Prepare for Lunar War!

Are we all tingling with anticipation at the prospect of bombing the Moon? You can follow the eruption of interstellar war live at www.nasa.gov/ntv. Naturally some balderdash cover story about 'finding water on the moon' (psssh!) was released to the press, but I'm not fooled! An outline of the mission can be found on YouTube.

On Creationist Geology

YouTube user Geochron lays the smack down on Eric Hovind:

Secular Ireland - The Dream

Thanks to, amongst others, Hemant at Friendly Atheist and PZ at Pharyngula, the folks over at blasphemy.ie received a great many messages of support and solidarity from all over the globe as they took the opportunity on International Blasphemy Day to reiterate their protest of the new Irish blasphemy law and raise awareness of their ultimate goal of a secular Irish constitution. As they rightly put it, "Theological thought-crimes belong in the past...We need a secular Irish Constitution, and we need it now", conveying a very real sense of urgency in the face of a political situation that would be laughable in any fiction, but is, unfortunately, a reality. A reality symptomatic of more than just the hopelessly outdated nature of the Irish constitution, or of the lingering legacy of the dark years of Catholic oppression in this country, or even of the bizarre excesses of 'political correctness' and deferential treatment religions in Europe have been granted, particularly since the Danish cartoons incident - a reality grounded in no small way in the continued ostracisation of the non-religious in Western society. One need only take a look at Glenn Beck's latest spate of verbal diarrhoea, or listen to John Lennox snidely suggest that atheism makes life meaningless and therefore leads to an 'anything goes' approach to life to know how real this phenomenon is. Which is not to say that we have not come a very long way in the West (Inquisition, Witch-trials et al), but merely to indicate that in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds religious dogma continues to exert an unwarranted amount of influence over public attitudes, political trends and, as illustrated so damningly here, laws. blasphemy.ie outlines just how deeply entrenched these Bronze Age beliefs are in our constitution: '[Y]ou cannot become President or a Judge unless you take a religious oath asking God to direct and sustain your work. So up to a quarter of a million Irish people cannot hold these offices without swearing a lie. This is contrary to Ireland’s obligations under the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights...The Preamble states that all authority of the State comes from, and all actions of the State must be referred to, the Most Holy Trinity...The Constitution also contains many other references to this god and to religion generally. Our national parliament reflects this by starting each day’s business with a prayer explicitly asking the Christian God to direct all of their actions'. Some may protest that such references to religion are harmless and effect no real-world consequences, but I, as I imagine the people at blasphemy.ie would, strongly disagree. Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith, makes the point when he is interviewed by Brian Flemming, in the documentary The God Who Wasn't There, that religious moderates provide the climate of acceptance of dogma that allows fundamentalists to flourish, and by the same token continued references to and reverence for the religious in our constitution gives carte blanche to anybody with an axe to grind or a political agenda to achieve to do so by jumping on the god-botherer bandwagon. Worse still, it legitimises religion where it should be criticised and contributes to the culture our political-correctness-gone-mad has bred, in which we are discouraged from asking the hard questions of religion, from loosening the choke-hold it has had on political power and opinion in Europe since the Dark Ages and wherein people without religious affiliations continue to be at best marginalised, if not demonised - this despite the inconvenient truth that, historically, it is religious fanatics and not secular humanists who have been responsible time and again for many of the worst atrocities and injustices the Western (and indeed, Eastern) world has seen. Most of all though, the continued presence of religion in our constitution, as in our collective cultural consciousness, retards our moral and societal growth - a notion I've talked about before, with regard to individuals, but which applies to societies in general just the same. As long as the middle-man of religion is involved in how we think and act as societies we are avoiding responsibility for our actions, our laws, our opinions and prejudices, every facet of the myriad moral, ethical and philosophical questions that we as individuals impose on society by way of majority opinion or minority dissent. I have no problem with religion in its capacity to exist as the personal opinion of an individual and their preferred answer to questions they have about the universe around them (provided of course that this does not lead them to attempt to infringe upon the freedoms of others, engage in hate speech, deny proper education to their children, and a host of other caveats), but I have a MASSIVE problem with religion as it continues to exist today, as an influencing force that bullies and cajoles its way into spheres it has nothing to do with and nothing to add to but superstitious, closed-minded baggage (Sharia courts in the UK, anyone?), weighing down our culture, our politics and lives for no better reason than the fact that it has done so for centuries, unquestioned. One can only hope that the folks at blasphemy.ie see their dream realised sooner rather than later - we need a secular Ireland, a secular Europe, a secular World - and we need it now.

Orgasmic Sacrilegious Montage

In celebration of International Blasphemy Day, an appropriately irreverent video from YouTube user DarkMatter 2525:

Magdalene survivors seek compensation

Another shameful chapter in the sadly ongoing saga of the Magdalene Laundries looks set to begin, following confirmation from Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe that women who were 'resident' in the country's Magdalene Laundries are not eligible for compensation from the Residential Institutions Redress Board. Naturally, the remaining surviors and those who support them are incensed and have held a protest march calling for compensation from the Government and the religious institutions in question. Campaigner Christine Buckley, who attended the march, noted that most of the survivors were children at the time and should be compensated in the same way as survivors of institutional abuse have been (Magdalene women were excluded from both the Residential Address Board and the Ryan report). She also rejected the use of the term 'employees' to describe the Magdalene women, pointing out that most had been sent to the institutions by the courts and other State bodies, in collusion with religious authorities. Facts that would seem self-evident given all we now know about the repugnant history of the Magdalene Laundries, but facts that must be stated time and again in the face of stubborn, damning refusals on the part of the Government and the religious authorities to take reponsibility for the systematic imprisonment, torture and even murder of innocent women that occured in this country. Compensation is one thing, but the fact that those in power have yet to even properly recognise the status of these women as survivors of institutional abuse is sickening.

'Does God Hate...?'

Just when you're ready to announce your blanket dismissal of all things RTÉ (and after the Tubridy/Dawkins debacle one's resolution to do so could only be strengthened) they blindside you with a diamond in the rough. The upcoming 4-episode debate show Does God Hate...?, if it lives up to its premise, should be an absolute corker! Though the title gives one the nagging urge to answer "Yes!" and be done with it.

'Creation' finds a home in the US

After a brief period of uncertainty, Creation has found a US distributor! The Darwin biopic, starring real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, was picked up by indie distributor Newmarket, who, coincidentally, distributed The Passion of the Christ!