Too funny!

He actually seems like a sweet guy, but one expects him to pull out a banjo at any moment.

Disappointment at lack of banjos aside, I particuluarly loved his use of charts and schematics and his imaginative use of colour-coordinated props. Someone ought to tell him that ID's ridiculous argument from analogy relies upon unfounded comparisons between biological complexity and designed complexity (in materials that, unlike the chemicals of life, lack the capacity for self-replication).



Unfortunately, I was laughing so hard that I missed much of what he said. OminousVoice is, imo, hilarious, but this kid has him beat. The difference is that OminousVoice is consciously amusing.

I thought that the video above was the funniest, but the video below greatly tickled my beloved's fancy. It's a journey into pathos as he says goodbye to one of his props.

Radio HAM

This has zip to do with atheism.





On the other hand, the creativity demonstrates that it was a walk in the park to invent gods.

The Atheism Tapes

Jonathan Miller interviewed scientists, philosophers, writers, and historians for Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief.

The full interviews are available as The Atheism Tapes.

Here's Miller interviewing Richard Dawkins:





atheism, audiovisual, biological evolution, creationism, intelligent design, Richard Dawkins, Jonathan Miller

Captive at the Mercy . . .

I'm old enough to remember the days when our reading was at the mercy of libraries and bookstores–and censorship, though censorship had already diminished by my childhood. (The cartoon at left was before my time, as were the dinosaurs–Ken Ham, or no Ken Ham.)

Now, praise the internet, we have access to more reading material than we could ever have dreamed. The trick is to differentiate the information from misinformation.

I remember when the viewing public was at the mercy of movie and television scheduling–and censorship, though censorship had already diminished by my childhood.

Now, praise the internet, we can view entire programs online. The trick is to decide what to watch–so many videos, so little time.

Google video Dawkins . TED . YouTube . Technorati atheism videos, biological evolution videos, science videos.

Dawkins

I have been taking a closer look at Richard Dawkins because of a discussion that I recently read between an theist and a theist who contends that Dawkins is a cult figure. Judging by the ad hominem attacks on Dawkins and illogical attacks on his message, his campaign for-science-against-religion is successful.

Dawkins on Hitchens : The Times Literary Supplement features (September 05, 2007) an interesting review by Richard Dawkins of Christopher Hitchens' "God is not great". . . more.

Theistic Fallacies : A variety of illogical attacks against atheism are misdirected toward Richard Dawkins and the New Atheist spokespeople. . . more.

Audiovisual:
Atheist Call to Arms .
Dawkins: CNN interview .
Dawkins: God Delusion and Beyond .
Dawkins on Scripture .
Creationist Distortions: the faked video that so delighted science-ignorant creationists . Creationist Hoax Exposed: how the Australian creationists faked a video in an attempt to discredit Richard Dawkins.







atheism

A War on Science

Here's a BBC Horizon examination of the culmination of the Scopes 1925 Monkey Trial in the Kitzmiller vs Dover School Board case. Well worth watching if you can understand those with a Scottish accent.

Lawyer and born-again Christian fundamentalist Phillip E. Johnson reveals his motivation in the power conferred by teaching of the selected creation mythology. Stephen Meyer, a CSC lackey, reveals the search for stooges for IDiocy, including irreducibly deceptive Michael Behe and 'filter' mathematician William Dembski. These perfidious, creationist associations resulted in the reworking of Paley's Blind Watchmaker argument that has been repackaged as the sleight of mind dubbed 'intelligent design'. Dawkins correctly states that IDiocy is only finding a place amongst those "who don't know anything."







audiovisual, biological evolution, creationism, intelligent design, science, David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins, Kenneth Miller, Michael Behe, William Dembski, Phillip Johnson, Stephen Meyer, BBC,

IDiocy on Trial

By "IDiocy", I refer to "intelligent design" creationism.



Yes, after careful consideration of the evidence, I have already reached the conclusion that intelligent design creationism is religiously motivated, pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo.

November 13, on PBS's NOVA: Watch Online : Nova : Darwin's Predictions : Defining Science : In Defense ofEvolution : Fossil Evidence : WGBH's EvolutionWeb site : Teachers' Domain Resources : Board vs. Teachers : Senior ExecutiveProducer's Story : The Judge Speaks : Video & Audio Extras : In Defense ofIntelligent Design :

h/t Pharyngula: "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial".




atheismaudiovisualbiological evolutioncreationismeducationfundamentalismintelligent designsciencevideos

Kevin Padian

On FORA.tv, a conversation with Kevin Padian, one of the witnesses for science at the Dover trial. Kevin Padian is a University of California Berkeley professor and curator of the Museum of Paleontology. This is not a particularly exciting conversation because both the interviewer and Padian have a very calm style, but it is an interesting conversation nontheless.

