Sam Harris - Keeping Religion Out of Public Policy

Rallying against dogmatism, rather than simply just religion, is an important distinction that I believe more atheists should be clear about. As atheists, we post our anti-religious memes, make anti-religious jokes, and generally poke fun of religion. All well and good, I say. Lets just keep in mind the larger war while we do so, and perhaps use some of our energies to include anti-dogmatism in our argumentation. Whether its political dogmatism, religious dogmatism, or any fanatic dogmatism, it all deserves our derision.

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Richard Dawkins - On Evolution (2009)

In light of the recent hiring of creationist promoter Guillermo Gonzalez by Ball State University, creationists have been saying lots of stupid things in defense of the move. This is not Ball State's only questionable move when it comes to science. Another one of their assistant professors is being investigated for promoting intelligent design in a class entitled "The Boundaries of Science". The idea of equal time for teaching both ideas is ludicrous, as well as the idea that somehow Gonzalez is not going to let his beliefs influence his scientific ideas and teachings. We don't teach divine intervention combined with the germ theory of disease in medical schools for a reason. It isn't science and it isn't reconcilable with scientific instruction.

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Christopher Hitchens - Authors@Google (2007)

The imitable Christopher Hitchens talks about his then new book god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA. He lays out his foundational points which are discussed further in his book during the first half and does an audience Q&A with the second half, during which many oft repeated (but Stalin was an atheist!) arguments are levied against his hypothesis. Hitchens addresses them with his usual clear logic and dramatic charisma. I'm still pained by never being able to see him in person before he died. I just completed reading The Origin of Species and will be starting god is Not Great hopefully tomorrow.

AUDIO ONLY (MP3)

Carl Sagan - Interview With Ted Turner (1989)

Before tour I read Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan and planned on writing a review of the book. Unfortunately it was eagerly whisked away by my father, also an avid Carl Sagan reader and fan, so I'll have to wait to write it until my copy comes back to me. This interview is an oldie but goodie, Carl Sagan outlines his concerns for the future of humanity: nuclear war, climate change, and our insignificant place in the universe. Quite a good interview. Hopefully I should be finished with On The Origin of Species soon because I have a huge pile of books to get to.

AUDIO ONLY (MP3)