” target=”_blank”>Here’s an article some of you might enjoy: it was written by Carl Sagan, anonymously, when he was in his 30′s. It’s an interesting insight into his drug habit, and some of his more “spiritual” thoughts. It’s worth a read, and the video making hilarious assumptions about Carl Sagan is equally enjoyable.

(We’ve lost a few posts from the past few days, but otherwise everything should be there).

NOTE: I’m slowly re-uploading shows on to the new server, so if you’re trying to access your material and get dead links, just give it a few days!

WARNING: Don’t listen to this episode if you’re operating heavy machinery. It’s a sad one, as we announce that 2012 will be the final year for TGA. Don’t fret though, it’s not the end of the world!

The whole reason I started the podcast in the first place was to write my book. Over the years, my focus on the show took all the time and energy I wanted to devote to the book and put it elsewhere. This is my chance, now, to try and finish it. I’m enjoying doing the research for “Bible Stories”, which is the subject and title I’ve settled with. You guys seemed to flip out over those, so why not give you what you want?

There’s been some talk among the hard-core fanbase of changing TGA into a forum site in my absence. I like the idea, but would remind everyone that it would require some serious dedication from people who like the show. As one commentor put it, it’s the ATTITUDE of TGA that they will miss. Well, although I’ve cultivated this attitude for a number of years, I don’t own it.

I’ll be recording another 5 shows before hanging up the gloves, including a last mailbag episode where I promise to answer all your questions. I’ll be leaving on a high note. My biggest fear was continuing to do the podcast while working and having to witness the quality go down. I just couldn’t live with myself if I started producing crappy shows.

Part of me is honestly resentful of the scene. Were I some religious no-name douche-bag, my coffers would be overflowing with monies. Religious people might be gullible, but they are also aware of the importance of spreading their message, and the cost involved in doing so. For them, the idea of stretching their budget to accommodate their local pastor is just something they do. This dedication and generosity is in large part the reason why religions continue to spread and prosper. As atheists, we have no such dedication.

In many regards, my life is one of a “pastor”, in that the skills I have spent years crafting have no real importance in the 9-5 world. When a priest leaves his profession, he enters a world where his ability to sway the masses is essentially worthless. It’s why so many who have already lost their faith continue to preach the “good news” in order to pay their mortgage and put food on the table. In a way, my situation is similar. After spending years studying, researching and promoting my program, my isolation from the corporate world has lowered my stock. I’m at the bottom of the ladder, and that’s a terrifying prospect.

My eventual return to the working world spells the death of The Good Atheist. While I don’t doubt that the odd podcast may appear, I must now dedicate 100% of my effort to ensure my continued survival, leaving little time to contemplate matters of life, the universe, and the absurdity of existence. I stand defeated, and must now resolve myself to the fate that awaits me in the work-a-day world.

I would like to thank all the fans who have supported us over the years. The hard-core fans, in particular, helped to keep the show afloat for all these years. The tiny raft, set adrift in a sea of uncertainty, faced little chance of success. I’m grateful for all the wonderful messages I’ve received over the years from fans who expressed their love of the show. They were all touching, and I shall treasure them for as long as I live. I leave you in the capable hands of my fellow atheists, who will continue to fight the good fight.

Krauss finds something in nothing from ASU News on Vimeo.

I love Laurence. He’s enthusiastic about his work, and his lectures have always been a lot of fun. He’s now making the rounds to promote his new book.
If anyone is feeling particularly generous, I’d love a copy of Laurence Krauss’ new book “A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing“.

I’m a Kindle whore, by the way.

The Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, this month is beginning a program that ministers to gays and lesbians…The Vatican-endorsed program, called Courage…was started in 1980 by the late Terence Cardinal Cooke in Manhattan “to form a spiritual support system which would assist men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love.”

It’s basically an organization that emotionally tortures gays and lesbians into giving up their joy of sex and intimacy because it doesn’t conform with what the Vatican wants.

“These are people in the Roman Catholic Church who need our care and love,” Deacon Robert Pallotti, director of the Office of the Diaconate, told the Hartford TV station. “In some cases, they have been rejected by society. They need to be accepted, affirmed and supported as Roman Catholics trying to remain faithful to church teachings.

Rejected by society, eh? Could that have anything to do with the fact that your organization continues to support the bigoted idea that what they are doing is inherently bad? Remaining “faithful” to Roman Catholic teachings is just a nice way of saying that they don’t want gay dudes fucking each other in the ass anymore.

