Atheism Central for Secondary Schools

'Spiritual' feelings are not the sole preserve of theists and are spoken about by many atheists such as Richard Dawkins, writer of 'The Selfish Gene,' who speaks of a sense of awe at the universe around us.

"I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religion then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."

Albert Einstein

"The doctrine that future happiness depends upon belief is monstrous. It is the infamy of infamies. The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance, called "faith." What man, whoever thinks, can believe that blood can appease God? And yet, our entire system of religion is based upon that belief. The Jews pacified Jehovah with the blood of animals, and according to the Christian system, the blood of Jesus softened the heart of God a little, and rendered possible the salvation of a fortunate few. It is hard to conceive how the human mind can give assent to such terrible ideas, or how any sane man can read the Bible and still believe in the doctrine of inspiration."

Robert G. Ingersoll, "The Gods", 1872

The idea that we can, or should, achieve anything by offering up pain to a Creator is surely barabaric.

"Our ignorance is God; what we know is science."

Robert G. Ingersol

"Freethought is respectable. Freethought is crucial. Freethought needs to be publicized."

Dan Barker, 'Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist', 1992

"It is wrong always, everywhere and for everyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."

W. K. Clifford, 'The Ethics of Belief' An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism

A man can have sex with animals such as sheep¹s, cows, camels and so on. However he should kill the animal after he has his orgasm. He should not sell the meat to the people in his own village, however selling the meat to the next door village should be fine.

From Khomeini's book, "Tahrirolvasyleh", fourth volume, Darol Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990

Quote above: just seeing if you're still awake!

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."

Blaise Pascal

"What mean and cruel things men do for the love of God."

W. Somerset Maugham, 'A Writers Notebook '

"... why have those countries with a strong Church-State alliance displayed such an eagerness to enforce religious dogmas and eliminate dissent through the power of the state. Why has Christianity refused, whenever possible, to allow its beliefs to compete in a free marketplace of ideas? The answer is obvious -- and revealing. Christianity is peddling an inferior product, one that cannot withstand critical investigation. Unable to compete favorably with other theories, it has sought to gain a monopoly through a state franchise, which means: through the use of force."

George Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1989), p. 114.

Christian: I'll pray for you. Atheist: Then I'll think for both of us.

"Kill them all. God will easily recognize his own."

Amalric, to Simon de Montfort at the massacre of Beziers

"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God."

Thomas Jefferson, 'Notes on Virginia'

But was Jefferson right? If we live in a world dominated by religious quakery and illusion don't we suffer for it? Atheism Central.

"How anyone can believe in eternal punishment...or in any soul which God has made being "lost", and also believe in the love, nay, even in the justice, of God, is a mystery indeed."

Claude Montefiore, 'Liberal Judaism'

"Burn the libraries, for their value is in this one book (the Koran)."

Omar, 2nd Caliph, at the capture of Alexandria

"I want nothing to do with any religion concerned with keeping the masses satified to live in hunger, filth, and ignorance. I want nothing to do with any order, religious or otherwise, which does not teach people that they are capable of becoming happier and more civilized, on this earth, capable of becoming true man, master of his fate and captain of his soul. To attain this I would put priests to work, also, and turn the temples into schools."

Jawaharlal Nehru, Edgar Snow, 'Journey to the Beginning'

"The spectacle of what is called religion, or at any rate organized religion, In India and elsewhere, has filled us with horror, and I have frequently condemned it and wished to make a clean sweep of it."

Jawaharlal Nehru, Cardiff, 'What Great Men Think of Religion'

"Heretics have been hateful from the beginning of recorded time; they have been ostracized, exiled, tortured, maimed and butchered; but it has generally proved impossible to smother them; and when it has not, the society that has succeeded has always declined."

Learned Hand, Address

"Only he is a truly ethical, a truly human being, who has the courage to see through his own religious feelings and needs."

Ludwig Feuerbach

"Believe nothing, O monks, merely because you have been told it...or because it is traditional, or because you yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings-that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide."

Gautama Buddha

"There are all kinds of devices invented for the protection and preservation of countries: defensive barriers, forts, trenches and the like. All these are the work of human hands aided by money. But prudent minds have as a natural gift one safegaurd which is the common possesion of all, especially to the dealings of democracies with dictatorships. What is this safegaurd? Skepticism. This you must preserve. This you must retain. If you can keep this, you need fear no harm."

