Southern folks

A photo from my personal

Christmas party with the local southern folks

The Free Expression Cartoon Contest

Here is a message forwarded by one of my professors (also a friend who has been really influential on my thoughts about religion and atheism). Apparently there is a cartoon contest and the topic is RELIGION (a dangerous topic, eh?).

For those who could succeed to be a bright and an amateur cartoonist at the same time (not me).

Here is the message from the Council for Secular Humanism:

"A Message from the Executive Director

Tom Flynn

You've probably heard of the craven attempt on the life of Danish editorial cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. He and his grandchild were attacked in his home by a Somali assailant who was shot by police and now faces criminal proceedings. Westergaard drew the best-known of the 2005 "Muhammad" cartoons that appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and inflamed radical Muslim anger worldwide. You've seen it: it's the cartoon showing an angry-looking bearded Muslim man whose turban is a bomb with a lighted fuse. Is it Muhammad or just a representation of a generic jihadist? No one knows, and outraged Islamists don't care. They just condemn it as "blasphemy" and have launched several attempts to assassinate Mr. Westergaard over the years. (No, this was not the first.)

Let's be clear what we're not looking for.This event simply underscores the necessity for secular humanist activists and organizations to stand foursquare in defense of free expression...in defense of the right to criticize religion through argument and art...and even in defense of the right to blaspheme.

That's why the Council for Secular Humanism is sponsoring a Free Expression Cartoon Contest. We're doing it in cooperation with the Center for Inquiry's Campaign for Free Expression. For another week and a half, the Council invites professional and amateur artists to submit their sharpest, cleverest, and most ingenious creations touching on that most sensitive subject: religion. (Though secular humanism is not a religion, cartoons about secular humanists and other activists who live without religion are welcome, too.)

We're not looking for cartoons that crudely mock a particular faith or engage in sacrilege for the fun of it. A well-conceived cartoon can do so much more than that. We're looking for sophisticated, hard-hitting ideas and images that pose serious questions about belief and disbelief -- cartoons that prod readers to think as they laugh (or maybe, cry).

How to Enter...and Win!

The Free Expression Cartoon Contest is two contests in one. Amateur cartoonists (anyone who doesn't get a regular paycheck to draw cartoons) can compete for prizes of $300 (grand prize), $125 (second prize), and $75 (third prize). In addition, the three winning entries will be published in Free Inquiry and on the Council for Secular Humanism and Center for Inquiry Web sites. Professional cartoonists will compete for grander prizes of $2500 (grand prize), $1250 (second prize), and $750 (third prize). Winning pro entries will also be published in Free Inquiry and online.

Entries will be judged by a panel of volunteer judges led by Steve Benson, award-winning atheist cartoonist for the Arizona Republic. Entries must be received no later than Friday, January 15, 2010. Winners will be announced on Monday, March 29, 2010 -- just in time for Easter!

This contest is supported by a generous grant from the Andrew Norman Foundation.

Hardcopy entries should be sent to:

Cartoon Contest
P.O. Box 664
Amherst, NY 14226-0664

Online entries should be sent to:

cartooncontest@secularhumanism.org "

Documentaries on Religion and Politics

Recently I watch some documentaries from this link:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/

Some of them are quite impressing (to be honest some of them are also boring).

In the "religion" section "God's Next Army" is really interesting.

You can watch it free from here:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/gods-next-army/

The comments of one of the students were really striking for me.

He was stating the problems of homosexuality and abortion will be solved by the forces

of the light lead by ex-president George Bush. These students are educated to

establish (or maybe protect) the Christian Republic of the "holy" nation.

Please someone tell me the difference between Iran's fundamentalist perspective

and the Republicans' (here I have to recommend Tariq Ali's book "The clash of the Fundamentalisms").

Are these guys aware of the fact that they are being used by the politicians and corporate America?

Also please watch the documentaries on Israeli and American brutalities in Palestine and Iraq.

I feel like I have to do something... I just can't stand it anymore...

Zizek vs. Alex Callinicos - What does it mean to be a revolutionary today?

A debate between radical philosopher Slavoj Zizek and Trotsjyist Alex Callinicos onMarxist struggle today. I don't agree with Zizek on every point he makes but the way he puts them deserves praise.

