The Atheist/ Agnostic Newsletter
Friday - 1 February 2008
Currently at BellaOnline
One of the best ways to enjoy BellaOnline is simply to explore at random and see what catches your eye.
As I was browsing this evening, my eye was caught by the Religion & Fundamentalism title. I thought it curious that the site is located in News & Politics rather than in Religion and Spirituality. Why wasn't it a "neighbor" of my site?
It didn't take me long to find out. This website doesn't offer the "Fire and Brimstone/ Come to Jesus" appeals I expected, but instead deals with the far more important issue of women's rights and the oppression of women by fundamentalist political regimes around the world.
Lisbeth Cheever-Gessaman has put together a compelling collection of information and resources for those who are interested ... and that should include all of us. Click on the link to learn more and to get involved.
On the Internet
After spending nearly a year playing intellectual whack-a-mole with Creationists on the ultraconservative Townhall website, I no longer waste my time debating them. Those of you who've engaged them on the issues of evolution and science education know what it's like to deconstruct their bizarre notions one day and then find them promoting the same malarkey on a different thread the next. Maybe kudzu's a better analogy: "intellectual kudzu."
For those who haven't entered this Through-the-Looking-Glass world, a fine introduction is available at The Conservative Voice, where Babu Ranganathan explains that "Scientists [Are] Only Copying God" when they experiment with cellular biology. One of the Creationists favorite pastimes is constructing paper tigers in the form of erroneous science and then doing heroic battle with their fantasies. Ranganathan's no exception.
In the A/A Forum
We've got several threads in progress, including one in which Ms. A and I are conducting an ongoing discussion of animals rights and whether these exist.
Drop in and take a look, add your opinion, or even start a thread of your own. All that's required is courtesy; you can be as provocative as you like!
This Week's A/A Article
In my first article for this site a month ago (Atheism & Ethics) I mentioned a charge commonly levelled at nonbelievers: that without religion they have no basis for making moral and ethical judgments. In this week's article I introduce an empirical approach to ethical standards that should put that calumny to rest. See what you think.
_______________AJ Hill - Editor___________________
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