Demosthenes, Oration

"Reason is not one tool of thought among many, it is the entire toolbox. To advocate that reason be discarded in some circumstances is to advocate that thinking be discarded- which leaves one in the position of attempting to do a job after throwing away the required instrument."

George Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1989)

"It is not hardness of heart or evil passions that drive certain individuals to atheism, but rather a scrupulous intellectual honesty."... "If you pray for rain long enough, it eventually does fall. If you pray for floodwaters to abate, they eventually do. The same happens in the absence of prayers."

Steve Allen.

These sites appear in no particular order and are intended to reflect a variety of approaches to athesim and agnosticism.

The Philosophy of Atheism by Emma Goldman
http://www2.edu.sollentuna.se/80/nieri_80/goldman4.htm
First published in February 1916 in the Mother Earth journal.
Not too long - well worth reading.

The Atheism Web http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html over 200 informative pages on probably the best atheist resource on the net for academically-inclined readers. Authoritatively produced by Jeffrey Jay Lowder. If anywhere should be called Atheism Central it should really be The Atheism Web.

The Council for Secular Humanism http://www.secularhumanism.org/

Steve Locks - Leaving xtianity
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~slocks/decon.html
Steve thoughtfully outlines his own deconversion - he was 'hoodwinked' by religion when just 6 years old. Excellent links at this premier UK site.
Also see Guest writers on this site.

The British Humanist Association http://www.humanism.org.uk/

Humanist Association of Canada
http://magi.com/~hac/
"The Beaver (Castor Canadensis) symbolises the unrelenting and undaunted desire of Canadians to build the future of their country. Check out how Canadian Humanists are damning the religious tide by nibbling on its historically favoured but often inappropriate respect in their society," says Colin Downie, HAC President

Skeptics Society. www.skeptic.com
SkepticMag Hotline, the internet edition of Skeptic magazine. Join
the distribution list (it's FREE)! join-skeptics@lyris.net

Fredrik Bendz - gives a clear look at many aspects of atheism and belief. Check here to find out if you're an atheist or an agnostic. That is - if you need any help.
http://www.update.uu.se/~fbendz/atheism/

Adrian Barnett - a clear introduction to atheism, a wealth of informative material. Together with Dan Adams' Fearsome atheist webzine (below) this is a major UK atheism site.
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/index.html
Answers the question: Is there anything good about atheism?
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/positive.html
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/links.html Atheism links page - lots here!

Rajan Patel - http://www.nonbeliever.cjb.net - has a Richard Dawkins Interview (United Kingdom TV) Analyzes Pascal's Wager / Einstein / Watchmaker Theory and more. Also some mildly 'scornful' material.

http://www.humanists.net/pdhutcheon
Pat Duffy Hutcheon argued in "Leaving the Cave" that only a scientifically informed society will be able to solve our mounting global problems - environmental degradation, overpopulation, ethnic conflict.
In "Building Character and Culture" she explains the ongoing interaction between nature and nurture, while identifying the devastating consequences of allowing nurture to occur in the absence of sound scientific analysis and proactive intervention, guided by universally applicable values and reliable knowledge.
Sounds heavy but Pat's site is very readable.

My life and thoughts as an atheist. Robert Brotherus, a Finnish biochemist gives a well-written explanation of why he became an atheist. His observations include discussing the probability of the existence of gods and ghosts: "More radical claims need more radical proofs."
http://fkmarilyn.pc.helsinki.fi/roope/articles/my_life_and_atheism.html

Mark Lenahan - a personal web site with an atheist theme http://homepages.iol.ie/~markl/atheism.html good links including to atheist newsgroups.

The Israeli Atheists Society http://atheism.org.il Click on their link to get the site in English. These people manage to be humourous in trying circumstances. Note! This site seems to have gone down but I'm not sure if it's permanent - try it anyway!

Hillel is an association that provides assistance to people who have decided to leave the Jewish orthodox way of life and become integrated in pluralistic society, either religious or secular.
An example: Noam joined the modern world with the help of Hillel, which found him a foster family in a kibbutz where he now lives and works in the barns and dairy.
http://www.hillel.org.il
This is a 'must visit' site.

FREETHOUGHT, ATHEISM, AND EVOLUTION LINKS http://www.california.com/~rpcman/ FREEDOM.HTM

http://www.atheistalliance.org/internet/index.htm
Interesting site with a
page of very good links:

http://netnow.micron.net/~jcooper/Atheist/index.html
Idaho Atheists, Inc.
Bret Blakeslee says "Serving the needs of Idaho Atheists with community, education, ethics, and tradition."