Honestly, there is no one on this planet that needs the Vatican getting involved in their sex life. They’ve already proven that their sexual philosophies are diseased. While they condemn homosexuality, the Vatican has provided an unprecedented level of financial, legal and emotional support to child rapists. This alone should bare them from the conversation.

The program, ironically called “Courage”, is just another way for a bunch of creepy celibate dudes in robes to try and tell everyone else how to live. I’ll tell you what Courage is: it’s not putting up with deluded assholes who care more about their money, power and interests than they care about human suffering (remember, they actually think that suffering makes you closer to God). Courage is rejecting old dogmas in favor of scientific truth, even when everyone around you still cling to these ancient superstitions. And above all else, Courage is staying true to yourself, no matter what.

There are two things that raced through my mind when I listened to this tragedy of a song:

#1. Why do so many white people think that to rap effectively, one has to be completely tone deaf? (I’m looking at you, Blondie)
#2. You can sell any piece of crap as long as you put a cross on it.
#3: Christianity is a creepy death cult. If it hadn’t been part of your culture for so long, you’d realize that their rapturous embrace of eschatology borders on insanity. The early church fathers were so convinced that Jesus was going to end the world that they discouraged people from marrying or having kids. Once that bearded hippy started looking like he wasn’t coming back, they switched gears a little, but their incessant need to believe in his return isn’t only crazy: it’s dangerous. Does no one accept the possibility that one day, one of these nutjobs with enough power might want to “speed things up” a little when it comes to the end of the world?

This week, we discuss the recent loss of Christopher Hitchens and Susan Jacoby’s recent article about the challenges facing atheists. I also share some exciting news about the future.

It’s worth a look. Be sure to check it out.

This show seems like a lot of fun, but judging by all the comments, I think the host should:

1) Lose the facial hair. Dude looks like a rat in that thing.
2) Do something about the lens glare. Perhaps diffuse light might eliminate what is a distracting amount of glare shinning off those spectacles of his.
3) Get nicer clothing. L.L. Bean called, and they want their shitty shirts back, dude.

Otherwise everything else is super slick, short (which is important), fun, and well produced. All in all, I’m looking forward to watching these videos three times a week. Go subscribe to their channel now!

This might be a minor grievance, but why do religious folks insist on singing “Imagine” when the song is so clearly anti-religious? I know it’s beautiful and melancholic, but surely they realize that the whole point of John Lennon’s immortal ballad is a call for peace and love by abandoning ideologies that needlessly divide us. Sure, it’s a song of peace, but it lays out the way to get there pretty fucking effectively. The “imagine no heaven/ no hell” line is meant to illustrate just how sick and twisted these kinds of ideas are. Eternal torment for refusing to believe that a 2000 year old Palestinian Jew was a God? Yeah, fucking prince of peace my ass.

Still, it doesn’t stop assholes from appropriating the songs and changing the lyrics to make it appear in favor of religion rather than against it. Here are a few things to keep in mind when singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” song:

#1. The song speaks out against patriotism, religion, and materialism. It is not a glorification of ideologies that causes needless suffering.
#2. Replacing “and no religion too” with “All religion is true” is the equivalent of kicking John Lennon in his rotting testicles.

We already have so few atheist songs; hearing some religious douchebag slaughter the words just hurts, man.

Demonstrating against what they viewed as incitement against the ultra-Orthodox in Israeli media, about 1,000 men marched through the streets of their neighborhood, many of them dressed in concentration camp uniforms and wearing yellow Stars of David, which Jews were forced to wear in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Well, that should convince everyone that you aren’t a bunch of out-of-touch, religious douche-bags without a clue.

Oh, and podcasts and posting goes back to normal starting tomorrow. Now there’s a bit of good news.

I want you to keep this in mind, as it might help clarify some of the frustration you might be feeling if you read Rebecca Watson’s new tirade on the evils of secular sexism entitled “Reddit makes me hate atheists“. The post focuses on the story of a 15 year old girl who received a barage of innapropriate comments after posting a picture of herself with a copy of Carl Sagan’s “Demon Haunted World”. I think this opening paragraph will help set the tone of the piece:

…R/atheism is very large, and so it is jam packed with assholes. And yet! I continue to read it every day. I read it even though I usually learn nothing new from it and it only serves to create and foster inside me an intense hatred of my fellow atheists.

