"The morality of humanity,
Here long before Christianity,
Yet Christianity must claim insanity,
as it's need to claim Morality."
By Winston Watts
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
How to meditate... without Faith.
How to Meditate
Sam Harris finished off his brilliant book "The End of Faith" with a great chapter on Eastern meditation, a spiritual yet reasonable insight, that many Atheists, myself included, have a keen interest. I have dabbled in Yoga and flirted with the basics of meditation, always with a hopeful eye on finding a spiritual yet genuine way of dealing with anxiety and depression, but a way that is still grounded in reason. Sam Harris in his recent blog How to Meditate, this time, goes one step further, and suggests a technique called Vipassana (Pali, "insight"), which comes from the oldest tradition of Buddhism, the Theravada. I just may have found my spiritual practice? Read for yourself... and "Don't fall!".
Friday, April 29, 2011
A United Republic, not Kingdom
Campaigning for a democratic alternative to the monarchy.
http://www.republic.org.uk/index.php
The case for a republic
This is your country. It is your future. Your democracy. Your choice. The case for a republic is clear - aspiration, responsibility and democracy, or an unaccountable political system at the heart of which is an institution based on inheritance and exclusive privilege.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Christopher Hitchen - All the best Sir!
Ok, your latest battle is clearly tougher than the debate you had with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach in 2008 but I have "Faith" that you can reduce this cancer to an embarrassed and feeble shell as you did with him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnMYL8sF7bQ
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
India spiritual leader Sai Baba 'critical' in hospital
India spiritual leader Sai Baba 'critical' in hospital
One of India's most revered spiritual leaders, Satya Sai Baba, is in a critical condition, doctors say..... (Follow link for more details, courtesy of BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12968238
Note: Sai Baba is considered, by many, a fraud and a conman, due to his claims of performing miracles. He has also allegedly committed many acts of sexual abuse against those that have been deceived into trusting him.
The remarkable Basava Premand (died Oct 2009) was an avid opponent of Sai Baba and a true Guru Buster, Rationalist and skeptic. Check out his Wikipedia page for more info - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basava_Premanand
Friday, April 1, 2011
Did you hear the one about the Catholic Priest and the........
March of 2011 was a busy month with regards to world news - Japan Earthquake & Tsunami, Libya rebellion followed by Civil war and International bombing and so on. These are big and important stories that deserve our full attention but one story that only briefly skimmed the headlines was the Philadelphia Catholic Peadophile scandal. I honestly believe that even 10 years ago this story would have demanded greater coverage and the reports of child molestation by 21 bishops would have been viewed as important enough to live in the headlines alongside the Japan tragedy. Have we just grown immune to reports of child sex abuse by priests that we now see it as just another one of those things? Its almost as though Catholic priest sex scandals are now just good material for jokes.
"The U.S. Cardinals said they are going to develop a code of ethics to help them deal with the sexual scandal. Wait a minute, I thought their already was a code of ethics, it's called the Bible." —Jay Leno
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Just another gun massacre.....
I was, like most decent people, sickened by the recent shootings in Arizona. After my initial disbelief my first thought's were 'who was hurt? were any children killed?' other thought's were 'why did he do this? did he have political or religious motives?' I think these are totally natural responses. A lot of people inside and outside the US will have been shocked but not surprised and quickly asking how this person happened to possess a gun, another fair response. Unfortunately this kind of incident does seem all too common here in the US and will soon be replaced in the headlines of most peoples minds, obviously not for the victims families and friends, but for most people, tomorrow will be just another news day. This is sad and maybe it does sound quite negative but I fear it is a reality.
Around the world, particularly Europe, Australia and New Zealand, countries are focusing on Americas gun laws, as they often do when a tragedy like this occurs. To many Brits, the fact that so many US citizens even want to own a gun is mind boggling. Here in the US people don't feel the need to justify gun possession as it has always been an American's right to bear arms going back to when America was a frontier against the British, French and Indians back in the 1600's. Americans are very protective over what history they have. Personally, I find it a very weak link between the US Civilians of the 17th century protecting their families lives to Joe Bloggs keeping a selection of automatic weapons under his bed in the safe American suburbs.
