NOTE: Freethought
and tolerance obviously prohibit these from being "commandments"!
Just consider them "suggestions".
1. Thou SHALT NOT
believe all thou art told.
2. Thou SHALT seek knowledge and truth constantly.
3. Thou SHALT educate thy fellow man in the Laws of Science.
4. Thou SHALT NOT forget the atrocities committed in the name
of god.
5. Thou SHALT leave valuable contributions for future generations.
6. Thou SHALT live in peace with thy fellow man.
7. Thou SHALT live this one life thou hast to its fullest.
8. Thou SHALT follow a Personal Code of Ethics.
9. Thou SHALT maintain a strict separation between Church and
State.
10. Thou SHALT support those who follow these commandments.
Welcome
to Rational Atheist. Our forum will be up very soon! The programming
is being completed by WheresJames.com.
The company has a plethora of free software available to the public.
Stop
by the News Section for a collection
of current and past issues in the news concerning atheism, science
and rational views. There are also articles listed with opposing
viewpoints.
In a week or so, the trumpets will
sound, heralding the start of 18 months of non-stop festivities
in honor of Charles Darwin. July 1, 2008, is the 150th anniversary
of the first announcement of his discovery of natural selection,
the main driving force of evolution. Since 2009 is the 200th anniversary
of Darwin’s birth (Feb. 12), as well as being the 150th anniversary
of the publication of his masterpiece, “On the Origin of Species”
(Nov. 24), the extravaganza is set to continue until the end of
next year. Get ready for Darwin hats, t-shirts, action figures,
naturally selected fireworks and evolving chocolates. Oh, and lots
of books and speeches.
But hold on. Does he deserve all
this? He wasn’t, after all, the first person to suggest that
evolution happens. For example, his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin,
speculated about it towards the end of the 18th century; at the
beginning of the 19th, the great French naturalist Jean-Baptiste
Lamarck made a strong case for it. Lamarck, however, failed to be
generally persuasive because he didn’t have a plausible mechanism
— he could see that evolution takes place, but he didn’t
know how. That had to wait until the discovery of natural selection.
Natural selection is what we normally
think of as Darwin’s big idea. Yet he wasn’t the first
to discover that, either. At least two others — a doctor called
William Wells, and a writer called Patrick Matthew — discovered
it years before Darwin did. Wells described it (admittedly briefly)
in 1818, when Darwin was just 9; Matthew did so in 1831, the year
that Darwin set off on board HMS Beagle for what became a five-year
voyage around the world.
We
have some really great links in our Links
Section. If we forgot to include a link to your atheist, humanist,
secular, or freethought site, drop
us a line and let us know. We will be sure to check it out.
Our
favorite link right now is ScienceDebate2008.
Be sure to check it out!
We're
currently featuring the NOVA
presentation JUDGEMENT DAY: Intelligent Design on Trial. If
you have ever found the "controversy" of evolution vs.
intelligent design interesting, you'll love this production, it
is a highly recommended watch.
Check
out our Biographies section.
Eventually there will be hundreds of individuals listed here.
This section features people who have been brave enough to disbelieve
– sometimes just the smallest amount. They are atheists,
agnostics, freethinkers, rationalists and secularlists.
We
are currently featuring the Biographical page of Cillian
Murphy. He once said, “I was agnostic before this film.
Now I'm very much an atheist. Not just because I spent time with
these guys–they just confirmed what I'd always suspected.
For me, the film ultimately is a battle between science and religion,
or science instead of fundamentalism.”
You
can find our pictorial map of disbelievers with clickable links
right here.
“The world, we are told, was created by a God who
is both good, and omnipotent. Before He created the world, He foresaw
all the pain and misery that it would contain; He is therefore responsible
for all of it. It is useless to argue that the pain in the world
is due to sin. In the first place, this is not true; it is not sin
that causes rivers to overflow their banks or volcanoes to erupt.
But even if it were true, it would make no difference. If I were
going to beget a child knowing that the child was going to be a
homicidal maniac, I should be responsible for his crimes. If God
knew in advance the sins of which man would be guilty, He was clearly
responsible for all the consequences of those sins when He decided
to create man.”
COMING
SOON!!!
An A–Z dictionary and list of the Creation Myths. Most of
us are familiar with the Hebrew myth of creation, but what about
the creation myths of Japan, Sumeria, or Assyria? What about the
creation myths based on a female as a creator? Find out all about
the myths of creation here.
Also,
be sure to check out the works of Rachel Ryan, the artist who made
the beautiful fabric montage of a creation myth you see to the left.
Brian
will be working on our Creation Myth section. Our FIRST PAGE ON
CREATION MYTHS is here! Check out our information about the Japanese
Creation Myth. We also have a page on the Sumerian
Creation Myths.
