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AOL Blog: Dinesh D'Souza Reports Atheist Bashing Week

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Synnical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Apr-28-08 09:56 PM
Original message
AOL Blog: Dinesh D'Souza Reports Atheist Bashing Week
From his xian perspective, of course. The title of the article caught my eye because it's always "Atheist Bashing Week", somewhere. And here I was thinking that meant the author understood how atheist bashing is common. I'm so naive. :9

Snippets:
. . .



We've all heard of Black History Month, but have you heard about Atheist Bashing Week? It was Atheist Bashing Week for me as I did three debates over the past seven days with a new crop of leading atheists.
. . .

Sinnott-Armstrong distanced himself from what he portrayed as the crude atheism of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. Against this village atheism, well represented among atheists who comment on this blog, Sinnott-Armstrong offered a more dignified atheism that he said recognizes the accomplishments of Christianity. In one revealing moment he event said schools and colleges should teach students that the crimes of Christianity, like the Inquisition and the Salem witch trials, pale before the crimes of atheist regimes like those of Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot. Overall this was an elevated debate, one of the more high-toned ones I've participated in.

. . .

Then on Tuesday April 22 I debated Dan Barker of the Freedom from Religion Foundation at Harvard. Here the audience was smaller,
. . .


Finally on Friday April 25 I debated the controversial Princeton philosopher Peter Singer at Biola University.
. . .


I went first and focused on Singer's extreme views, such as his proposal that parents be allowed to kill their children up to the age of 28 days. Singer also thinks America and the West can learn from non-Western societies, not to mention ancient Greece and Rome, where children were routinely killed at much higher ages. Oddly enough this champion of infanticide and euthanasia also favors animal rights!

. . .


http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2008/04/27/atheist-bashing-week/

:boring: :rofl: :puke:

-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale - the comments are telling - A Christian nation are, we?
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Jim__ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-29-08 06:12 AM
Response to Original message
1. A note on what D'Souza says about Singer.
Edited on Tue Apr-29-08 06:22 AM by Jim__
D'Souza claims:

I went first and focused on Singer's extreme views, such as his proposal that parents be allowed to kill their children up to the age of 28 days. Singer also thinks America and the West can learn from non-Western societies, not to mention ancient Greece and Rome, where children were routinely killed at much higher ages. Oddly enough this champion of infanticide and euthanasia also favors animal rights!


I was surprised to read that. My recollection of Singer's philosophy was different. I did a quick check this morning, and it looks like Singer is actually talking about euthanasia. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that D'Souza left out mention that this was euthanasia.
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Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-29-08 10:22 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. D'Souza reads what he wants to read and hypes it up
so that it bears no resemblance to what any author actually wrote.

The poor sap is obviously terrified not to believe all the crap he's spouting. Nothing else but doubt could possibly make him this defensive.

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Commie Pinko Dirtbag Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-29-08 10:29 AM
Response to Original message
3. How cute. He found an Alan Colmes for himself. -nt
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trotsky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-29-08 11:06 AM
Response to Original message
4. Jesus must love boastful liars. n/t
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moggie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-29-08 12:05 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Ya think?
A guy who went around claiming to be a god?
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onager Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-29-08 11:33 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Hey, no fair!
You're not supposed to notice that part. Jesus was a modest, compassionate liberal mostly interested in social causes. The kind of guy you'd want to sit down with and have a flagon of wine, after he converted your water, at least.

Those scriptures where he comes across like every other egotistical, tyrannical religious blowhard in the history of the world must be the results of bad translations.

Or--I almost forgot--maybe he was just speaking metaphorically.

The R/T Xians are always urging us to read Josephus, or at least one highly suspicious fragment of Josephus. I have to wonder why, unless they've only read the Testimonium Flavinium. Josephus also contains an account of a Messiah who had many followers and used them to kick off an open, religious-based revolt against the Romans.

Unfortunately, he was a Samaritan Messiah. They worshipped an Off-Brand Deity, not JHVH, and so were always fighting with the Jews. According to Josephus, Pontius Pilate sent in the anti-insurgency forces and stopped the revolt cold, massacring many of the revolutionaries right at the base of their Holy Mountain.

But reading that just reinforced my own goofy idea that the whole Jesus story was cobbled together from bits and pieces about other Messiahs in the neighborhood, circa the year 30-something CE.
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progressoid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-30-08 10:45 PM
Response to Original message
7. I'm not a violent person but...
I don't know if I'd be able to keep my cool with him. D'Souza really rubs me the wrong way. :nuke:
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Rob H. Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 10:41 AM
Response to Original message
8. I love how PZ Myers describes him:
"The man with two "duh"s in his name" and "a magnet of wrong." :rofl:
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and-justice-for-all Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 07:44 PM
Response to Reply #8
10. PZ rocks! He would so kick the shit out of DuhDuh..nt
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and-justice-for-all Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu May-01-08 07:43 PM
Response to Original message
9. I do not see any reason to debate people...
that have no hard evidence for their claims.

As far as I am concerned; Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and Dennett would mope the floor with D'Souza. Which I think he has had his ass handed to him on several occasions.
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