I know this blog is getting more and more political but I really enjoyed these two videos and the movie called Zizek! (see the trailer below). In the movie Zizek's hyperactive style is really enjoyable.

First watch Callinicos video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDJEwfTOGcI&feature=video_response

Zizek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GD69Cc20rw

Also for the trailer of movie "Zizek!":

http://www.zizekthemovie.com/sightsandsounds/trailer.mov

Top ten proofs for God's existence...

"You can now learn to Defend the Faith using Logic, Facts,
Science, Mathematics, Physics, and Historical Evidence,
but in simple layman's terms and easy to understand language."

We are so lucky to have this website and DVD. Finally we have 10 proofs of God's existence.

http://toptenproofs.com/article_godsexistence.php

In this website you can find articles and links that offer proofs about not just God's existence but also for other religious themes such as resurrection, Christianity, and young earth.

In his article, Bob Dutko already shows God's existence with only one proof. He argues that since the laws of Physics tells us nothing can be created from nothingness... Yeap, you already guessed where we are going :

"Simply put, when you open your eyes and see matter and experience energy, what you see is impossible according to the known Laws of science if, in fact, there is no God. Therefore,science itself says there must be a God."

So, what Bob says if nothing came out of nothingness, the most scientific way to explain the creation of the universe is to say "God made it". If you don't buy this explanation, don't worry there are 9 more. But you have to pay 15 Dollars and purchase the DVD from this very web site.... :)

Bob continues: "Believe it or not, a 5 year old child could be an atheistic scientist's worst nightmare by merely asking him “where did everything come from if God didn't make it?”

I will be humble and answer "I don't know" to this question (probably this 5-year old kiddo will haunt me in my nightmares). But the creationists (I don't know why) are so sure that if you do not know something it has to be God. I hate when someone tries to show the God's existence with scientific proofs. Damn!

The Scripture Project

An incredible section from "the Reason Project"... Steve Wells, the creator of this idea, interprets three holy books, Quran, the bible and Mormon Book, and tags every verse and sura with a highlight key of absurdity, cruelty and violence, contradiction, plagiarism, and science and history, and such... So you know every single word in these books if they are contradicting with other verses or if they make incorrect scientific predictions. I really like the idea and it is fun to read as well.. I strongly recommend this section of the Reason Project website.

http://www.reasonproject.org/scripture_project/

Why We Fight & The Corporation

I usually blog about atheism and religion but Ii am also very interested in anti-globalization movement. These are two really influential documentaries about the American Empire and corporations. You may think "this topic is not new, we already know that corporations control the whole system on the world", but these two documentaries encourage you to go out and do something.

Why we fight (2005) - Eugene Jarecki : http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/

This 2005 documentary does a great job to clarify the reasons why the USA is in Iraq and why "fighting" is a must for the American Empire. Also don't miss the study guide which is a short-book about the historical details of American urge for blood:

http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/download/WhyWeFight-StudyGuide-Sony.pdf?hs317=WhyWeFightSPHE+StudyGuide


The Corporation (2003) - written by Joel Bakan, and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott : http://www.thecorporation.com/

A truly great documentary about how evil the corporate system is. The most surprising part was that corporate people have no idea about the impact they do on the lives of third world peoples.

The website is also very good. you can watch educational videos about the system. The huge irony is you can download the movie from "iTunes". iTunes???? Come on!

The Reason Project

"The Reason Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. Drawing on the talents of the most prominent and creative thinkers across a wide range of disciplines, The Reason Project seeks to encourage critical thinking and wise public policy through a variety of interrelated projects."

On its advisory board there are very famous names including Dawkins, Dennett, Pinker, Salman Ruhdie, Ibn Warraq, Christopher Hitchens, and even Bill Maher.

To be honest, this website is not much different from "brights.net", but at least there are few new additions to the commentators. You can also volunteer for this project which eventually I may consider to do. They actively seek for volunteers such as researchers, web developers, activists etc.

http://www.reasonproject.org/

Notes from “The Early History Of Islam And The Koran” Conference - March 13-16, 2008

http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/19589/sec_id/19589

You can find Ibn Warraq's summary of “The Early History Of Islam And The Koran” Conference which happened last year.

Also check out another essay by Ibn Warraq "Which Koran?" from "New English Review":

Part I & Part II

Back again!

