Extreme Christian runs on “Kill Gays” platform

Who says Americans get to have all the political fun? At a federal election debate held at a Sudbury high school, independent candidate David Popescu shared some of his extreme religious views. From the Edmonton Sun:

Popescu introduced himself with a public prayer, blaming environmental damage and economic unrest on the wickedness of society. His comments were met with silence as some students grimaced and shifted in their seats.

Near the end of the more than two-hour event, students were invited to ask the candidates questions. As a long line of pupils waited to speak, Popescu told a young female student who asked about stem cell research that, “God would hurt” those who had an abortion.

The crowd jeered and many rose to their feet in protest after Popescu answered another teenager’s question on gay marriage.

During a telephone interview later in the day, Popescu reasserted his view. “A young man asked me what I think of homosexual marriages and I said I think homosexuals should be executed,” he said. “My whole reason for running is the Bible and the Bible couldn’t be more clear on that point.”

Banned book week!

Yep, it’s banned book week, and one person who has an opinion on the subject is author Philip Pullman, who’s book Northern Lights (turned into the movie The Golden Compass) is high up on the list of books in the crosshairs of religious institutions. Here’s his thoughts on the subject, care of the Guardian:

In fact, when it comes to banning books, religion is the worst reason of the lot. Religion, uncontaminated by power, can be the source of a great deal of private solace, artistic inspiration, and moral wisdom. But when it gets its hands on the levers of political or social authority, it goes rotten very quickly indeed. The rank stench of oppression wafts from every authoritarian church, chapel, temple, mosque, or synagogue – from every place of worship where the priests have the power to meddle in the social and intellectual lives of their flocks, from every presidential palace or prime ministerial office where civil leaders have to pander to religious ones.

My basic objection to religion is not that it isn’t true; I like plenty of things that aren’t true. It’s that religion grants its adherents malign, intoxicating and morally corrosive sensations. Destroying intellectual freedom is always evil, but only religion makes doing evil feel quite so good.

More on the Temple of Science

We talked a little bit about the Temple of Science a few weeks back, and now Wired has an interview with the creator.

Artist Builds Temple of Science | Wired Science from Wired.com

Keats’ conception of that idea took shape as a two-story building complete with stained-glass windows patterned after cosmic microwave background radiation and a liturgy based on the sounds of the Big Bang. The Atheon opened Sept. 27 at the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California.But, could science replace religion?

The question has intrigued both rationalists frustrated at the persistence of what they see as superstitious dogma, and religious believers — as well as all-purpose skeptics — unwilling to promote science, with its mixed and messy history, to a position of absolute authority.

Keats doesn’t claim to take sides, but says he just wants to give people a chance to think. In December, he’ll host a public discussion at the Atheon, with people invited to bring their own models. “It’s important that this Atheon not be seen as the only model. It’s one possibility. The best thing would be for people to engage these questions, and consider what form religion could take as science.”

McCain talks science, technology

We mentioned a while back that John McCain and Barack Obama were answering questions relating to science and technology on a website called Science Debate 2008. Obama released his answers a few weeks ago and now John McCain has responded as well. You can now read the two candidates’ responses side by side here.

Scientology strikes again!

From the EFF:

Over a period of twelve hours, between this Thursday night and Friday morning, American Rights Counsel LLC sent out over 4000 DMCA takedown notices to YouTube, all making copyright infringement claims against videos with content critical of the Church of Scientology. Clips included footage of Australian and German news reports about Scientology, A Message to Anonymous/Scientology , and footage from a Clearwater City Commission meeting. Many accounts were suspended by YouTube in response to multiple allegations of copyright infringement.

An Atheist Church

Jake caused quite a stir with the concept of Atheism as an organized religion (a much better article than my random link posts). Now an artist in San Francisco is converting a building into something of an Atheist church as part of an exhibition for the Judah L Magnes Museum. From Boing Boing:

Instead of telling the story of baby Jesus, the Atheon’s stained glass windows will show cosmic microwave background radiation made from NASA satellite data. And since the interior of the building is still under construction, templer-goers will have to either pray from the sidewalk or in front of a glowing web site from their computers at home. Keats even made a song of worship; he collaborated with Virginia astronomer Mark Whittle to come up with a canon of sounds from three hypothetical universes called Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?

From the museum’s page:

The first project in the Windows series will be The Atheon: A Temple to Science, an installation by Jonathon Keats that calls forth the fusion of science and religion by building a temple for scientific worship—an Atheon. Look into the large vaulted windows of faux stained glass and see the universe as you listen to the accompanying sounds on your cell phone.

It’s funny that the idea of atheists getting together a la religion is so wacky it’s basically being portrayed as novelty art. I’ll take what I can get, though. Once this thing opens I’ll try and get some pictures and more details.

Atheist Weddings

Care of Toothpaste for Dinner

Obama talks about our god: science

As ripe and low hanging a fruit as it would be to pick, I’m trying to stay away from a few topics on this blog: people killing over religion abroad, and ignorant politicians believing in ignorant things. These two topics are so overdone that you can’t really look at a news site without reading about it, so I’ll leave it alone. Yes, I’m aware that Sarah Palin is like the atheist equivalent of the anti-christ (well not really, but she’s the new incoming threat so people are hyping her up as). I don’t care … she’s no worse than any of the other choices would have been as far as mixing religion and politics go.

Personally, I’d rather promote it when politicians actually say SMART things about issues that matter to atheists, which is unfortunately the exception rather than the rule. So check this out: Barack Obama took the time to answer 14 very wide questions from the scientific community: on innovation, climate change, energy, education, national security, pandemics and biosecurity, genetics research, stem cells, ocean health, water shortages, space, scientific integrity, research, and health.

Here’s your chance to read up on the actual policies of a presidential nominee rather than the flappy headed bullcrap spouted by the mainstream and winger media. Trust me, if you need a pick-me-up after the past few days worth of political bullshit, this will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.