It’s a greater force than we often realize.

Thanks to Kevin Rose who brought this to my attention in Pownce.

Search engines do, logicians and academics do, and now you can, too.

Boolify.com is as plain and simple as Google’s search page. It’s so simple a child could do it, and indeed that’s the intended audience for this site. But adults can benefit from it as well. Boolean search is the application of Boolean algebra or logic to finding what you are looking for in Google or any search engine. Here’s a brief tutorial:

The Internet is a vast computer database. As such, its contents must be searched according to the rules of computer database searching. Much database searching is based on the principles of Boolean logic. Boolean logic refers to the logical relationship among search terms, and is named for the British-born Irish mathematician George Boole.

On Internet search engines, the options for constructing logical relationships among search terms extend beyond the traditional practice of Boolean searching.

Boolean logic consists of three logical operators:

• OR
• AND
• NOT

Few search engines nowadays offer the option to do full Boolean searching with the use of the Boolean logical operators. It is more common for them to offer simpler methods of constructing search statements, specifically implied Boolean logic and template language.

If you want to construct search queries using Boolean logical operators, you will need to experiment with search engines and see what happens when you search.

The full tutorial can be found here, but if you’re like me, the ability to try something with my own hands teaches me far more than reading about it. And if the experience can be made fun, so much the better. Boolify.com is both fun and instructive.

Thank goodness the little guy was able to pull it together enough to accomplish his final goal.

Microsoft could stand to learn a thing or two from its competitors.  I just received this…

…this is George from OfficeZilla.com with an update about some new features I have added to your account that you can start using right away!

Feature #1: Name the modules
Some people like Forums some people like Message Boards… I am not going to hold it against you if you wished you could name a module something different! In the past that was impossible but now you can and it is really easy to do. Just login to your account, click on Admin then click on Configuration. On that page you will see a new link called Modules. Click there and you will see all of the modules, the checkboxes to turn them on or off and an empty box next to each where you can put in your own module name.

Feature #2: User Directory
Many companies and organizations want to have a user directory now there is a module just for that purpose called Directory. This lists all of your users so they can be found easily by other users. Users can exclude themselves from the directory by clicking on Options then clicking the checkbox off next to Directory. Directory is not automatically selected to display so be sure to click on Admin > Configuration > Modules to turn it on.

Feature #3: Private Messages
Sometimes an email is too much, private messages allow users to contact each other, you also have a tool in your admin that allows you to send personalized private messages in bulk. To use this you have to turn it on from Admin > Configuration > Modules. For now private messages (if turned on) are sent from the Directory module but sometime in the near future I will expand this to every feature. I am excited about this feature and how it can make your virtual office much more interactive

They’re bleeding money like a Silicon Valley startup, but they can still afford Google ads and free checking.

Bank of America ® - www.BankofAmerica.com - Free Checking Plus Online Bill Pay, Security Protection, ATMs & More.

My ability to appreciate absurdity is being taxed to the limit with this story;

Ben Stein, known for his lead role in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and his Comedy Central show Win Ben Stein’s Money, believes in liberty and truth. In recognition of this, Biola University’s masters in science and religion program will present him with the 2008 Phillip E. Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth on March 27, a month before the release of his major controversial motion picture, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

In light of Stein’s contribution to the pursuit of liberty and truth, particularly as it relates to the field of Intelligent Design, he is being honored with the 2008 Johnson Award. The award ceremony will feature premiere clips from the forthcoming movie, the personal appearance of scientists who were expelled from their jobs because they are sympathetic to Intelligent Design, and will include a brief address by Stein.

Biola University, a Christian university in Southern California, established the Phillip E. Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth in 2004 to honor legal scholar and Berkeley law professor Phillip E. Johnson, who was the award’s first recipient. The award recognizes Johnson’s pivotal role in advancing our understanding of design in the universe by opening up informed dissent to Darwinian and materialistic theories of evolution. British philosopher Antony Flew, once considered the most prominent defender of atheism in the English-speaking world, became the second recipient of this award in 2006 for his Socratic approach of “following the evidence where it leads” and abandoning atheism on account of design arguments.

The sentences I made bold almost made me spit coffee on my keyboard.

The outcome is no surprise to rationalists and atheists.

