A response in Kind

Category : Politics, Religion

Hugh Dallas, head of referee development for the Scottish Football Association has been sacked because he passed on, by eMail, a joke about the pope. His dismissal was called for by a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. This nasty little weasel is called Peter Kearney, Director of the Scottish Catholic Media Office.

Similarly, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Football Association, responsible for this craven giving-in to Catholic censorship is Stewart Regan.

It is clear to me that the Scottish Catholic Media Office and Stewart Regan both need to learn a lesson in humor, it would be a tragedy if they spent their miserable little lives with only a frown for a face.

So, take a moment of your time and send some pope oriented humor to these poor, poor individuals and organizations, so that they may know of the world of laughter they’re missing out on.

The above picture is what he was fired over, so feel free to re-send them that, or if you’re feeling adventurous, send something brand new for them to sample.

mail@scmo.org - To send some joy to the unhappy catholics.

info@scottishfa.co.uk - To show Stewart Regan just how common humor is on planet earth, and that it is nothing to fire a person over.

Please, even if you don’t send them an e-mail (though you should), Re-blog or pass this message along to anyone you know who has a sense of humour.

Thank you!

The "C" words

Category : Blogging

Some of you (hopefully all of you) will of noticed a significant change to my blog as of last night, No longer am I operating under the pseudonym "Splitting of the Adam" but have instead opted to embrace a new pseudonym; "Clever Carbon".

"Why?" I hear you ask with great interest, for a number of reasons really, some more interesting than others. "Splitting of the Adam" is long-winded and not as easy to remember as I would of wished, whereas "Clever Carbon" is shorter, catchier and comes with the bonus of having the magic of Alliteration. I'm hoping this will lead to a slightly improved Marketing situation.

"Splitting of the Adam" is also a pun and a bad pun at that, but if that wasn't enough it wasn't even my first choice of a bad pun. I initially wanted "Splitting the Adam", but some asshole had already hopped on the name, depriving me of the pleasure. Calling the owner of that blog an asshole may seem a bit harsh, but it turns out he hasn't even used the bloody blog! It's just sitting there, with no posts, no information, selfishly taking up a decent URL.

I've also decided that a pun on "Splitting the Atom" is a slight misrepresentation; "Splitting the Atom" was a scientific endeavor and my blog has yet to cover much science. What I think my blog represents is a world view, a world view that has been shaped by great people and one of those great people is Carl Sagan.

Sagan introduced me to a truth that had eluded me by hiding in plain sight, a truth which he described in his TV show "Cosmos".

"The Cosmos is also within us; We're made of Star Stuff. We are a way, for the Cosmos to know itself"

And So I embrace what I am, what we all are, we're little specks of Carbon born from the center of an exploding star, but what separates us from all the other lumps of Carbon in the Universe is that we alone know what we are. We are all Clever Balls of Carbon.

Thus, Clever Carbon

To go with this change I've also changed the Address at which you can reach me with questions or suggestions for topics (if you don't want to use the comment feature). You can now reach me at CleverCarbon@hotmail.com

Atheism Myths #2

Category : Atheism

In my previous "Atheism Myths" post about Atheism requiring faith, I lightly touched on something that I wish to expand on today. The myth in question is that secular atheists and Religious folk are the same, more specifically that secular atheists are not only actually religious but that all the "faults" they see with Religion they are also guilty of.

"Tu Quoque!"

I have found that this is one of the most pervasive and often used tactics of Religious apologists and atheists-who-think-atheists-should-STFU. Most of the time it is little more than using specific language or phrases that implies that they're being hypocrites, sometimes the accusation is slightly less superficial...though still just as insipid and invalid.

For example!

"Atheism requires faith!" falls into the latter category, but phrases like "Atheist fundamentalist" or "Militant Atheist" fall into the former. But the overall tactic is to say "You're just as bad as us, therefore you cannot criticize us. Hypocrites!".

I've always found it a little strange that this tactic is used so often by religious people (though it is not so strange when other atheists use it) mostly because it seems to me like they're cutting off their nose to spite their face. The Religious think that "Faith" is a virtue, a good thing...So why would they present "Atheists have faith!" as a bad thing? Surely thats like an Atheist saying "Religious people use REASON!" and saying it is a bad thing.

Its tacitly admitting that your own position is so undesirable that you can use "you're just like me" as a weapon.

But beyond the weird mental-acrobatics required to even use the tactic, it is demonstrably inaccurate. We've already been through how atheism doesn't require faith, so I won't go through it again, but I haven't touched on the stupidity behind "Atheist Fundamentalists" as a phrase. Luckily, though, it doesn't take long to poke holes in.

RELIGIOUS Fundamentalists Stone people to death for everything from eating a hamburger to not letting your husband rape you.

ATHEIST Fundamentalists write books on Religion.

RELIGIOUS Fundamentalists Fly planes full of innocent people into buildings full of innocent people.

ATHEIST Fundamentalists promote science and education unapologetically.

RELIGIOUS Fundamentalists Kill their own children because they think that going to a doctor would be "Against God's will"

ATHEIST Fundamentalists start summer camps for children of secular parents/children with an interest in science.

RELIGIOUS Fundamentalists Stand in the way of Justice, liberty and human rights wherever they go.

ATHEIST Fundamentalists write blog's on the internet. Like this one.


If you can't see how the comparison is ridiculous, then you can't see.