Monthly Archives: December 2010

Survey confirms what we’ve known all along: tattoos on women are a turn-off

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

  Why bearded men and tattooed women are guaranteed passion killers A poll yesterday claimed that one third of men said tattoos on the fairer sex were guaranteed to put an end to a relationship. Harem pants – baggy pants that … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture, Society | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Another spoilt, money-grabbing British royal: Sarah Ferguson

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

First glimpse of make-up free Fergie’s new reality show Finding Sarah Ferguson was seen on tape selling her access to Prince Andrew to an undercover reporter disguised as an Indian businessman. She was on the brink of bankruptcy at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, World Events, Popular Culture, Society

Prince Charles’s secret 20-year campaign to make himself the richest king in history

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

Why Prince Charles’s secret 20-year campaign could make him the richest king in history Charles, whose extravagance has even been criticised by the Queen, wasn’t playing things by halves.  His original proposal, presented to the Thatcher government (only to see … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, World Events

Did Michael Jackson commit suicide?

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

So DID Michael Jackson commit suicide?  That’s what his doctor is set to claim when he goes on trial for manslaughter next week.  But the truth may be more sinister Suicide seems very unlikely to me.  If he had been worried about … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture, Society

It’s a sad day when President Obama going to church makes headline news

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

Obamas make rare trip to church while in Hawaii For someone who so frequently speaks about his Christian faith, it’s surprising (or perhaps not surprising, alas) how infrequently President Obama attends church.  Not only is it wrong for him, or any professing Christian, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, World Events

IHOP pancake restaurant chain drops suit against IHOP church

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

IHOP pancake chain drops suit against IHOP church IHOP 1 = International House of Pancakes IHOP 2 = International House of Prayer The International House of Pancakes restaurant chain, known as IHOP, has ended its trademark infringement lawsuit against the International … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Churches

Is libertarianism compatible with atheism? History says no

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

Is libertarianism compatible with atheism? It seems not, and the historical record is against such a possibility.  The ONLY explicitly anti-religious major examples of government in history that I can come up with are: the French Revolution (and succeeding ones), and Communism … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Politics, World Events

Theodore Dalrymple on the Pope’s visit to Britain and the paranoid reaction to it by Dawkins et al.

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

The Pope Strikes Back by Theodore Dalrymple The quite extravagant expressions of antagonism towards him – such, for example, as that consideration be given to arresting him for crimes against humanity – seem to me to bespeak a very odd, almost paranoid, state … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism

Curious Presbyterian’s top posts of 2010: Peter Howson, Keith Richards & atheism most popular

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

How atheists celebrate Christmas     Scottish martyr St. John Ogilvie by Peter Howson   More on Peter Howson, painter of Scottish martyr St. John Ogilvie     Iranian Christian pastor sentenced to death by hanging for ‘apostasy’ from Islam … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Christian Churches, Fundamentalism, Secularism, Visual Arts

Hitchens on the difference between unhappiness and pessimism

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

‘Why do people associate reasonable pessimism about public affairs (or anything else) with personal unhappiness?  On the contrary, the pessimist is seldom disappointed, sometimes pleasantly surprised and usually well-equipped for the world as it is.  He or she also opens … Continue reading →

Posted in Peter Hitchens

‘The No-man’s-land of Biblical Studies: Isn’t it odd?’ by Tim Bulkeley

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

An interesting short article on the future of academic biblical studies: The No-man’s-land of Biblical Studies: Isn’t it odd? by Tim Bulkeley This creeping, but near total, takeover by humanistic practical atheism in the academies does not seem to students to … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Studies

Tim Bulkeley on the battle for the Bible, and how the fundamentalists won it

Posted on 31/12/2010 by

‘If there was a battle for the Bible in the churches, then by and large the fundamentalists, the “creation scientists” and the televangelists have won it.  But since the tradition of Scriptural interpretation for nearly two millennia was not literalist/fundamentalist … Continue reading →

Posted in Fundamentalism

Christian resistance in Nazi Germany: Sophie Scholl, Alfred Delp, Maximilian Kolbe & others

Posted on 30/12/2010 by

This is what Christians look like by Charles Lewis Here are a few examples of those giants who were driven by their faith to greatest heights of selflessness.  There are scores more.  I would urge you all to read more about these … Continue reading →

