Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Think Inc conference in Melbourne Australia, the inaugural event, and one that showed much promise with a line-up of speakers which included Professor Tim Flannery, YouTube sensation Christina Rad, activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali (appearing via Skype), poet Shane Koyczan, Professor Neil Degrasse Tyseon, Professor Michael Shermer and political commentator Christopher Hitchens (also intended to appear via Skype).

Unfortunately Christopher Hitchens…

Continue

This "From the Mailbox" is a little different than what I usually receive, as you'll soon see. I won't use any names, except my own, and the spelling and grammar comes directly from the messages received. There were three in total, staring with this rather innocent and short one:

"Hi Martin Did anyone ever tell you that Jesus loves YOU!"

At first I thought this was a joke from one of my atheist readers, as sometimes we all get a little… Continue

from Martin Pribble (March 19 2011)



A strange optimism has overcome me today. With all the disasters and unrest around the world right now, you might call me crazy, but hear me out and you may agree with me.



We tend to be a very self-centred and self-interested lot, us humans, and we will always try to look after our own immediate family and community, forsaking the rest of the world in favour of our own…

Continue

from Martin S Pribble blog



I have too many things floating around my head right now to make a real point with this blog entry, so bear with me while I go on a cathartic rant.



I have recently seen a lot of criticisms about the "New Atheist Movement" saying it's disruptive and threatens to destroy society and all it holds dear. Some even say it will cause the end of the world. Most of the criticism is aimed at the so-called… Continue

from Atheist Climber Blog



It's October, which can only mean one thing; Outreach Media have a new billboard! They seem to have hit a few nails on the head this time.















Not everything that religion touts is harmful, in fact there are some… Continue

from Atheist Climber blog Atheist Climber Blog is turning One year old on October 10! Yay! And I remember like yesterday thinking "Do I have anything to write about? Will anyone care? Will anyone read it?" I just wish I had taken more baby photos!



Well you have all spoken to me by visiting and commenting on my blog. My measure of… Continue

Believers in god often ask "Where do morals come from?" They expect the answer to be "from God", mostly because they can't imagine that something so much at the heart of human interaction can have risen naturally.



Well the answer is reasonably simple, but long. So let me see if I can be as brief as possible with this.



As I… Continue

from Atheist Climber blog

Well the fact is it does affect me. In fact it affects everyone.



While religious fervour is not as bad in Australia as it is in many countries around the world, the trappings of religions are present in our… Continue

From Atheist Climber Blog



Mohammed, the prophet of the Islamic world, married his last bride Aisha when she was just six years old, and the consummated the marriage with her when she was just nine years old. In Islamic states, partly because of this precedent, this practice still happens in fundamentalist countries like Afghanistan. Muslims will say that a child of six… Continue

I published this piece at my blog and thought you all might appreciate it.



As you may know, my universe has no room for the possibility of a god. And in general I don't care what other people think and believe as long as their suppositions and practices don't affect me in any way. You can believe in fairies and unicorns and believe you have to bay at the moon 2 times a night to stop from… Continue

As a person who discusses his beliefs mostly with the like-minded, I find it difficult to speak to someone with a very different viewpoint to my own in relation to religion, science, the paranormal and the metaphysical. I generally won't stand by and let what I perceive as foolishness escape challenged, because I think misinformation is… Continue

We know nothing.



The collective knowledge of all the people on earth that have ever lived is but a drop in the ocean of all possible knowledge in the universe. (1) And the amount of knowledge any one person has is… Continue

Continue

There has been a lot of writing about the “Global Atheist Convention – The Rise Of Atheism” since its completion on Sunday afternoon, so most things that can be said have already been said. There were some good reports in the…

Continue

Our universe is a place of massive physical forces, and given the microscopic size of humanity in the scale of it all, it’s not surprising that we get caught up in the midst of these forces. And when we do, lives and infrastructure are lost on a relatively massive scale.



In 2004, the Indian Ocean Tsunami, caused by a massive earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra, causing massive devastation of homes and communities, and taking more than 230,000 lives in Indonesia, Sri Lanka,… Continue

From Atheist Climber blog



Logic. Reason. Rationality.



These are the 3 tools I use on a daily basis to make sense of the world. Without these tools, the world decays into a mess of suppositions and superstitions.



This means that whenever I look at the world, I have a lifetime's worth of knowledge by which I can make assessments on what is… Continue

“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” - Frank Lloyd Wright



Every year at around this time I feel the need to reflect on the year passed, and be thankful. While this may be trite, I do see the end of years celebrations as an important time, a time for reflection. We all feel it to some degree.



Why is it that we feel the need to reflect and be thankful? It's a weird sensation, because I don't have a God to thank for my existence. I don't believe in a… Continue