On 3 March 2008, in a popular TV show, Sanal Edamaruku, the president of Rationalist International, challenged India’s most “powerful” tantrik (black magician) to demonstrate his powers on him. That was the beginning of an unprecedented experiment. After all his chanting of mantra (magic words) and ceremonies of tantra failed, the tantrik decided to kill Sanal Edamaruku with the “ultimate destruction ceremony” on live TV. Sanal Edamaruku agreed and sat in the altar of the black magic ritual. India TV observed skyrocketing viewership rates.

Millions of people must have uttered a sigh of relief in front their TVs. Sanal was very much alive. Tantra power had miserably failed. Tantriks are creating such a scaring atmosphere that even people, who know that black magic has no base, can just break down out of fear, commented a scientist during the program. It needs enormous courage and confidence to challenge them by actually putting one’s life at risk, he said. By doing so, Sanal Edamaruku has broken the spell, and has taken away much of the fear of those who witnessed his triumph.

In this night, one of the most dangerous and wide spread superstitions in India suffered a severe blow.

Read the full story and watch the videos here.

Twitter and FriendFeed are becoming popular ways for like-minded people to communicate and keep in touch.

So how many of you use those services? It would be cool to share our usernames and build a network of atheist and free thinking folk.  You may also want to check out Twhirl as a Twitter desktop client.

I’ll go first. I’m jeber on both services. Among my Twitter friends are several atheists and free thinkers. Add them as your friends. Let’s talk.

This ought to be interesting.

A federal judge has ruled that the lawsuit against a Capistrano Valley High School teacher accused of fostering “hostility toward Christians” and promoting “irreligion over religion” can go to trial. Scott Martindale has the story at the Register:

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages and attorney fees, says Corbett typically spent “a large portion of class time propagating his personal views to a captive audience.” He railed against Christianity and Christian viewpoints on topics such as birth control, teenage sex, homosexuality and erectile dysfunction, according to the lawsuit.

Corbett, who attended Monday’s hearing, declined to comment, but said in a prepared statement: “I am frustrated that my side of this story has yet to be heard, but there is so much at stake for me and my family that my best course is to follow my lawyer’s advice and wait until this is over before I comment.”

Corbett is also the adviser to the Free Thinking Atheist and Agnostic Kinship student club at the school, and has been teaching for more than 30 years. His point above is a valid one - all the public has really seen is the family’s statement and the rally supporting the student. Hopefully the student’s tapes will be released sometime soon. (Source)

I doubt his comment will go far to counter the hysteria being fostered by the claims that “He railed against Christianity and Christian viewpoints.” That’s practically a felony in today’s Christian America. Heaven forbid (pun intended) students should ever be exposed to a reality that does not conform to religious belief. Can someone explain how this is any different from the desire of Muslims to have their own laws and practices recognized in this country? It will take more than a god to help America if we start caving in to every demand made by the religious that their beliefs be accorded any place in our secular government or public schools.

There’s an interesting and valuable debate going on across several blogs concerning one of atheism’s most visible proponents, Richard Dawkins. It should hearten atheists and free thinkers to know that in both of those camps there are no demigods, no one who is above critique and criticism.

As best as I can find, the argument against Dawkin’s approach to atheism started here;

I (and apparently Jim Lippard) went to see Dawkins’ talk based on his The God Delusion, which I have critiqued before. I was impressed at the technique. It was definitely the very best Revivalist Sermon I have seen. I was not impressed by the content, nor by the fact that Dawkins was playing for laughs, applause and identification of Us versus Them.

In particular I was annoyed that those of us who do not condemn someone for holding religious beliefs were caricatured as “feeling good that someone has religion somewhere”. Bullshit. That is not why we dislike the Us’n'Themism of TGD. We dislike it because no matter what other beliefs an intelligent person may hold, so long as they accept the importance of science and the need for a secular society, we simply do not care if they also like the taste of ear wax, having sex with trees, or believing in a deity or two. Way to go, Richard. Good bit of framing and parodying the opposition. Real rational.

I noted with interest that he seems to have abandoned his claim that an agnostic is somebody who has an evenly balanced probability assessment of the existence of God, which is total crap. But he failed to say if that meant he now accepts that while atheists and theists alike are making knowledge claims, agnostics simply aren’t. I doubt it.

