‘You don’t know what they do to you when they know you can’t walk.’

I’ve been damned by some as an unbeliever, an anti-christ. It pleases me, therefore, and reinforces my self esteem, to know that to others I’m the cool atheist across the street.
My youngest daughter calls me daddy and my mother insists that I was brought up a good catholic kid and on the right track.
So I [...]

The Miracle of Prayer or The Illusion of The Milkjug?

God told me…

…that I’ve been neglecting my blog of late, so, to keep him happy, here’s a little snatch of a rather one-sided conversation about music I had with Jon Hilltown the other day:
‘I love it. Late at night I think about it. I slip a disc in it and I turn it on: it’s a darkness like [...]

Psst — you wanna buy some dirty scriptures?

Here’s an interesting question: isn’t religion a bit like pornography?
P.Z. Myers has ten good reasons for answering that question in the affirmative:
it has been practiced for all of human history in all cultures;
it exploits perfectly natural, even commendable, impulses;
its virtues are debatable, its proponents fanatical;
people love it but can’t give a rational reason for it;
it [...]

‘Do it in the name of God’ (video)

In the name of the father? This is War. In the name of the son? This is murder. In the name of the Holy Ghost? This is iniquity. In the name of democracy? This is a lie.
They have created a wasteland in our name and called it Democracy. Dare we look on their our victims?
“Iniquity, committed [...]

Death by schism

There’s a guy on the penthouse balcony of a high-rise about to kill himself. A negotiator with a loud hailer is trying to convince him he shouldn’t jump:
“Stop, stop, don’t do it.”
The guy looks down and asks:
“Why not?”
“Well… there’s so much to live for.”
“What’s that then? My kids are on crack and my wife just [...]

Xmas day in the morning

So, I’m talking to God. I’ve been working all night on this serial-killer story and I start drinking black vodka at 10am. 
“Forgive me Father for I have sinned,” I tell him.
God shuffles his feet, adjusts his blanket, butters another slice of toast and replies in a perfectly reasonable tone:
“Tell me, son, without shame.” 
Well, of course, [...]

Prayers from Hell

The separation of Church and State has been a fundamental principle of government since the Enlightenment. Why are we going backwards?
My regular readers will be aware of my views concerning religion; for the rest I’ll sum up: you believe what you wish, worship as you will but don’t use your God to influence my life. [...]

Limbo: Pope abolishes first circle of Hell

It’s official: as of today, “limbus infantium” is no more, having been formally abolished by the Catholic Church.
The concept, based upon the theological belief that children who die before being baptised are suspended in a space between heaven and hell, was developed in the 13th Century in response to the harshness of earlier Church teachings, [...]

A belated piece on that Pope thing

The other day I’m having a drink with a friend and she starts on about the Pope thing and I tell her: “Yeah, I read the speech but I didn’t write anything about it.”
Actually, I read it very closely with a view to doing just that but, as an atheist, concluded that there was really nothing to [...]