Daft Claim of the Week: “Atheists are Religious and Bigots” ???

A chap who writes on News24 under the name “Charles Dumbwin” is having one of his many fits of verbal religious zealotry once again. It is all truly weird stuff that strikes me as an attempt to simply provoke a reaction. Whenever I stumble into one of his weird scribblings I find myself pondering the … Read more

Magical Claims from Mormons about the “Titius-Bode Law”

While out walking a few weeks ago I was intercepted by a couple of young clean-cut chaps wearing suits and a sugar smile that instantly screamed “Mormon missionary” from at least 500 yards. I’ll not bore you with the conversation, it was, as you might expect, very predictable. For me it was perhaps entertaining, but … Read more

What is acceptable Islamic Criticism?

For those of you that have been on MARS, let me explain the background (oh and also welcome back to planet Earth). As reported within the Islamic world … ‘Islam is a cancer’, says United States (US) filmmaker Sam Bacile, the man responsible for sparking outrage amongst the Muslims of the Middle East. The 13 minute … Read more

Murder is not a form of protest

Today we learn the tragic news of the murder of Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador in Lybia. The BBC reports … Unidentified armed men stormed the grounds on Tuesday night in a protest over a US-produced film that is said to insult the Prophet Muhammad. They shot at buildings and threw handmade bombs into the … Read more

Sunset of the Moon

Many years ago when working in Dublin, I was out for a walk one lunchtime on one of those very rare days when that big rather unfamiliar yellow disk in the sky had strangely decided to not shroud itself in a layer of clouds. While meandering along and not paying too much attention, I was stopped by a chap who … Read more