What I most came away with was that he sets it up that one simply cannot understand the existence of religion, and so must treat it as an evil, immoral, or simply irrational thing.

…Richard doesn’t want to understand; he wants to demonise, diminish and eliminate the Enemy, so as to make the Bright Us, the ones with the Red A, confortable. As you say, Richard, simply because a belief makes us comfortable, doesn’t mean it is true.

And while we’re on truth, let’s stop pretending all this talk of truth is scientific and not religious in itself. Scientific ideas are tested or not, reliable or not. They are never True, just good enough. To talk about Truth is to help yourself to the trappings of religion under the counter, as it were. And this is the final point I want to make about Dawkins on religion: he is trying to produce exactly the same effects as religion does. Social cohesion, derogation of the Other, ideas that everyone can take for granted. I wish it were the case that he was taking the scientific approach here, but at best he’s using the cachet of science to promote his quasi-religion.

To clarify: I don’t think there’s a god or a higher power. I think we need to have freedom for all from the tyranny of religious extremism and absolutism. I think religions should not have exceptional standing in a secular society. And I think that includes the rhetorical polemics of Richard Dawkins. It isn’t a religion yet, but it’s not from a lack of trying on his part. If you want free-thinking, then think freely. Don’t just kneejerk react to religions around you: think.

( John Wilkins at Evolving Thoughts )

I certainly agree with the last paragraph, and I can understand John’s preceding comments.

The conversation continues at Joshua Rosenau’s blog Thoughts from Kansas;

Let’s repeat and paraphrase: I don’t know and don’t care if there’s a god or a higher power, any more than I care if there’s an invisible teapot orbiting Jupiter. I think we need to have freedom for all from the tyranny of religious extremism and absolutism. I think religions should not have exceptional standing in a secular society. And I think that includes the rhetorical polemics of Richard Dawkins. It isn’t a religion yet, but it’s not from a lack of trying on his part. If you want free-thinking, then think freely. Don’t just kneejerk react to religions around you: think.

Thinking, respect for other people, rational consistency and acceptance of the measurable aspects of the universe around us: these are a few of the things by which I judge a person, and that person’s arguments. Dawkins’s record on those measures is fairly poor, at least of late. This isn’t about being courtiers, it isn’t about shutting anyone up. It’s about Dawkins putting himself forward as the representative of science communicators, and of the non-theistic community. And it’s about him doing a poor job on both fronts.

While in a comment to Joshua’s post, Larry Moran says;

The word “respect” is subject to abuse. I’m sure there are lots of people you don’t respect for very good reasons. Let’s not adopt a knee-jerk model of politeness that requires us to “respect” everyone no matter how ridiculous or evil they might be.
Furthermore, let’s not confuse “respect” with a way of behaving that avoids confrontation. There are segments of American society who think that open disagreement with someone demonstrates lack of respect. That’s certainly not true in my case, nor in the case of Richard Dawkins. There are lots of people I respect even though I enjoy engaging them in heated debates. Dawkins is one of those people and so is John Wilkins.

If you judge a person by their “rational consistency” then you and I, and Richard Dawkins, are on the same side. We all recognize that people like Ken Miller and Francis Collins are seriously deficient in that category. Right?

I find myself agreeing in different degrees with all the sentiments express above. Atheism isn’t an organized club with rules and guidelines. There are some atheists who are confrontational and perhaps a bit extreme in their characterizations of religion and religious believers. There are others who do not wish to confront theists, those who adopt the attitude that everyone has the right to believe whatever they will, that all beliefs are subjective and personal. Perhaps these positions represent the extreme left and right wings of atheism. I’m not someone who supports extremism, I’m much more a moderate on most issues, seeing a world that is composed of shades of gray rather than a stark black or white view. There are times when confrontation is necessary, a form of self-defense against extreme opinions. Other times confrontation is unnecessary and even counter-productive. Too much bluster can mute the message by eliciting emotional reactions to the manner in which it was delivered.