Audiovisual INDEX

AVs are slow to load, so use this menu to choose the presentation that interests you:

Atheism:
□ Atheism in Canada :
□ Atheist Call to Arms :

□ Atheism 101 :

□ Atheism: Debunking Sociopolitical and Biblical Misrepresentation :

□ A War on Science : BBC Horizon examines 'intelligent design'.
□ Ayaan Hirsi Ali at the AAIC :

□ Creationist Distortions : the faked video that so delighted science-ignorant creationists
□ Creationist Hoax Exposed : how the Australian creationists faked a video in an attempt to discredit Richard Dawkins

□ Dan Dennett at AAIC '07

□ David Attenborough on Atheism :

□ BBC Profile of Richard Dawkins :

□ Dawkins: CNN interview :

□ Dawkins: God Delusion and Beyond :
□ Dawkins: Enemies of Reason

□ Dawkins: The Root of All Evil
□ Glad, glad, glad
□ Hitchens refutes McGrath
□ Hitchens vs McGrath
□ IDiocy on Trial : intelligent design creationism on trial; PBS, Nova, Nov. 13, 07
□ Jonathan Miller – The Atheism Tapes – Richard Dawkins
□ Jonathan Miller – Brief History of Disbelief
□ Jonathan Miller – Brief History of Disbelief II
□ Jonathan Miller – Brief History of Disbelief III
□ Julia Sweeney Sees the Light : An amusing reaction to a visitation by youthful Mormon "elders".
□ The Nonexistent cannot be Great
□ Ode on an American Turd
□ Of Blogrolls and Banners
□ Operation Spread Eagle
□ Pat Condell
□ Pray to Elvis : at least Elvis did exist.
□ Small Town, Small Minds, Big Problem : unChristian intolerance in rural America

Humor:

BritCom
□ Beyond Washoe – meet Gerald

Frasier :
□ Funniest Silent 5 Minutes
□ High Crane Drifter
□ Hoisted on his Own Sword
□ How do you say 'Fiasco' in German?
□ I Spy
□ Niles' influence?
□ Psycobabble Theme

People!
□ I don't know . . .

Religious Satire
□ These men died for us . . .

Vicar of Dibley
□ Alice in Everwonder Land

Miscellany
□ Hitler Rap
□ Pat Condell on Mitt mitt die üntergärmënts
□ You might have to be one . . .

Morality:
□ Dawkins on Scripture :


Miscellaneous:
□ deviantART animation of stick figure doing battle with Flash
□ Manikin Moonwalk a bird with da moves.

Music:
□ Allegri Miserere
□ Aranjuez
□ Laura Branigan Self Control
□ Kate Bush
□ Celine Dion & Barbra Streisand - Tell Him
□ Haris Alexiou Apopse Thelo Na Pio
□ Kitka Wintersongs
□ KD Lang, Lorretta Lynn, Kitty Wells, and Brenda Lee Honky Tonk Angels
□ Cindi Lauper, Celine Dion, Roy Orbison I Drove All Night
□ Lascia Ch'io Pianga
□ Loreena McKennitt & Leahy
□ Master Soundtrack
□ Sarah McLachlan Angel
□ October Song
□ Orinoco Flow
□ Beth Orton
□ Pokarekare Ana
□ Spem in Alium
□ Survivors' Songs
□ Tango
□ Wayfaring Stranger

Science:
□ A War on Science : BBC Horizon examines 'intelligent design'.
□ IDiocy on Trial : intelligent design creationism on trial; PBS, Nova, Nov. 13, 07
□ Kevin Padian on evolution

atheism, audiovisual, videos

Atheism in Canada

These three videos summate to 20 minutes devoted to the topic of atheism in Canada. I particularly appreciated seeing a gathering of atheists from the Abrahamic religions, showing that commonalities can break down imposed barriers.







Abrahamic religionsatheismaudiovisualreligionvideos

Atheism 101, part 1 of 6

Atheism: Debunking Sociopolitical and Biblical Misrepresentation

This documentary celebrates those atheists whose examples put the lie to anti-atheist comments in the Bible.

More on YouTube World Famous Atheists and Deists (part 2)

atheism

Dawkins: The Root of All Evil

Richard Dawkins' television series The Root of All Evil is available on Google videos:

Part 1:



Dawkins examines the history of Christian myths. He interviews hypocritical televangelist Ted Haggard. (I don't object to the fact that Haggard paid for services from a male prostitute, it is the fact that hypocrite Haggard preached against homosexuality. Haggard was forced to resign because of his activities, evoking some truly idiotic comments of support from religious conservatives, "Where did this strange idea that hypocrisy is not a moral virtue come from?" Note the 'not'!) Haggard turns offensive, accusing mild-mannered Dawkins and scientists of intellectual arrogance in lieu of Christian apologetics. Dawkins moves on to Israeli Zionism and Palestinian Muslims, including an utterly illogical and hate-filled New York Jew who converted to fundamentalist Islam after emigrating to Israel. It is types such as this fellow who demonstrate Dawkins' point while flattering themselves that they are arguing against it.