Hopefully I am back blogging after almost a year with travels, talks, papers and experiments...

Let's see how long I can go on... :)

Zeitgesit, the movie

Zeitgeist is a movie about the roots of all religions, terrorist attack of 9/11 and economical system of the USA. In the first the movie explains how all religions are based on Pagan astrological beliefs. For the second and third parts you may think both are big conspiracy theories. But I am sure the movie will surprise you and force you to think. I strongly recommend you to watch it.

to watch the whole movie click the link below:

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

also you can join the Zeitgeist Movement:

http://thezeitgeistmovement.com/

Creationist Science Fair

Campaign: Atheist Bus

In London, atheistcampaign.org launched "The Atheist Bus Campaign" on Tuesday October 21. The organization runs 30 red buses with the slogan of "There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" and tries to raise 5000 Pounds for their next campaign.

If you want to make a donation click the link below:

http://www.justgiving.com/atheistbu

Happily, the campaign raised around 117.000 Pounds so far.

The God Delusion

Richard Dawkins' bestseller book 'The God Delusion' (first published in 2006), openly criticizes religions in the world, and tries to convince the reader that source of morality cannot be the religions. Personally this book helped me to put my ideas clearly and strengthened my decision to be an atheist. I still have questions about god, religions, and the universe. But 'The God Delusion' supported my questions and encouraged me to ask more. This book is also the reason that I opened this blog.


for the review of this book by Jim Holt for the New York Times click the link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/books/review/Holt.t.html?ref=books

Does science make belief in God obsolete?

John Templeton Foundation brought scientists and writers together to debate on whether science can make religion obsolete or not. The most interesting one for me was between the author of "God is not Great" and the editor of "the Portable Atheist", Christopher Hitchens and a professor of biology and the author of "Finding Darwin's God", Kenneth Miller.

Hitchens answered the question as "no, but it should" while Miller responded "of course not".

for the Hitchens vs. Miller debate: http://www.templeton.org/belief/debates.html

for the other debates: http://www.templeton.org/belief/debates.html

for the pdf version of Hitchens' essay: http://www.templeton.org/belief/essays/hitchens.pdf

for the pdf version of Miller's essay: http://www.templeton.org/belief/essays/miller.pdf

"OUT" Campaign

"Our choir is large, but much of it remains in the closet" says Richard Dawkins and he adds "Our repertoire may include the best tunes, but too many of us are mouthing the words sotto voce* with head bowed and eyes lowered. " Dawkins aims to make the hidden atheists to speak out.

*under voice

for the rest of the article:
http://outcampaign.org/RichardDawkinsIntroduction

for the web site:
http://outcampaign.org/

Richard Dawkins on Harun Yahya's "Atlas of Creation"

October 14 - Richard Dawkins speaks on the Islamic creationist book "Atlas of Creation" at the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain's Conference on Political Islam, Sharia Law and Civil Society. Dawkins calls Harun Yahya as a "naive creationist". Harun Yahya sued Dawkins and persuaded the Turkish courts to ban the web site of Richard Dawkins.

to watch the video click the link below:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/261194#tab=article&sc=0&newsindex=

The Bright Stuff

What/Who is a bright?

"The time has come for us brights to come out of the closet. What is a bright? A bright is a person with a naturalist as opposed to a supernaturalist world view. We brights don't believe in ghosts or elves or the Easter Bunny — or God. We disagree about many things, and hold a variety of views about morality, politics and the meaning of life, but we share a disbelief in black magic — and life after death." says philosopher/cognitive scientist and an enthusiastic bright, Daniel C. Dennett.

click the link below for the rest of the article:

http://www.the-brights.net/vision/essays/dennett_nyt_article.html

The Four Horsemen

The four Horsemen -

A discussion DVD by Richard Dawkins, Dan Dennet, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens.

To download the Quick Time videos, right click the link below and choose "save target as...":

Hour 1:
http://media.richarddawkins.net/video/4h/4H_Hour1_web.mov

Hour 2:
http://media.richarddawkins.net/video/4h/4H_Hour2_web.mov

Enemies of Reason

Enemies of Reason -

A new documentary DVD by Richard Dawkins.

Part 1: Slaves to Superstition
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2293483151556804649

Part 2: The Irrational Health Service
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6004927014381716642