Atheist Pastors in Holland

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The BBC reports today about a cleric who is actually an atheist …

The Rev Klaas Hendrikse can offer his congregation little hope of life after death, and he’s not the sort of man to sugar the pill.

An imposing figure in black robes and white clerical collar, Mr Hendrikse presides over the Sunday service at the Exodus Church in Gorinchem, central Holland.

It is part of the mainstream Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN), and the service is conventional enough, with hymns, readings from the Bible, and the Lord’s Prayer. But the message from Mr Hendrikse’s sermon seems bleak – “Make the most of life on earth, because it will probably be the only one you get”.

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NEWS: Celebrate Science coming soon – they have a cool movie

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Celebrate Science is launching later this month to “promote the importance of keeping creationism” out of the classrooms.

The campaign has the support of the National Centre for Science Education and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. There will also be screenings of No Dinosaurs in Heaven a film that “examines the hijacking of science education by religious fundamentalists”.

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Nice quote from PZ at TAM9 during panel discussion

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While at TAM9 in Vegas a couple of weeks ago, one of the many panels I listened to was one in which they discussed  “communicating skepticism”. It included Phil Plait, Eugenie Scott, Jamy Ian Swiss, Sadie Crabtree, Carol Tavris, and of course PZ Myers. During this PZ came out with what I believe is a … Read more

Struggling to Leave Catholicism? – There can be Freedom From Fear

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What faced with the revelation of case after case of abuse and cover up, how do sane logical individuals react? When looking in from the outside, you would expect that most would perhaps rapidly embrace it all as a wakeup call, reassess their stance and free themselves from the clutches of an organization that has proven itself to be both highly immoral and utterly corrupt. Some have indeed done exactly that, yet to my complete astonishment, many do not, so I’d like to address one of the reasons that might perhaps explain why this is the case.

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New Zealand Skeptics Call for Building on Solid Science

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Press Release: New Zealand Skeptics Society New Zealand Skeptics Call for Building on Solid Science Building on solid science is the theme for this year’s annual NZ Skeptics conference, an appropriate-enough theme for a meeting being held in Christchurch (26-28 August). “When we’re unsure of things, looking for better understanding of what’s happening and why … Read more

Atheist History – Thomas Aikenhead

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Thomas Aikenhead was the last man to be executed for blasphemy in Britain, so what is his story?

In the 1690’s Thomas Aikenhead was, a young Edinburgh medical student at a time when his University’s library held books by Descartes, Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes and other thinkers, and being a keen student young Thomas would often enjoy reading new ideas.

He later  talked about some of his reading with friends, and unfortunately one of them, possibly Mungo Craig, took offense and informed on him to the authorities. In the autumn of 1696 Thomas was arrested and remitted to the Tolbooth Prison “to be tryed for his life” for blasphemy. He mouldered there until December 23, when he crossed Parliament Square to the High Court to be charged under both of Scotland’s Blasphemy Acts, one enacted before and one after the Revolution of 1689.

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