Part 2:



Richard Dawkins examines the divisive results of 'abusive' religious indoctrination of children. (I agree with Gray that the scaring of children by threats of hell are indeed egregious, yet they do not rank in severity with genuine childhood abuse–not Dawkins' example of a single incident of fondling, but severe and prolonged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.) Dawkins moves on to the fact that religions do not provide good guides to morality.

"The God of the Old Testament has got to the be the most unpleasant character in all fiction."

Enemies of Reason

Richard Dawkins discusses how superstition can arise in pattern-seeking behaviors and through accidental reinforcement:


Dawkins interviews astrologer Neil Spencer


atheism audiovisualreligionsciencevideosRichard Dawkins

Exposé

For this exposé of Islamic maltreatment of women, a man was murdered and a woman forced to pay for physical protection, proving that Islam is even worse than depicted here. The murdered man was Theo Van Gogh, the woman Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the movie is entitled Submission.



audiovisualIslamvideosAyaan Hirsi Ali

Hitchens McGrath Debate

Hitchens wins this debate handily: Poison or Cure? Religious Belief in the Modern World from the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Hitchens wrote the bestseller, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. McGrath claims to have been an atheist in his youth in Northern Ireland. McGrath admits that some forms of religion are pathological, then goes on to attribute the problems with religion to fringe elements.

McGrath presumes to know what God, a purely hypothetical supernatural entity, is like and what God actually wants us to do. McGrath's arguments, like all apologetic smoke and mirrors, rest upon insistence that there is a God and that Christianity as a religion is excused by this belief. McGrath goes so far as to accuse atheism of being 'wishful thinking' to excuse laissez faire immoral behavior. He fails in this argument because the evidence strongly suggests that atheists are just as moral, if not more moral, than theists, who often behave very badly indeed. In short, McGrath troops out all the tired old apologetic fallacies of logic and fallacious appeals to emotion. There is, as ever, something truly pathetic about any argument that we cannot find meaning without resorting to the verbiage spewing from mythologies.

Alister McGrath is the Director of the Oxford Centre for Evangelism and Apologetics at Wycliffe Hall, and Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University. Evangelism and apologetics translates as concocting excuses for fundamentalist religious dogma. Wycliffe gained some recent notoriety following release of a damning report that recommends ending the admission of school-leavers to some of Oxford's colleges. The study, conducted by a university panel headed by Sir Colin Lucas, a former vice-chancellor, particularly noted that Wycliffe does not resemble “an Oxford experience in its essentials” and is not “a suitable educational environment for the full intellectual development of young undergraduates”.



The full video is posted at Google.

Commentary: Watch Alister McGrath Take a Very Long Time To Say Very Little . Chrisopher Hitchens versus Alistair McGrath . Onward, Atheist Soldiers . discussion (mostly derogatory of McGrath rather than edified) on RichardDawkins.net .

McGrath's critique of Dawkins' book The God Delusion in McGrath's article The Dawkins Delusion? and book Dawkins God : Genes Memes and the Meaning of Life : Deluded about Dawkins (Part I) & Part II .

On YouTube, the presentation is broken into byte size chunks: Christopher Hitchens Debates Alister McGrath 1 of 11 . 2 of 11 . 3 of 11 . 4 of 11 . 5 of 11 . 6 of 11 . 7 of 11 . 8 of 11 . 9 of 11 . 10 of 11 . 11 of 11 .

atheismaudiovisualreligionvideosChristopher HitchensAlister McGrath

Jonathan Miller – Brief History of Disbelief II

Jonathan Miller interviewed scientists, philosophers, writers, and historians for Atheism: A Brief History of Disbelief. The full interviews are available as The Atheism Tapes.

This episode is Noughts and Crosses:

The first episode is: A Brief History of Disbelief: Shadows of Doubt.

The final episode is: A Brief History of Disbelief: The Final Hour.

atheism, audiovisual, BBC, Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller – Brief History of Disbelief III

Jonathan Miller interviewed scientists, philosophers, writers, and historians for Atheism: A Brief History of Disbelief. The full interviews are available as The Atheism Tapes.

This episode is The Final Hour.

Earlier episodes are:
Jonathan Miller – A Brief History of Disbelief: Shadows of Doubt
Jonathan Miller – A Brief History of Disbelief II: Noughts and Crosses

atheism, audiovisual, BBC, Jonathan Miller

Julia Sweeney Sees the Light

Julie Sweeney presents an amusing reaction to a visitation by youthful elders.

A longer TED version of Julia describing reaching the "age of reason" in a lead up to the "visitation" story. This is also available on Google video.

atheism