h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The minutes for this week:

New members hammythehamster and The Mummy are welcome, and they will be added to the page momentarily.

The firestorm of controversy is cooling off a bit at the Approved Guide Entry, Atheism: http://www.h2g2.com/A254477 , but it's still a good place to talk about atheism and agnosticism. As for the Foundation link, it will continue to point at the unofficial version, because we all liked it better.

In search of new controversies, MikeA and I have sent emails off to this site: http://www.cfnweb.com/manson/ It's a Christian Family Network diatribe on Marilyn Manson, rather poorly done. The message I sent can be read in thread #5, and I will post any response I receive. I'm sure Mike will, as well.

And, the usual work is still under construction for the Foundation. Austin Allegro is still accepting jokes, CD4 is accepting book reviews, and GreyRose is accepting song lyrics. The links for all these projects can be found on the FFFF page in the link library. jbliqemp is still working on the artwork, as well.

Alrighty then, this forum is now open for business.

Episode VI it is then. I've found something a little disturbing.
I went over to check out http://www.chick.com and found the site for that guy who does those little christian comic books.
It's often quite ugly, especially when they start to talk about people of other races and faiths to themselves. This we expected, but their actually quite wildly innacurate in so many ways.
My question is this, can a faith organisation be sued for defamation and / or libel and/or hate crime?
Thanks --- Ado!

Is this where I claim my chair is it? I see saomeone has already beaten me to the chair of Existentialism... So Either a vice chairperson to that chair OR Chair of Aquatic Theory of Evolution for me please

I like to promote originality, so we'll go with the aquatic thing. Welcome!

Very good idea, that will also ensure that there will be very few Dead People on the board

I'm not sure what sort of thing I could be helping our cause with, but the least I will be able to do is to defend both agnostic and atheist (the latter most vigourously, ofcourse) views against those foolish or weak enough to still need a religion. We should have mercy on them, try to tell them the truth, but not push too hard. It's not their fault, after all, is it? And we don't want to look like those horrible things that come by everyones doors naming themselves "Jehova's witnesses", now do we?

Thank you for granting me the requested seat, chairman GargleBlaster.

Would it be fair to say that we "renounce and ridicule the existence of non-material beings that would otherwise unrightfully control our lives" ? Or would such a thing be unwise, seeing as it might provoke Judeo-Xtians ? Or might there even be other reasons not to use this description ?

I was thinking of using those words on my intro-page as a description of what we stand for, and though Agnostics and Atheists *might* agree with it, I take it there are also other branches in our movement who might oppose this description. I would not want to divide our common interest.

I don't think you can sue anyone over these, no matter how offensive they are.

I personally think Chick Tracts are hilarious. Reading them got me through the boring church service. I used to have the one about Dungeons and Dragons and quite a few more. The ones about Halloween are especially ridiculous. I didn't believe them then any more than I do now.

So having claimed my Chair.. What do I do now?

http://www.newscientist.com/features/features.jsp?id=ns22352

New Scientist Article about how Many in USA believe only Creationalism (and not Evolution) should be taught in class.

Fate and Mummy: You don't necessarily have to *do* anything. Hang around the forums if you like, check out the articles, jump in the arguments whenever you have a mind to. Of course, if you see something that you can contribute, you are more than welcome to do so, but we don't require activism the same way the church does. CD4 likes to read books that debunk the Christian cosmology, so he started the Library. GreyRose likes song lyrics, so she started collecting those. jbliqemp has artistic leanings, so he offered to draw our symbol. I'm something of an amateur biblical scholar, so I drop my criticisms wherever appropriate. But those of us who are making the obvious contributions to the Foundation are only doing so by being true to our nature. So, be true to your own. If your goal is to mock Xtianity, well, there is certainly still plenty of room in the link library under Humor. After all, if we tried to *make* people spread the message, we'd be no better than Them.

And that is also not to say that the people producing pages are the only ones making contributions; far from it. I've seen several of you advertising the FFFF to newbies who produce anti-xtian rants first off, and the membership has swollen as a result. And as long as the threads are animated, and good conversations are taking place, new people are going to see this place as someplace they'd like to hang out. Along the way, I think we're producing an elite cadre of educated free thinkers, battle tested in the trenches of esoteric debate that we create and dominate. Or, maybe not.

So basically, the only thing we require of members is that, when you do get into heated debates, try not to make a jerk of yourself. If you start ranting and get insulting, it only adds credence to their arguments, and reflects badly on all of us. Keep your cool and stick to reason, and you'll eventually see them vacate the moral high ground.

And on that note, Mummy, I would say that your ad is fine, other than the "ridicule" part. While we are certainly not above ridiculing Xtianity as it so richly deserves, it is not a stated goal. Of course, one can't help it sometimes... But it does seem a bit antagonistic, which is what we *don't* want to be. Besides, I think there are a few members here who would be uncomfortable with that role.

Fair enough GB, the ridicule part will go then. Glad I asked about it before actually using it

What I meant with "ridiculing religions" would ofcourse be "showing how ridiculous they already are", but it would easily be misinterpreted to mean "making them look ridiculous without them deserving it" and we can't have that, indeed. Thanx for helping out.

I think I will atke the leaping into all discussions tactic ther and try not to make a prat of myself

And I will make sure that IF I make a general nuisance of myself, I will claim the responsibility for myself alone, stating that my views do not necessarily reflect those of the FFFF. (Just to be on the safe side <grin&gt

I just sat through a great session of Passover. I tried to read the text more closely and cynically than usual. The amount of God-praising is vile. And there's so much racist arogance stuffed in as well. I'm glad it's over...

Ah, I've been wanting to post this up for a while, but didn't feel it was done enough yet (and it still isn't). Some of you might recognize some of the writing, as I copied it from a (very) recent post in the Atheism forum. It lacks logical structure as of yet (cut and paste, cut and paste), but it's coming along. So, a Diatribe on the Founding of Religions:

http://www.h2g2.com/A268986

-jb

Looks good. I'll give it a link now, or wait until you're happier with it, as you choose. BTW, Judaism has its roots in the religion of Sumeria. Some good info on the link is at CD4's article on The Legend of the First Man, if you choose to incorporate any of his stuff. I'm sure he won't mind.

I've given my first comment, which is favorable, jb

Uhm, I suppose you could link it. It isn't ready, but if I recieved some input from people (like the Judaism/Sumarian thing) I'm sure I could make it into an even longer and more irreverent diatribe...

-jb

Small point about one of T. Mummy's comments:

[QUOTE]
Would it be fair to say that we "renounce and ridicule the existence of non-material beings that would otherwise unrightfully control our lives"
[END QUOTE]

Though this Forum/Club/Foundation is primarily Athiest, it is not exclusivly so. There are some of us here that do indeed believe in spiritual or non-material beigns, just not neccisarily the Christian ones, and I still think that even us that do subscribe what a mojority of members would surely call "superstition", we are not controlled by this.

I'm certain everyone here subscribes to the concept of "personal responsibility" and would not blame anything outside of themselves (non-material or otherwise) for their actions and choices.

The mission is pretty clear, this is a HAVEN apart from the Christian bias the permeates western culture. THis should be a safe place for ALL minority religions and belief structures. Heathen, Pagans, and non-Believers of any type. Hell, even Christians would be welcome here I believe, if they do not confrom to the "norm" of non-tolerance for anyone holding beliefs that differ from their own.

Be very careful, let us not put off anyone who would like to seek haven here, even if they do hold a belief in non-material beings.

-- ZenMondo