On occassion I watch the odd Edward Current video. At first I wasn't sure what he was saying, I mean was he nuts or just very funny... I think this video says which side of the debate he's on.
Friday, 6 March 2009
Friday, 20 February 2009
Fools...
A video which is on the Atheist Bus - Official Website. Which gives me the excuse to show my son how to embed a video on blogger.
Monday, 16 February 2009
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Don't cross the beams...
So a friend of mine sent me this today. No doubt it's been around for ages, but I like it so I thought I'd share...
Sunday, 8 February 2009
It appears that I've been outted..
Here I was minding my own, blogging to no one really apart from myself. Just spilling my rants onto the net... I mean I'm not sure the little a blog actually makes any consistent sense from one day or month to the next. But I've got a mention on his well written and excellent blog.
OK... I'm a fan of Stephen Law!
Philosophy, prog rock, outdoor mountain type antics... all things I enjoy to a lesser or greater agree. Plus Stephen Law makes sense.
Ok.... I did email Stephen directly thanking him for his book "The Philosophy Files". But in this world most people wouldn't think to write to thank someone for something. Write to complain, yes they would. Even if they haven't really got anything complain about. From my experience of dealing with customers, people complain probably thirty times as much as someone would actually write to say thanks.
I'm sure some market research company will have real statistics for this.
Anyway, I thought I'd do something and actually thank Stephen for a great book.
Kinda nice to get a mention though.... back to obscurity now!
OK... I'm a fan of Stephen Law!
Philosophy, prog rock, outdoor mountain type antics... all things I enjoy to a lesser or greater agree. Plus Stephen Law makes sense.
Ok.... I did email Stephen directly thanking him for his book "The Philosophy Files". But in this world most people wouldn't think to write to thank someone for something. Write to complain, yes they would. Even if they haven't really got anything complain about. From my experience of dealing with customers, people complain probably thirty times as much as someone would actually write to say thanks.
I'm sure some market research company will have real statistics for this.
Anyway, I thought I'd do something and actually thank Stephen for a great book.
Kinda nice to get a mention though.... back to obscurity now!
Thursday, 5 February 2009
My son the radical atheist
My eldest son is, perhaps, a radical. Or at least more outspoken about his beliefs than I am.
He is eight and goes to a roman catholic primary school. You might ask "but why?", and I'd say the post code lottery means the only other school available wasn't as good academicaly speaking.
Anyway, I brought my son up to be a freethinker, not always a good idea as he has a tendancy to question a lot of what I try to tell him. It's a 24/7 Q&A, which is great most of the time. Yes I have my views about god and religion, and yes I talk to my son about them. BUT I allow my son his beliefs.
That is to say, I have encouraged the skills required that mean he can make his own judgements about a wide range of subjects. I have also told him that he can not always take my views on face value, he has to assess things for himself. For example, just because I think Pokemon is rubbish doesn't mean he has to think it's rubbish.
Plus, I have never criticised religion in front of him as I have Pokemon. Some parents would say he's too young to make that decision for himself. And maybe he is. But if he is too young that does not automatically give me the right to make HIS decision for him. It just means he should make these decisions when he can.
Can I assure you I do make some decisions for him. You could call these welfare or Health & Safety issues which there is no time for an eight year old (no matter how clever he is) to digest and consider his options. Although I think religion is an inherently bad thing, it's not a immediate life and death thing for him at the moment, one day he will realise that it is for some people.
He does religious education lessons, the school calls them "Here I am". Which suggests to me that they haven't the courage of their convictions. But hey! Yesterday we went to a parents evening. We had access to his work, including his "Here I am" book. The first thing they did this year was make a list of ten interesting facts about yourself.
Pretty much what you might expect, but his facts also included. Thinking Charles Darwin was a very clever scientist and inspiration. That evolution explains life on earth, and he knows the earth is extemely old and that means more than 5000 years. Of course he did mention that he likes Pokemon, can't win them all!
This year he is meant to do his first holy communion. Apparently, he has expressed a wish that he doesn't want to do his first holy communion. And not only that he has apparently explained his reasons quite clearly. He hasn't just said "because I don't want to" or "its boring" or even "because my Dad said god doesn't exist", he has given some thoughtful answers to the questions put to him by the teacher. So while the teacher thinks that he should keep it under his hat as other children / parents and teachers may not understand (afterall he's only eight!). She also thinks its great that he is mature enough to make this kind of decision and gives perfectly rational reasons and arguements as to why he shouldn't take his first communion.
And who can I thank for this, for providing good explanations about this subject and many others, that a child can understand. Who has helped provide the tools that allow my son to construct real arguements.
Stephen Law!
I gave my son a copy of Stephen Laws "The Philosophy Files". He read it, particularly enjoying the chapter about virtual reality. But also using the chapter about the existence of god quite effectively.