Posted in History

Charles Lewis on the logical contradictions of Christopher Hitchens and his followers

Posted on 30/12/2010 by

The people who follow [Christopher] Hitchens will never be convinced by anything you or I say, that is a given.  If you bring up the atheist maniac Stalin, Hitchens will somehow argue that Stalin was in fact a “religious figure” … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Quote of the Day

Obituary : the Reverend Dr. John Bowden, editor of SCM Press

Posted on 30/12/2010 by

The Reverend Dr John Bowden The Reverend Dr John Bowden, who died on December 6 aged 75, was editor and managing director of the Student Christian Movement Press from 1966 to 2000 and turned it into the world-leading theological publishing … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors

The truth about disgusting old pervert Hugh Hefner and his urine-soaked Playboy Mansion

Posted on 30/12/2010 by

Playboy mansion?  More like a squalid prison: Former Playmates tell of ‘grubby’ world inside Hugh Hefner’s empire Unfortunately for Hefner, some of his former ‘girlfriends’, as he calls them, have become disenchanted with life in his harem over the years. … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture, Society | Tagged , , , , , ,

‘Jesus tomb’ proponent James Tabor praises fundamentalist crank Vendyl “Ark hunter” Jones

Posted on 29/12/2010 by

Firstly, Richard Bartholomew sums up Vendyl Jones’ career here: “Ark Hunter” Vendyl Jones has Died Jones’ entire pseudo-archaeological “career” was a tragic misdirection of his undoubted energies, which were wasted on crank notions derived from an approach which regards religion as … Continue reading →

Posted in Fundamentalism | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Fundamentalist ‘creation science’ in all it’s glory: dragons and unicorns on Noah’s ark

Posted on 29/12/2010 by

Kentucky Creationist Museum Will Feature Dragons, Unicorns   Kentucky’s state-backed $150 million creationist theme park, The Ark Encounter, will allow visitors to explore a literal interpretation of the Bible’s story of Noah and the ark.  But pseudonymous liberal Kentucky blogger … Continue reading →

Posted in Fundamentalism

Why William Dembski’s ‘design inference’ doesn’t work, explained by a mathematician

Posted on 29/12/2010 by

Why Dembski’s Design Inference Doesn’t Work.  Part 1 Why Dembski’s Design Inference Doesn’t Work.  Part 2

Posted in Sciences

Hitchens on the secularist response to Christmas

Posted on 29/12/2010 by

‘The secularist, or whatever he calls himself, enjoys the civilisation brought about by the birth and resurrection of Christ, but denies or mocks the truth of these events.  He doesn’t make the connection between the two, because he recognises, deep … Continue reading →

Posted in Peter Hitchens, Quote of the Day

Hitchens on drug abuse and ‘the attractions of atheism for the amoral’

Posted on 29/12/2010 by

‘Self-stupefaction is self-evidently morally wrong, in almost all cases opens the stupefier to criminal or negligent acts which he would otherwise avoid, and ought to be repugnant to any morally literate person.  Its consequences are frequently disastrous to the self-stupefier himself … Continue reading →

Posted in Peter Hitchens, Quote of the Day

Bel Mooney on the baby that Elton John bought when he went shopping in California

Posted on 29/12/2010 by

Accessory children and the question: Who is my mummy? Essentially, the woman who has entered into such an arrangement with John and ­Furnish for financial gain is not being regarded as a ­person, but as a reusable womb.  Is that … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture, Society, Secularism

‘A fair society’ is one ‘in which secularist values do not automatically trump Christian values’

Posted on 29/12/2010 by

‘Christians should not accept intolerance at home simply because it carries less risk than abroad.  When their institutions are forced to adopt secular standards in everything from rules of employment to selection of intake, the community should speak up for … Continue reading →

Posted in Quote of the Day, Secularism

Pic of the day: Praying to Aslan?

Posted on 29/12/2010 by

More: Pic of the day — not the right book store?

Posted in Visual Arts

Polar bear attacks seagull — but the gull fights back and wins!

Posted on 28/12/2010 by

A bear with a sore head – and an empty belly: Polar bear that fancied snacking on a seagull ends up biting off more than he can chew More nature stories: Pelican eats pigeon! Crocodile eats buffalo!

Posted in Sciences