Quote of the week!

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful."

Seneca the Younger

Representative Thomson explains why he wanted to Ban Dawkins from speaking at OU.

Drum roll please….

“I am trying to promote freethinking,” said Thomsen when asked about the resolution.“I strongly oppose the Department of Zoology for their unwillingness to lead our state in this discussion and not have opposing views in this matter.”

I’m scratching my head on this one…he wants to promote freethinking by censoring who can and cannot speak at the University…hmmmm does something sound odd about that to you?

I’m also not exactly sure what Representative Thomson would like for Oklahoma University’s Zoology department to do. Are they suppose to ignore all of the evidence that has been collected for the past 15 decades that supports evolution and start to make arguments of ID for the sole reason of having opposing view even if there is no scientific evidence to support it?

There is a very g00d article about this in the Oklahoma Daily.

Religion in Decline in the US?

Well atleast according to this article from Fox News:

A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.

We are growing!

Looks Like Obama Will Take the Boy Scouts Up on Their Offer...

From the American Humanist Association:

(Washington, D.C., March 03, 2009) Humanists are reacting to a comment today from a Boy Scouts of America spokesperson stating that President Barack Obama has indicated he will accept the title of honorary president of the BSA.

"If President Obama does this, it will send an implicit message to nontheists that discrimination against them is permissible," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association.

In a White House meeting this afternoon, Obama officially received the Boy Scouts' 2008 Report to the Nation. Every U.S. president since William Howard Taft has served as honorary head of the Boy Scouts.

As I stated before I was a scout for much of my youth and loved every minute of it but that was really before the Mormon Church took over and started to exclude Atheists and Homosexuals.

I'm a bit disappointed in this I really thought that Obama may reject the scouts offer due to his mother beliefs (or lack there of). The only way that the boy scouts will change is with public pressure. We have to take a stand and take back scouting from the church. One of Americas best institutions for children is teaching them intolerance and we cannot stand for that. It kills me that something so important to me now wants to exclude people like me.

Dawkins Responds to Oklahoma State Resolution

Here's the opening of his talk at the University of Oklahoma.



Dawkins also donated $5,000 to the Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education.

Dawkins Banned from the OK State?

Well maybe not that state itself but at least from the states most well known university, the University of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma State Reprehensive Mike Thompson Todd Thomsen has put forth House Resolution 1015 which opposes the invitation to Richard Dawkins to speak on the University of Oklahoma campus and encourages the University of Oklahoma to engage in a certain discussion of certain scientific theories; and directing distribution.

This resolution is in response to Oxford University Professor and Darwin Chair Richard Dawkins benign invited to speak at the University of Oklahoma’s a year-long celebration of Darwin’s 200th Birthday and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Dawkins is known as one of the leading experts on Darwin’s theories of evolution and one of the most respected Zoologists in the world.

The resolution sites Dawkins 2006 book The God Delusion as the main reason as to why they do not see it fit for him to speak at the university.

WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma, as a part of the Darwin 2009 Project, has
invited as a public speaker on campus, Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, whose published opinions, as represented in his 2006 book “The God Delusion”, and public statements on the theory of evolution demonstrate an intolerance for cultural diversity and diversity of thinking and are views that are not shared and are not representative of the thinking of a majority of the citizens of Oklahoma; and

WHEREAS, the invitation for Richard Dawkins to speak on the campus of the University of Oklahoma on Friday, March 6, 2009, will only serve to present a biased philosophy on the theory of evolution to the exclusion of all other divergent considerations rather than teaching a scientific concept.

This is complete and utter bullshit, not only does it present freedom of speech and expression issues, it is also incredibly hypocritical saying that they feel that all view should be expressed at the university yet they are trying to censor the purely scientific view in which they do not agree with.