So I have a big thanks to Stephen Law, he gave my son the information and keeps me in the clear of "he's only saying that because his dad says it" brigade.
And what is more. My son, in fact both my sons, were given glowing praise by their teachers and both are very bright! I am grinning like the proverbial cheshire cat, I'm a proud Dad!
Now if Stephen Law could write a book explaining why Pokemon is rubbish...
He is eight and goes to a roman catholic primary school. You might ask "but why?", and I'd say the post code lottery means the only other school available wasn't as good academicaly speaking.
Anyway, I brought my son up to be a freethinker, not always a good idea as he has a tendancy to question a lot of what I try to tell him. It's a 24/7 Q&A, which is great most of the time. Yes I have my views about god and religion, and yes I talk to my son about them. BUT I allow my son his beliefs.
That is to say, I have encouraged the skills required that mean he can make his own judgements about a wide range of subjects. I have also told him that he can not always take my views on face value, he has to assess things for himself. For example, just because I think Pokemon is rubbish doesn't mean he has to think it's rubbish.
Plus, I have never criticised religion in front of him as I have Pokemon. Some parents would say he's too young to make that decision for himself. And maybe he is. But if he is too young that does not automatically give me the right to make HIS decision for him. It just means he should make these decisions when he can.
Can I assure you I do make some decisions for him. You could call these welfare or Health & Safety issues which there is no time for an eight year old (no matter how clever he is) to digest and consider his options. Although I think religion is an inherently bad thing, it's not a immediate life and death thing for him at the moment, one day he will realise that it is for some people.
He does religious education lessons, the school calls them "Here I am". Which suggests to me that they haven't the courage of their convictions. But hey! Yesterday we went to a parents evening. We had access to his work, including his "Here I am" book. The first thing they did this year was make a list of ten interesting facts about yourself.
Pretty much what you might expect, but his facts also included. Thinking Charles Darwin was a very clever scientist and inspiration. That evolution explains life on earth, and he knows the earth is extemely old and that means more than 5000 years. Of course he did mention that he likes Pokemon, can't win them all!
This year he is meant to do his first holy communion. Apparently, he has expressed a wish that he doesn't want to do his first holy communion. And not only that he has apparently explained his reasons quite clearly. He hasn't just said "because I don't want to" or "its boring" or even "because my Dad said god doesn't exist", he has given some thoughtful answers to the questions put to him by the teacher. So while the teacher thinks that he should keep it under his hat as other children / parents and teachers may not understand (afterall he's only eight!). She also thinks its great that he is mature enough to make this kind of decision and gives perfectly rational reasons and arguements as to why he shouldn't take his first communion.
And who can I thank for this, for providing good explanations about this subject and many others, that a child can understand. Who has helped provide the tools that allow my son to construct real arguements.
Stephen Law!
I gave my son a copy of Stephen Laws "The Philosophy Files". He read it, particularly enjoying the chapter about virtual reality. But also using the chapter about the existence of god quite effectively.
So I have a big thanks to Stephen Law, he gave my son the information and keeps me in the clear of "he's only saying that because his dad says it" brigade.
And what is more. My son, in fact both my sons, were given glowing praise by their teachers and both are very bright! I am grinning like the proverbial cheshire cat, I'm a proud Dad!
Now if Stephen Law could write a book explaining why Pokemon is rubbish...
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
The Mail strikes again...
Melanie Phillips thinks that the nurse in the previous post is being hard done by, amongst other stupidity!
" This Orwellian response has now been followed up by the draconian action of suspending her with the possibility of outright dismissal from her job simply because she offered to pray for another patient."
However, as described in the column
" Apparently, Mrs Petrie previously received a warning about promoting her faith at work after she offered to give a prayer card to an elderly male patient."
The rights or wrongs of offering a prayer is beside the point, the Nurse has deliberately ignored a warning from her employer. A reasonable request by any standard. That is enough for a suspension pending further investigation, and possible dismissal. And I would imagine that is exactly how Melanie Phillips bosses would react if she did something they had told her, no warned her, not do.
" This Orwellian response has now been followed up by the draconian action of suspending her with the possibility of outright dismissal from her job simply because she offered to pray for another patient."
However, as described in the column
" Apparently, Mrs Petrie previously received a warning about promoting her faith at work after she offered to give a prayer card to an elderly male patient."
The rights or wrongs of offering a prayer is beside the point, the Nurse has deliberately ignored a warning from her employer. A reasonable request by any standard. That is enough for a suspension pending further investigation, and possible dismissal. And I would imagine that is exactly how Melanie Phillips bosses would react if she did something they had told her, no warned her, not do.
Do I sense that Melanie Phillips thinks that faith trumps all and as such T&Cs of employment don't matter if you evoke faith or God. I don't think so, because the tone of the rest of her column suggests that if nurse was a muslim she'd be getting all that she deserve
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