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A Christmas Project

Entry 645, on 2007-11-21 at 20:01:14 (Rating 3, Religion)

On another blog I have had a brief discussion concerning by blog entry of two days ago titled "Ridicule". In it I described a visit from a Jehovah's Witness and how they left two of their magazines with me. The outcome of the discussion was that it would be nice to have an atheistic, scientific and skeptical magazine to give them the next time they visited.

On a seemingly unrelated matter I have realised that my print production skills have become somewhat atrophied over the last few years. I recently had to work on a project using In Design and I realised I barely knew how to use it. Of course, I have sufficient skills that I can learn to use almost any program fairly quickly, but it gave me the idea that I should create an atheism magazine using In Design that I could give to religious visitors and make available for use by others on the Internet.

There would be a reasonable amount of work in it, and it would take a substantial amount of time, but I thought why not do it over Christmas. It would be so ironic to use a religious holiday to produce some anti-religious material. Of course, I would like to note here that Christmas isn't really a religious holiday (at least not a Christian one) because it was "stolen" by the Christians and was originally a celebration of mid winter.

I would probably organise it like an FAQ and the types of topics I might cover would include: what is atheism, why be an atheist, is atheism a religion, why do we reject god, what is science, how do we know science works, what is evolution, how do we know evolution is true, what is the Big Bang, how do we know the Big Bang is true, where does morality come from, even if its not true isn't religion still useful, etc.

If you are reading this blog and have any ideas of topics I should include, or would like to contribute anything, please email me. Please give a source for all material you use because I would like this document to be fairly scientifically rigorous.

Comment 18 (1249) by SBFL on 2008-03-10 at 03:01:23: (view earlier comments)

Sorry, my link went awry. Should have been: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/02/29/politics/horserace/entry3892932.shtml

Comment 19 (1256) by OJB on 2008-03-10 at 11:46:23:

What a scary freak. That's the religious extremist - the type of person who starts campaigns of persecution and murder given the right circumstances (look at similar people in the Muslim world today).

On the other had all he's doing is calling the Catholic Church "The Great Whore". So what? I don't think anyone would take his opinions seriously. And I'm sure he's got a lot worse to say about atheists and evolutionists! I would welcome his abuse. It means we are doing the right thing!

According to your definition he's a Christian, right? You said: One way to determine what is a Christian is is if someone themselves believes themself to be one.

Comment 20 (1298) by SBFl on 2008-03-21 at 02:23:08:

"I don't think anyone would take his opinions seriously." - apparently John McCain does, and if you think that is not significant then you have "head in sand" syndrome.

"I would welcome his abuse. It means we are doing the right thing!" - point taken. Nice.

"According to your definition he's a Christian, right? - nice attempt at entrapment OJB, like it!! Well no doubt he considers himself a Christian, and ticks the box on his census form. I guess God will be the ultimate judge. Maybe God won't appreciate the comments about His church...? We are all sinners - proletariat and preachers alike!

Comment 21 (1303) by OJB on 2008-03-21 at 10:30:27:

Fair enough. I shouldn't have implied that no one would take them seriously. No doubt other religious freaks do. John McCain probably doesn't - but his support is more likely due to political expediency.

That is something we have in common: raving lunatic fundamentalists criticise atheists and Catholics with equal vehemence! We are on the same team on this one, which is a point you have made in the past: moderate religion and atheists against extreme religion. In fact many atheist activists believe this is a good approach but I think its a bit dishonest.

You see my point that its impossible to define what a Christian actually is?

Comment 22 (1322) by SBFL on 2008-03-21 at 22:56:47:

Heh - marriage of convenience, but for a good cause at least!

Well I have no doubt he considers himself one, which is the definition I am happy to accept. Whether or not he is a good one will be decided later! If there's any ambiguity then I would say we must be careful not to confuse 'Christian' the noun with 'Christian' the adjective.

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