Another big reason I believe a lot of Americans need to own a gun(s) is Paranoia. US citizens actually believe they live in a violent, crime ridden society where everyone is likely to be a victim. I have seen this type of paranoia for myself from the middle-class gated suburbs to the big cities that are so safe they make many English cities on a Friday or Saturday night seem like violent hell holes for drunks and crazies! Okay, maybe that's not too far from the truth. From the news and stats that I have read, the US is actually one of the safest places in the world to live and the crime rate (including violent crime) is lower than many European countries, including England. The one exception are murders and crimes that involve firearms. One simple fact that should more than encourage a complete overhaul of the gun laws within the US is that without the guns these crimes could seriously have been avoided. If a confused, bullied and depressed teenager wants to punish others and end his life, it is so, so easy for him to access an arsenal of guns and go out in a blaze of glory. We have seen many incidents of high school massacres on the news. Maybe this confused individuals British equivalent would quietly overdose on his mothers medication? he certainly wouldn't have been able to go on a rampage with an automatic weapon.
The devils advocate in me could say that if there were all of a sudden no guns in America then certain members of society would not fear getting shot and so commit crimes. This is a flawed theory and not one that I subscribe to. It is for Americans, not me to address, but as it is political suicide for a politician to challenge the gun laws and/or the NRA I don't see any big changes coming anytime soon. It scares me that an actor who believes Jesus was born from a Virgin, the world is 6000 years old and an Uzi 9mm is a perfectly acceptable accessory is more likely to be the president of the United States than a Scientist who is an Atheist, believes in evolution and would like a national gun amnesty.
I hope we can learn from the recent events in Arizona, so avoid it from becoming just another gun massacre.
Other points I would have like to have mentioned:
Around the world, particularly Europe, Australia and New Zealand, countries are focusing on Americas gun laws, as they often do when a tragedy like this occurs. To many Brits, the fact that so many US citizens even want to own a gun is mind boggling. Here in the US people don't feel the need to justify gun possession as it has always been an American's right to bear arms going back to when America was a frontier against the British, French and Indians back in the 1600's. Americans are very protective over what history they have. Personally, I find it a very weak link between the US Civilians of the 17th century protecting their families lives to Joe Bloggs keeping a selection of automatic weapons under his bed in the safe American suburbs.
Another big reason I believe a lot of Americans need to own a gun(s) is Paranoia. US citizens actually believe they live in a violent, crime ridden society where everyone is likely to be a victim. I have seen this type of paranoia for myself from the middle-class gated suburbs to the big cities that are so safe they make many English cities on a Friday or Saturday night seem like violent hell holes for drunks and crazies! Okay, maybe that's not too far from the truth. From the news and stats that I have read, the US is actually one of the safest places in the world to live and the crime rate (including violent crime) is lower than many European countries, including England. The one exception are murders and crimes that involve firearms. One simple fact that should more than encourage a complete overhaul of the gun laws within the US is that without the guns these crimes could seriously have been avoided. If a confused, bullied and depressed teenager wants to punish others and end his life, it is so, so easy for him to access an arsenal of guns and go out in a blaze of glory. We have seen many incidents of high school massacres on the news. Maybe this confused individuals British equivalent would quietly overdose on his mothers medication? he certainly wouldn't have been able to go on a rampage with an automatic weapon.
The devils advocate in me could say that if there were all of a sudden no guns in America then certain members of society would not fear getting shot and so commit crimes. This is a flawed theory and not one that I subscribe to. It is for Americans, not me to address, but as it is political suicide for a politician to challenge the gun laws and/or the NRA I don't see any big changes coming anytime soon. It scares me that an actor who believes Jesus was born from a Virgin, the world is 6000 years old and an Uzi 9mm is a perfectly acceptable accessory is more likely to be the president of the United States than a Scientist who is an Atheist, believes in evolution and would like a national gun amnesty.
I hope we can learn from the recent events in Arizona, so avoid it from becoming just another gun massacre.
Other points I would have like to have mentioned:
- The constant 24/7 news and TV channels that unintentionally glorify crime
- The evil Westboro Christian church who believe God is laughing at the Arizona victims
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