The World-Wide Skeptical Web
http://members.aol.com/skepticweb/index.html 'A unified index of web resources that promote naturalistic approaches to philosophy and science, and are skeptical of supernaturalist claims, whether those claims are made by traditional religionists or modern day paranormalists.'

http://www.no-god.org An intelligent resource from a non-prophet organisation!

Freethought New Zealand http://freethought.org.nz/ Provides links to three authoritative sites: Auckland University Atheists, The Humanist Society of New Zealand and The New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists (Inc.) David Ross, Secretary, says 'We are currently planning a major overhaul of our web site, which will be carried out over the next few months.' It's excellent now so keep watching it get better!

I particularly like the Auckland University Atheists site - it's lively and humourous.

http://www.general.uwa.edu.au/u/acd/atheism.html
Good Australian links page by Aaron Dodd who says of Atheism Central: "You have a lot of good articles and links. Indeed some of the articles brought back memories of sitting in a primary school religious education class and wondering whether anyone actually believed any of it. It's good to know that other people felt the same way." Thank you Aaron!

A site worth looking at for young atheists anywhere. Has a contact list of mainly American and Canadian Atheists of secondary school age. Unfortunately, this site does not seem to be well-maintained.http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2093

http://www.primenet.com/~lippard/atheistcelebs/
The Celebrity Atheist List with some agnostics and other non-theists an offbeat collection of notable individuals who have been public about their lack of belief in deities.

Mike Campbell "Though I am technically an agnostic I am practically an atheist."
http://www.pacificcoast.net/~muck/without.html

The Holy Bible for Adults Only.
http://www.queenjanesversion.com
Douglas A. Rankin's site with excerpts from his straight-talking version of the Bible. Also see Guest writers on this site.

John Dearden
Pre-emptive warning - I am an Australian!! http://student.uq.edu.au/~s320873/ There is no god - we made it all up - you can go about your life now + rockclimbing, orienteering and science.

'The Watch' by the Pagan Tea House group
CHRISTIAN HATE, PROPAGANDA & MISINFORMATION WEB SITES
http://thewatch.paganteahouse.com
Wicaster Lovelace writes about the Religious Right in America in our guest section.
This site can give you an idea of what atheists and others are up against in America.

ISIS the International Society for Islamic Secularization
http://www.secularislam.org
"Someone who does not live in an Islamic society cannot imagine the sanctions, both self-imposed and external, that militate against expressing religious disbelief. ‘I don’t believe in God’ is an impossible public utterance even among family and friends ...So we hold our tongues, those of us who doubt."

Special attention is paid to the plight of women in Islamic societies.

You must visit this site. A contact e-mail is available for support plus links to secular Iranian sites.

THE NON-BELIEVER'S PAGE
http://www.dcd.net/NBP/
Sean O'Dwyer says:
"This website provides information which is intended to be helpful to those interested in agnostic and atheist philosophies. I hope to argue, via these pages, that we are selling humanity and the power of the individual short by investing so heavily in superstition and anachronisms."

http://www.pressenter.com/~mkisling/DISCRIM.HTM
DISCRIMINATION OF THE ATHEIST by Staks. An intelligent and authoritative look at discrimination against atheists from the past to the present.

Hofesh - http://www.hofesh.org.il - Israeli Association for the Prevention of Religious Coercion - a site devoted to fighting religious laws and coercion. As you may know, Israel was founded as a jewish homeland but had, in its declaration of independence, vowed to equality, regardless of religious, gender or race. Unfortunately, certain groups in the Israeli society are constantly trying to undermine these principles, taking advantage of the fact that Israel has no constitution and that there is no separation of church and state. Prof. Dan Mahler of Hofesh writes on Being a Secular Jew in Israel in our guest section.

Has English pages. 'Hofesh' means 'Freedom' in Hebrew.

http://www.skeptics.com.au/ Australian Skeptics "Investigating pseudo-science and the paranormal from a responsible scientific viewpoint." Very high quality articles and presentation make this a superb site. Has unparalleled links pages.

www.csjo.org Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations. They place particular emphasis on the cultural and ethical precepts of Jewish learning and the continuity and survival of the Jewish people according to a tradition of social justice and humanism.