While there are a variety of explinations as to why some of comments were so disparaging (her post made it to the front page of reddit, which extends far beyond the confines of r/atheism), her obsession with gender issues makes it seem as though the atheist reddit forums are a cesspool of misogyny. I couldn’t disagree more.

I’ve been trolling the site for years now, watching the group grow from humble numbers to over 300,000 strong. While a great number of posts are usually rage comics, occasionally hilarious facebook threads and funny pictures, a significant portion of them are personal tales of individuals “coming out” to family members (I even remember one post from a redditor claiming to be Michel Behe’s atheit son). The support these people receive from their fellow redditors is almost universally positive. I’m constantly surprised by the patience, understanding and intelligence on display from members. Then again, I’m usually on the lookout for positive examples of human kindness on the site, so I’m not entirely surprised when I find what I’m looking for.

This, in a nutshell, is Rebecca’s problem; she’s actively looking for examples of mysoginy in the scene to justify her claim that sexism is rampant in the atheist community. While I don’t believe that our group is guiltless, I think the problem has been severely overstated. Do we have studies to show atheists are more sexist than believers? Is there any proof beyond a couple of anecdotal stories of misogyny? Seems to me like there’s a lot of speculation based on some extremely limited samples, colored by emotion and marred with anecdotal evidence. Sounds like a fucking nightmare to me.

I don’t want to claim to have more “journalistic credibility” than Rebecca, or anything equally silly (I’m more of a curmudgeon than a serious writer). Still, I think it’s important to recognize how much of your own perception is influenced by your pre-existing beliefs. Is the world as sexist as you think, or is there a chance that your preconceptions might be blinding you? I certainly wonder how anyone could visit r/atheism and develop an “intense hatred” of your fellow atheists (unless you hate rage comics, of course). Seems far more likely that this intense hatred might have been there all along…

Mobalizing 10,000 people to pray! Wow, how amazing. Think of all the good you can do by sitting in a dark room and talking to yourself all day.

So, if you want God to interfer with human affairs (and apparently throw this whole “free will” idea out the window when it’s inconvenient), you just need to stop eating for several days, followed by inperceptibly mumbling to yourself. Sounds good to me!

“Imagine with me half a million people praying for a nation.”

Praying for what? The economy to recouperate? For the poor and indigent to finally get their due? Nope. She just wants to get rid of abortion and gay marriage. That’s the kind of priorities you can expect from someone who sits very still and begs their imaginary friend for shit they want.

(via Christian Nightmares)

This week, I interview actor, teacher and now author William B. Davis, also known as the “Smoking Man” from the X-Files. Davis is a skeptic and atheist who recently published his memoirs entitled “Where’s the Smoke…Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man“

I love the way this video is put together: it combines sharp visuals with brilliant satire. Be sure to read some of the captions at the bottom. My favorite so far is “Paper Just a Fad says Scribe.” Classic.

Spread the word about this video!

Whoever started dis #GodIsNotGreat I will personally beat yu da fuck asswhole…I jus prayed for yu thp

What a nice fellow. I wonder if he’ll also pray to his imaginary friend when he sends some poor kid to the hospital for having a different belief than him.

Whoever made this TT #GodIsNotGreat should burn in hell and yo whole family

So even if this person’s family is religious, this guy still wants them to burn in hell forever because someone dared to talk smack his skydaddy. Totally reasonable.

#GodIsNotGreat who ever created that trending topic MUST die today!!wt sort of human beings r in here?geeeez

Geeeez, I was thinking the very same thing.

#GodIsNotGreat<——anybody this hateful got to have aids

Anybody that profoundly ignorant has to be a bigot

WHO EVA MADE THIS A TRENIN TOPIC…ILL PERSONALLY KILL EM MYSELF…GOD IS THE BEST THANG EVA MANE…AMEN

God is the best thing ever, therefore I’m going to kill someone in cold blood in his name. Amen!

I seriously wanna kill whoever started the #GodIsNotGreat”

I seriously want to call the fucking police right now

why the fuk is #GodIsNotGreat teending?! GOD IS EVERYTHING YOU SATANIC BITCHES, HE’S THE REASON YOUR BREATHING #ilovegod

If god is everything, does that mean he’s also this extremely hateful tweet? What are the rules in this strange cult of yours?

It’s terrible shows like this that give me hope that not every child is being indoctrinated particularly well. The damage done by these kinds of yahoos seems relatively easy to fix, especially since these clowns can’t manage to keep a bunch of kids interested in their shtick for more than 15 seconds.