So let me suggest a middle ground in this debate. Confrontational or not, moderate or extreme. it’s a matter of personal preference which approach you adopt and which you endorse. Dawkins may offend your personal attitude toward speaking or writing about atheism, but that does not invalidate his message. He will reach those unaware of the opinions of the more reticent among us. Meanwhile the more soft-spoken atheist will appeal to those turned off by Dawkins’ outspokenness. There is no right or wrong way to be an atheist. The joy of free thinking is that if you disagree with Dawkins or Harris or any of the other more “celebrated” atheists, you can post your own thoughts and opinions.

The one persistent comment in the above posts with which I absolutely agree is, “If you want free-thinking, then think freely. Don’t just kneejerk react to religions around you: think.” My only edit would be to replace “religions” with “any thought not your own you encounter”.

Many thanks to The Exterminator for this wonderful bit of silliness/subtle wisdom:

Today is Dr. Seuss’s birthday. And so, in his honor:

n a place known as Whoville the folks got distraught
When Horton the elephant said what he thought.
“The oddest of oddities isn’t as odd
As people believing that there is a god.”

The Who Jews and Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists
The Who Vegetarians, Wiccans, and Nudists,
The Who Presbyterians, Baptists, New Agers:
All spread the sad news on their cell phones and pagers.

A Who Evangelical fell to his knees
And he said, “Oh no, Horton! I beg of you, please!
We always have liked you. We all think you’re swell,
And we can’t stand the thought that you’re headed to hell!”

But Horton just laughed and he wiggled his trunk.
The bible to him was a big bunch of bunk.
He meant what he said and he said what he meant,
“Religion is silly a hundred percent.”

The Who Evangelical let out a snort in
A very snide way most insulting to Horton.
“You say you’re an atheist? Here’s what we’ll do —
We all know that atheists are anti-Who —

We’ll drive you from Whoville; we’ll send you away.
Or else we will force you to worship and pray.
A person’s a person, no matter how small
But an atheist isn’t a person at all!”

But Horton just laughed once again even louder
And told all the Whos he would not take a powder,
Nor worship some stupid nonsensical being
That no one was hearing and no one was seeing.

“I will not be threatened,” he said. “It’s not funny.
I won’t trust your god with my flag or my money!
I will not allow him to influence science.
An elephant thrives on his own self-reliance!”

The Who Evangelical said, “My dear chap, sure
You think you’re so smart, but just wait till the rapture.”
The anti-Christ’s coming and then you will find,
That your friends are in heaven but you’re left behind.

“We cannot allow that to happen to you,
Because, after all, Jesus loves ev’ry Who.
You must accept God for the good of us all.
A person’s a person no matter how small.

“And though you’re no Who (you are just a big elephant),
God loves you, too. What you are is irrelevant.
He can destroy us if someone’s defiant.
A sinner’s a sinner no matter how giant!”

The Whos approached Horton, began to surround him.
If some of the Whos had their way, they’d have drowned him.
Some others thought maybe they might build a fire.
And stoning was mentioned among the Who choir.

But Horton was huge and avoided the crunch of them,
Picked up his foot, and he stepped on a bunch of them,
Hoped the survivors would give up their mission,
So here’s what he told them about superstition:

“The oddest of oddities isn’t as odd
As people believing that there is a god.
There isn’t a heaven, or hell you should dread.
A person’s a person — unless he is dead.”

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”
Dr. Seuss

Here are snippets from a couple of recent posts by Colin McGinn. Included are references to two recent publications of his, a book and a book review, the reading of which should offer even more food for thought.

MF

…religious belief does connect with a topic that does interest me: psychological manipulation. As it happens, I have a new book (very short) coming out on it next month, called–wait for it–Mindfucking. In it I analyze this concept, just as we analytic philosophers are supposed to. People I mention it to think I must be being funny or provocative, but it is actually quite a serious work, with many a ponderous formulation. I’m interested in how our minds can be manipulated–by other people, the media, governments, whole disciplines. Perhaps one’s main intellectual responsibility is to ensure that one’s mind has not been fucked by outside forces intent on manipulation and control.