http://www.randi.org/ The James Randi Educational Foundation in Florida battles against misinformation, pseudoscience, and fraud. The Challenge Members of the prestigious "2000 Club" have pledged more than $1,100,000 to anyone who can actually demonstrate something supernatural. The money is in a bank account waiting to be collected.
Students worldwide aged 14 -18 are invited to compete for cash prizes for essays and projects. In a world increasingly assailed by pseudoscience, superstition, and quackery, we need skeptical organizations such as the James Randi Educational Foundation (also see valuable skeptics sites listed above). Now, where did I put that book by Von Danniken?

http://homepages.infoseek.com/~satheism/index.html
SAtheism is the South African Atheism Website, and it has one aim: to advocate atheism, hence personal freedom, in Southern Africa.
Written both in English and Afrikaans, these pages contain scientific support for atheism, close looks at charismatic christianity, an inside report from a charismatic revivalist meeting in South Africa, philosophical ways to refute god(s) with, mind-tickling aphorisms, reflections, the Jesus 'Christ' fallacy, interesting non-theistic links and many more things are yet to come.
From a freethinking point of view, SAtheism will show people that atheism is psychological freedom, in contrary to the psychological bondage caused by growing christian and muslim fanaticism in Southern Africa. Thousands of young, talented minds face psychological corruption if conversions to christianity or islam are not hindered by clear, rationalistic views. SAtheism at attempts to make at least something like a difference. Atheism is the default position when all theistic claims are refuted. So let's work for freedom of thought in Southern Africa! writes Marcel Bas.
http://members.tripod.com/roepstem/index.html - Afrikaans only

http://www.eec.co.za/free/FREE3.HTM
The S. African Freethinkers Movement
John van Zelst says "When South Africa included secularism into it's 1994 constitution , it provided the SA Freethinkers Movement with the incentive to start their own website , something that would have been impossible before that date .

http://www.eec.co.za/saforum
The SA Non-theist Forum
"The website for the SA non-theist Forum , a discussion group for a wide field of people looking away from religion . Participation on a worldwide basis." Also by John van Zelst

http://www.secularism.org.uk.
"As THE leading British pressure group for unbelievers and freethinkers, the National Secular Society fights religious privilege and the survival of superstition. It vigorously campaigns for secularism, freethought, civil liberties and rational ethics. We are especially concerned with abolition of the blasphemy laws, minimising indoctrination in denominational schools and the phasing out of religious education. We also campaign for the end of State aid to churches and church tax privileges. Key examples of remaining religious privilege include the state subsidy of the Church of England and its schools, and the 26 bishops' and archbishops' seats in the House of Lords." Founded in 1866 by Charles Bradlaugh, later a radical liberal MP.

http://members.aol.com/hsscot/index.html

Very clear, very straightforward - a good read. An excellent introduction to humanism. The site gives the impression of an active enthusiatic society.

Bob Seltzer http://www.albany.edu/~rs5651/ A fine essay on the nature of evil - very clear - very cogent.

http://www.hti.net/www/atheism/
Atheist Express - visit!
Atheist History , Atheist Milestones , Atheist Chats, Atheist Links , Atheist Articles, Atheist Cartoons , Church History - clear & informative.

http://www.ibka.org
International League of Non-Religious and Atheists
In both German and English

http://members.tripod.co.uk/davieshuw/index.html
Huw Davies examines the case for removing religious education from the syllabus in the UK and has published a letter on the subject written by me too! The site is still in its infancy - why don't you write in and give your opinion?

http://users.uniserve.com/~tfrisen/welcome.html
"I do not belong to any group, humanist or otherwise. This website is soley my individual view based on experience. (with articles and links to like-minded views) Of existent groups, the closest to my perspective are the Humanists."
An excellent discussion of biblical and Quranic errancy and contradiction - superb links plus much more. A 'must visit' site.

http://www.freespeech.org/kimthinks Kim Walker from down under says "If you find my perspective on things a little strange, then this may be because I am an Australian, and I work from an Australian cultural bias. I also live in the city of Sydney, which is kind of different from the rest of Australia." Kim asks - Where Are You Going to Spend Eternity? See guest article.

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB) A very well-organised quick-reference guide to a large collection of absurd and immoral biblical quotations.

An affirmation of Humanism
on a superb site

The Humanist Assocation of Tulsa say "We are not alone in the universe - we have each other." http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8666/tulsahumanists.html H.A.T. is an officially chartered chapter of The American Humanist Association.