If you’re trying to indoctrinate children in your cult, might I suggest the trying the following:

#1: Be prepared
Just because they’re kids doesn’t mean they are easy to entertain. Typically there’s a “tone” you have to strike to get their attention. Loud, wacky, animated, and “alive” tend to spring into mind. While this show was plenty noisy, it lacked a coherence that can only come from having actually bothered to write a proper show.
#2: Be animated
It can’t be easy entertaining kids when you’re a million years old. It’s why most pros are young enough to handle all the coke you need to stay energized. If you’ve already got a foot in the grave, this gig may not be right for you.
#3 avoid creating comic characters with shrill, annoying voices.
Kids are people too, which means they equally hate shrill voices that sound like nails across a chalkboard. Try a friendly, reassuring voice instead of your best Wicked Witch impression.

(via ChristianNightmares)

Things I find hilaro-tragic about this video:

1. Bolling assuming that the group, which was founded out of state, is intent on forcing their agenda on Texans, despite the fact that he’s told several times that the group responded to complaints from residents of the town.
2. No one on the program seems to understand the difference between free speech and government sanctioned religion.
3. Fox News crew making snarky remarks (that’s my job) in the style of “here we go again”, even though this whole affair is a RESPONSE to Christians shoving their baby Jesus in everyone’s face.
4. The town deputy’s brilliant argument against allowing others the same right to free speech as ‘garbage”.
5. Bolling getting upset when Barker (who wrote a book that stole my bloody name) calls the Jesus parable “insulting to humans” and pulling the whole “this is my fucking show” act before kicking him off.
6. Calling the guy who got kicked out of a show for being honest a “hate monger’.
7. Claiming that the greatest symbol of love is the ritualistic sacrificial blood offering of one’s son with a straight face.
8. Trying to get Ben Franklin on their religious fundy side, despite having said this:

..As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity

(via NCRM)

Truthfully, I would be more upset if I hadn’t read his last article. In it, he mentioned that had he known of the pain he would have had to endure to survive the cancer, he would have opted against it. It may sound trite, but there is some evidence to suggest that a person having a REASON to live is often a significant indicator of health. I think it wasn’t the cancer but the pain of the treatment that ended him. That’s the sad truth about cancer; the cure is sometimes worse than the disease.

Don’t plan on being sad for very long though. Your grief will soon turn into anger once you read the inane tweets of men like Rick Warren:

My friend Christopher Hitchens has died. I loved & prayed for him constantly & grieve his loss. He knows the Truth now.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, folks. That tweets comes from an actual friend (despite their obvious differences, they seemed to have gotten along well). How many times are you going to overhear some religious jackass gloating that Hitch is burning in Hell for not believing in their specific nonsense?

Even more frustrating is the fact that there is no simple way to demonstrate the obvious stupidity of their assertion. The specter of death haunts us all equally, but our mortality is the only solid proof Christians need of their sadistic fantasies. It’s like arguing with children.

On a selfish note, I never got to cross “having a conversation with Christopher Hitchens” off my bucket list. I hoped perhaps that some of his brilliance might rub off on me. Now the unique arrangement of neurons that comprised his mind have ceased to function, and this pattern is lost forever. Damn you entropy. Why must you rob us of everything we love?

You may have noticed that the show hasn’t gone up this week (or last one for that matter). I’m actually trying to fight the flu, which has been travelling from host to host only to find its latest victim: yours truly. I’ll be spending the time this week finishing up my taxes, but I promise to do at least 2 more shows before the Christmas Holiday, if nothing else to ensure that none of you die of loneliness.

The Thinking Atheist is doing their part in helping you fire back at annoying Christians trying to make it seem as though they invented people celebrating the Winter Solstice. Normally, I don’t really care to correct them, but it seems that this whole “War on Christmas” just keeps getting more annoying. There is a point where you have to send them back to schools with a few facts.

I’ve written countless articles denouncing these Christian preachers in Nigeria for accusing innocent children of witchcraft; it’s one of the few times I’ve taken a subject so seriously. It isn’t only because of the images of these poor children -victims of a toxic mix of ancient superstition and organized religion- are seared into my brain. No, my passion comes mainly from the fact that this issue has been completely ignored by the mainstream media because of the obvious question it poses concerning Christianity’s influence in the Third World.

These videos are extremely hard to watch. The situation appears to be getting worse as Christianity’s influence grows. When that little girl starts crying when a person nearby admits to wanting to kill her, you’ll find it difficult to wake up happy tomorrow morning.