard this on the radio this morning on my journey to work. The National Secular Society is calling for all Hospital chaplains (of any denomination) to be funded by the Church rather than by the Hospital. April 8th, 2009 | Tags: Alternative, CAM, Chaplains, Complementary, Medicine | Category: General, Health, News, Religion, Science | 2 comments | Purely in the interests of science, the quietAtheist is going to attempt to eat this for lunch: As anyone who lives in the British Isles (of which Ireland is a part, even if they’re not too keen on it), and several other places (most notably New York) will no doubt be aware, today is St Patricks Day. It is surely incumbent upon us all to be intellectually honest about the things we believe in – even if it is only to ourselves. Even our most centrally held beliefs must be available for inspection, and subject to alteration if for instance new evidence surfaces that makes the belief no longer tenable. |
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