The National Secular Society http://www.secularism.org.uk shares the residence in Red Lion Square, London, of The South Place Ethical Society, whose web site is not fully functional as yet. The NSS was founded by Charles Bradlaugh M.P. in 1866. The General Secretary of the NSS - Keith Porteous Wood - writes a monthly article for Atheism Central and The Freethinker - click here.

http://www.wvinter.net/~haught/ "Welcome to a quest for mental honesty. I'm an old newspaper editor who has spent nearly half a century chronicling social struggles and cultural tides. Personally, I've waged a long crusade for rational, scientific thinking as an antidote for harmful supernaturalism. I've written five books and many magazine articles against religion, astrology, mysticism, psychic claims, cults, "New Agery," fundamentalism, and other magical beliefs." James A. Haught.

Need I say more?

Site links	Atheist links - scornful atheists - calm atheists Scornful atheists tend to be more colourful!
E-mail think@writeme.com Home Page It is often difficult for atheists to resist being scornful about theist beliefs - especially when theists claim to have a superior moral position. "In the Bullshit Department, a businessman can't hold a candle to a clergyman. 'Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims -- religion. No contest! No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do..." George Carlin, American comedian "Religion is all bunk." Thomas Edison "If you want to get together in any exclusive situation and have people love you, fine - but to hang all this desperate sociology on the idea of The Cloud-Guy who has The Big Book, who knows if you've been bad or good- and CARES about any of it- to hang it all on that, folks, is the chimpanzee part of the brain working." Frank Zappa Have more respect for chimpanzees, Frank. Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely; God is all-powerful. Draw your own conclusions "Worm 6:9 Our father who are'nt in heaven, Hollow be thy name. Thy kingdom dead, thy will be read. On earth as if there were a heaven. Give us this day our daily dream and deliver us from reality. For thine is the falsehood, the corruption and the Horror forever. Hy-men" Christian D. Seaver, "The Book of Worm" "Dear God. We paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing." Bart Simpson saying grace	http://www.keith.com/tna/tna.htm
	Dan Adams says: Fearsome atheist webzine keeps you up to date on atheist news from around the world, as well as providing regular fresh satirical articles on religion. Together with Adrian Barnett's site (above) this is a major UK atheism site. http://fearsome.net/current.shtml
	http://www.catalaw.com/detox/ Dov Wisebrod's lively site is certainly worth a visit! Also see Guest writers on this site.
	http://www.avana.net/~jshankar/index.htm Jyoti Shankar writes: I may be a scornful atheist. But I let you be judge of that. Read my Satan's Poems and find out!
	http://www.dot.net.au/~sonnyboy/Skeptical_Skoundrels/index.html Good Australian skeptics site run by Shaun and Dave. Humourous too! Deals with UFOs, the millennium etc
	http://world.std.com/~awolpert/gtr39.html Theory of Consciousness: Consciousness as a dynamic complex system. The author descibes an intense ten-hour religious experience which I am sure would shatter anybody's mind! Includes the System dynamics mathematical model of stage 11, The Dark Night of the Soul - a parody of the writings of the 16th century mystic St. John of the Cross. I sincerely hope this site is the brilliant spoof I suppose it to be. If it is, the man's a genius... if it isn't... Either way we learn a lot about religion.
	http://www.angelfire.com/id/realities/ "Religion: Fact or Fiction? Views from an ex-believer. WARNING: controversial, not to be viewed with a closed mind!" Charlie is Indian564 and has one or two opinions about religion.
	David Cantrell's pages cover a range of topics with a sixties-style 'retro' anarchism. The atheism pages are a good read and include as an extra not only the full text of both the Bible and the Quran but also the Enuma Elish - an Ancient Babylonian creation epic. http://www.ThePentagon.com/NukeEmUp/religion David says: "I am exceedingly scornful of those who choose ignorance ;-)"
	http://www.vocalys.com/funnies/hllphscs.html The Physics of Hell - just what it says!
	http://landoverbaptist.org/ A large Assembly of Powerful, Worthwhile people. I'm not quite sure what The Landover Baptist Church is doing on this list but...it has some excellent links. My advice is...click everywhere!!! Interestingly, this site is not produced by atheists. Special quote Mother Teresa: The 'kindly' little nun's bedside manner was demonstrated during a filmed interview where she told of her attendance to a patient suffering unbearable pain from terminal cancer. Smiling at the camera, she told of her counsel to the patient. "You are suffering like Christ on the cross. So Jesus must be kissing you." She then freely related the response of the sufferer, apparently unaware that it was a put-down. "Then please tell him to stop kissing me," he said. From 'The Missionary Position', by Christopher Hitchens