"Do
not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious
books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your
teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have
been handed down for many generations. But after observation and
analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and in
conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it
and live up to it."
Read
a good book lately? Submit your review to Star@rationalatheist.com.
Want to see what others have said about a specific book? Read up
on some books in our Book Section.
We feature authors such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. Find
plenty of new books, and a few golden oldies.
COMING
SOON!!!
Ethical Atheists: sick
of being labeled as EVIL? This part of the site will be dedicated
to all the good deeds done by atheists, secularlists, agnostics,
secular humanists and the like. We don't need a god to be ethical.
Have some ideas or want to suggest an article or link?
Email Us
ETHICAL
ATHEISTS
Consider
this quote from Richard Dawkins
from The
God Delusion: “If there is no God, why be good? Posed
like that, the question sounds positively ignoble. When a religious
person puts it to me in this way (and many of them do), my immediate
temptation is to issue the following challenge: ‘Do you really
mean to tell me the only reason you try to be good is to gain God's
approval and reward, or to avoid his disapproval and punishment?
That's not morality, that's just sucking up, applepolishing, looking
over your shoulder at the great surveillance camera in the sky,
or the still small wiretap inside your head, monitoring your every
move, even you every base thought.’”(Chapter 6, p. 226)
Click
here to see a thank you page
to several supporters of the site. Did we forget you? PLEASE
let us know and accept our apologies. We will be sure to rectify
the situation. Please be aware that this is a work in progress. There
are a lot of things on our list so if we haven't included you here
yet it's not because we haven't thought of you and appreciate what
you do for us. Thank you so much.
Visit
Our NEW STORE!!
Choose from several witty Atheist designs on tees and bumper stickers.
Feel free to send us any ideas and requests. Look for more coming
soon!
Sick
of hearing about all the persecution against the Christians? So
are we. Here you will find detailed accounts of instances when it
is not the Christian being persecuted but the Christian doing the
persecuting. Atheists are being persecuted in America. Don't think
anyone is being killed or tortured in the name of religion these
days? Take
a look around, it's not hard to find an example.
It
won't take long for this page to grow. Have an example? Personal
account or article? Submit
it here.
Christians...click
here.
If you are a Christian, you are about to begin a fascinating journey.
In the next ten minutes it will become clear to you that your belief
in God is delusional. The goal of this short video is to help you
look in a mirror and understand the delusion of Christianity. Once
you can see what is going on, the hope is that you will be able
to start healing your delusion. With each healing, we make our world
a better place.
If
you are an intelligent, well-educated Christian, click here.
If you are an educated Christian, I would like to talk with you
today about an important and interesting question. Have you ever
thought about using your college education to think about your faith?
Your life and your career demand that you behave and act rationally.
Let's apply your critical thinking skills as we discuss 10 simple
questions about your religion.
FEATURED
LINK...HILARIOUS!!!Mr.
Deity. Check it out! There are four videos – in the first
video Mr. Deity creates the universe and then goes over the
"The List" to decide on what evil to allow in the world.
In the second
video, Mr. Deity discusses a big favor with Jesse...ugh, Jesus.
In the third
video, Mr. Deity works out the lighting on Earth and in the
fourth video,
Mr. Deity explains prayer.
Welcome
to the team!
We have a couple recent additions to the team here at RationalAtheist.com.
We would like to welcome TPO
and Forcarl.
TPO
is helping us track down the latest in news, and also with some
various behind-the-scenes work. We could tell you what it is, but
then we'd have to...turn you over to the religious folks. Forcarl
is helping us out on the Biographies of Disbelief section of the
site. We can't thank you enough! Thank you so much for your constant
fight and dedication to the cause of bringing rational atheism to
the world.
Web submissions are always open for book
reviews or articles. Please
send your submissions to Star@rationalatheist.com.
Also, if we haven't listed your site in the links
section, feel free to send us an email and we will review your
site for submission.
If
you wish to email us, please be aware that whatever you send may
be used at our discretion for Web site publication, including any
remarks you use in the email. We will however, not publish anything
that you specifically ask us not to.
LOOK
FOR PERSONAL PAGES SOON!!!
You have probably already seen our Biographies
of Disbelief section – soon there will be a section for
YOUR biographies. Look for more information in February - you'll find
an upload form to list all your pertinent information for your personal
page. Your favorite links, quotes, movies, music, books and more.
COMING
SOON!!!
Encyclopedia of Gods. Over 2,000 Gods will be listed with brief
descriptions on each.Want to know what Gods we DON'T believe in??
You'll find them all here.
For
now, check out this link: Godchecker.com.
They currently feature over 2,850 deities. You will also find
an immense selection of articles of interest at the Encyclopedia
Mythica.
Forum
Our Forum is not available yet, but will be soon! The programming
for the forum will be completed by WheresJames.com,
they have a plethora of free software available to the public. Be
sure to check them out.