Gloom

I just wrote a review of Against Happiness by Eric G. Wilson for the Wall Street Journal. It’s an interesting and provocative book, arguing that American culture is far too obsessed with happiness and not respectful enough of misery. The author admits to his melancholic tendencies, but celebrates them, rather than lamenting them. The general point is that gloom produces insight, creativity and depth, while happiness is bland and static. It raises the question in my mind of whether utilitarianism might have neglected the fact that melancholy can sometimes be a good thing–both instrumentally and intrinsically. Instrumentally, because it can lead to wisdom, creativity etc; but also intrinsically, in that a certain sort of melancholy might be good in itself.

A reader of this blog offered today to send me a copy of “From Mirror Neurons to Moral Neuropolitics“, a paper discussing some of the latest findings on the topic of empathy.

I’m quite eager to read it. Empathy ( from the Greek εμπάθεια, “to make suffer”) has always been a bit of a mystery to those who see life as simply a matter of genetic survival. Love and empathy often cause us to act in ways contrary to the imperative to pass along our genes. Humans will put their own survival at risk because of empathic feelings or thoughts. In this context, empathy could be seen as detrimental to evolution. Yet it is generally acknowledged as one of our most noble motivations. I’ll be posting portions of the paper, if permitted, for those of you who share my fascination with this quizzical ability we have to recognize, perceive and experientially feel the emotion of another without actually sharing those feelings or emotions.

A lot of people think that way.  How many “Urgent: Virus Alert” emails have you received from well-meaning relatives and friends that warn how clicking on a certain link will clean out your address book or erase your hard drive?  Similar emails make the rounds every year.  None have been fact-checked.  Yet many of them have caused people to damaged their computers or worry unnecessarily.

Of course not all are that serious.  In fact some are quite humorous.  The only thing about them that’s misleading is the attribution.  Yet even an innocent joke can cause hard feelings between people.  Here’s an example of a comical email that’s been passed around a lot:

To the citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy). Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Colony, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary.

2. Then look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

3. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘favour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up ‘vocabulary’).

4. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell- checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

5. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

6. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you’re not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you’re not grown up enough to handle a gun. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $10 per US gallon. Get used to it.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth - see what it did for them.

12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie McDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one’s ears removed with a cheese grater.

13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don’t try Rugby – the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.

14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.

16. An official from Her Majesty’s Inland Revenue (i.e. tax collector) will be with you shortly to ensure the collection of all monies due (backdated to 1776). Until these are paid, there will be no representative government in the USA, in line with the policy: “No representation without taxation.”

17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups and saucers (never mugs), and with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

18. Some tea has gone missing, and we expect it back. We’ll be searching Boston first.

God save the Queen. She should be saved, and only He can.

John Cleese

A quick search of Snopes reveales the truth about this letter.  It has a long internet history, it was written about eight years ago.  You can further investigate Snopes’ claims by checking their references.  (You’ll also find some comical rebuttals on that page.)  Another source of information on urban legends is ScamBusters.org.

Remember, just because it appears on the internet doesn’t mean the information is valid.  Think, and investigate claims, for yourself.

(Did you at least click on that link to see if I was accurate, or did you just take my word for it?)

If you’re a student facing the sometimes daunting task of writing a term paper or essay, write it yourself. No matter how much you may be tempted to copy and paste an essay from an online source, your own writing will reflect your own attitudes and personality.

In addition, you won’t be wasting twelve bucks to purchase drivel like the following, sure to earn you an “F” from any qualified English teacher. I’m not addressing the content but the form. It’s terrible.

Happiness & Homosexuality Free Essay, Term Paper and Book Report

In your whole life, maybe you will bring into contact with some people, whose work, whose appearance is almost same as other folks, but they also have a different life. They are a little crowd in this society. They conduct their life in a weird way which in other people’s eyes. Too many sufferings and lacerations from pressures of their families, the society and the traditional moralities are born on them. They ever lost themselves; ever walked back and forth without knowing where to go. However, they even thirst for getting happiness than anybody. Homosexuality, it stills a sensitive topic in the society up to now. Social opinions for the homosex, generally, it seems Aids; seems corruptness; seems anomalism and something bad else. Whereas some people advocate justice and admitting to homosex, I never gainsay those opening kind people were busy for this little crowd, but in fact, most of people still consider that homosexuality is a sick of psychology, is morbidity. During the semicentury, some relational researches already proved it is wrong, but they just the same can not accep……

Word Count: 600
Page Count: 2.4 (250 words a page / double spaced)

I’m not sure what’s worse; the poorly constructed sentences, the misspelled words or the made-up words. Perhaps the most ironic facet of this garbage, this was found on a site that bills itself as Free Eassays while charging money for the content.

