Author Darrel Ray Lectures on “God Virus” (tags)
It’s not every atheist author who begins a lecture to promote his book with a bit of a fire-breathing Fundamentalist Christian sermon on the nature and ubiquity of human sin and the need to appeal to the Holy Spirit to be cleansed of it. But that’s what Darrel W. Ray did at the San Diego Public Library September 19 in an appearance sponsored by the Humanist Association of San Diego (HASD). A former believer, Ray discussed the total lack of logic in religious appeals and the way religions mimic the behavior of germs in spreading from person to person, use classic hypnotic techniques in their services, and inculcate guilt in their believers — especially about sex. Ray also mentioned ways rationalists can talk to belivers without immediately putting them on the defensive, and offered help for those who are — in his words — “recovering from religion.”
small WORLD Interview with Rudy Rucker (tags)
Interview with novelist and popular science writer Rudy Rucker.
GOP Alliance may Split over Stem-Cells (tags)
For most of the 20th Century, leading conservatives and libertarians united against atheist-collectivists. To this day, a WWII-era alliance between US capitalists and moralists continues long after the defeat of the "Reds." And then came stem-cell research...