A nice quote:
As evidence of my sincerity, consider that recitation of the Pledge is not mandatory. If we atheists really hated America, we wouldn’t care what the Pledge said, because we wouldn’t say it anyway. On the contrary, Newdow’s lawsuit must betoken a deep and abiding love for his country, because only a real and heartfelt desire to say the Pledge, matched only by a desire to do so sincerely, without compromising one’s ideals, would lead one to go to such effort. Michael Newdow is not an unintelligent man, and must have foreseen the backlash that would occur against him for filing this lawsuit. Why else would he go to the effort? Just to stir up trouble, to be the bomb-throwing provocateur of the religious? That is a strawman of the religious right – such people do not exist.
A debate between Alan Dershowitz and Alan Keyes. Gee, I wonder who won that one? The smart guy or the insane guy? P.Z. picks a great quote out:
In North America today, according to a recent census, there are 27 million people who are not religious and a million and a half avowed atheists. There is no evidence to suggest they are less moral than those who go to synagogue, mosque, and church everyday. Indeed, it is my contention that a truly moral person, who acts morally–not out of fear of damnation or out of promise of reward, but because it’s the right thing–if anything, is more moral. More moral. The atheist or the agnostic who throws himself in front of an oncoming bus to save a child, knowing that there is no eternal promise, that there is nothing but the grave that awaits him, is more moral than Sir Thomas More who made a cost/benefit analysis as to whether or not to face eternal damnation by disobeying the pope or face instantaneous death by disobeying the king.
Stupid quote of the day: “if they’re going to take the Bible and prayer out of schools and let the occult in with total liberty, that is wrong — and it’s a violation of our rights.” She’s talking about Harry Potter being in a school library.
When Cheney says nobody, he obviously means nobody in the circle of blinkered ideologues who drove the Iraq policy of this administration. You see, everybody outside of that group is an apologist for terrorism.
Mr. “I support the candidate running ads attacking the haircut of his opponent” seems to think Democrats don’t have any issues to run on. Of course, the issues he thinks are important are making sure we all know that icky gay people support Tester.