	View Essay Instantly:
	View Essay Free:	To view the entire free essay of Happiness & Homosexuality, you must donate an original essay of your own to our web site so that we can grow our collection of free essays, book reports and term papers.

In other words, pay us or submit your own waste of 600 words in order to access this crap for free. If you’re going to spend time writing an essay simply to get another for free, why not compose your own and submit that to your class?

A cosmetics line that extolled the virtues of “Lookin’ Good for Jesus” has been pulled from stores in Singapore after a number of complaints from shoppers, according to media reports Tuesday.

Promising to “Redeem your reputation and more,” the product line included a “virtuous vanilla”-flavored lip balm and a “Get Tight with Christ” hand and body cream, The Straits Times said.

Wing Tai Retail, which manages the British retailer Topshop, removed the line late last month after receiving complaints.

“These products trivialize Jesus Christ and Christianity,” it quoted Nick Chui, 27, one of the complainants, as saying. “There are also sexual innuendoes in the messages and the way Jesus is portrayed in these products.”

One product has packaging with the image of Jesus wearing a bright white robe as he looks toward the heavens, while a heavily made-up blonde woman with an arm draped across his shoulder gazes dreamily at his face.

“Why would anyone use religious figures to promote vanity products? It’s very disrespectful and distasteful,” the report quoted 24-year-old accountant Grace Ong as saying.  (Source)

What accounts for the recent increase in incidents of religious whining about respect?  Muslims get offended by cartoons while Christians take offense at a line of tacky cosmetics.

Read the Koran or Bible and highlight all the humorous passages, all the scriptures that indicate the gods or their followers have a sense of humor or even a healthy self-image.  You’ll be reading a lot and highlighting nothing.  Believers may have the light of fanaticism in their eyes but you’ll be hard pressed to find one with a twinkle of wit.  Considering how comical religious beliefs are, it’s too bad the religious lack the ability to appreciate that.

Will this post get me banned as well? We’ll see.

The Secular Student Alliance issued this press release:

Myspace Deletes Largest Atheist Group in the World.

Cleveland, OH.— Social networking cite, Myspace.com, panders to religious intolerants by deleting atheist users, groups and content.

Early this month, Myspace again deleted the “Atheist and Agnostic Group (35,000 members). This deletion, due largely to complaints from people who find atheism offensive, marks the second time Myspace has cancelled the group since November 2007.

What’s unique in this case is that the Atheist and Agnostic Group was the largest collection of organized atheists in the world. The group had its own Wikipedia entry, and in April won the Excellence in Humanist Communication Award (2007) from the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University and The Secular Student Alliance.

“Myspace refuses to undelete the group, although it never violated any terms of service,” said Bryan Pesta, Ph.D., the group’s moderator. “When the largest Christian group was hacked, Myspace’s Founder, Tom Anderson, personally restored the group, and promised to protect it from future deletions.”

“It is an outrage if Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and the world’s largest social networking site tolerate discrimination against atheists and agnostics– and if this situation goes unresolved I’ll have little choice but to believe they do,” said Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplain of Harvard University. News Corporation, Murdoch’s global media corporation which also includes Fox News, purchased MySpace in 2005.

“My personal profile was deleted as well, and despite weeks of emails to customer service, plus a petition signed by 500 group members, Myspace won’t budge. I think these actions send a clear message to the 30 million godless people in America (and to businesses whose money was spent displaying ads on our group) that we are not welcome on Myspace,” said Pesta.

For a Wikipedia article on the now defunct atheist and agnostic group, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist_and_Agnostic_Group.

Check it out for yourself. Go to groups and search for “atheist”. Note the several pages of results that all refer to the Atheist and Agnostic group. Click on any of those links. They all lead to unrelated sites. Deception on a grand scale. It almost seems to be more work than was required.

So is this being done by MySpace or to MySpace? Either way it’s a sad comment on the state of this online community.
Thanks to Psychodiva for the head’s up.