Count me out

This is a great website dedicated to teaching how to leave the catholic church.
Check it out at http://www.countmeout.ie/
I'll be updated the progress of my own "Declaration of Defection".
Just because we call ourselves atheists, the church are still counting you as one of their number.

Get Well Soon

One of the stormtroopers of atheism, indeed one of the four horsemen of atheism, Christopher Hitchens is undergoing treatment for cancer of the oesophagus. We wish you well Hitch.
Zero Albedo
Aug 2010

Are we that lazy?

Ask 10 people to name the Iclandic volcano that's disrupting aviation across Europe and you'll be lucky to find one person that says Eyjafjallajokull. Are people refusing to learn how to pronounce it?
It is tough but it's not that tough. eye-a-fall-a-yokel? It's harder than Krakatoa but it's probably the most famous volcano in the world right now but no-one dare speak it's name.
Zero Albedo
18 May 2010

Still too young

It's confirmation season at this time of year in Ireland, where the baptised members of the catholic sect are "confirmed". I still don't know what it actually means as Catholics believe you are a full member at baptism. For believers it strengthens the bond between the child and the church.
The recipients are normally 12 or 13 years of age.
If I was in charge, no church would be allowed to "claim" a member unless that person was at least 21.
Let them try to convince a grown adult of the mumbo jumbo of transubstantiation, ascension, resurrection and all the other magic tricks enjoyed by the believers.

Zero Albedo Tweets

I've decided to embrace this new media and open a Zero Albedo Twitter account. I'm not sure if the blog is to promote the twitter or the twitter is to promote the blog. But here goes.
Check it out at ZeroAlbedo.
I'll use it to promote the posts here and I've already found and followed Ben Goldacre, Richard Wiseman, Richard Dawkins etc. It looks pretty easy...

Zero Albedo
26 Feb 2010

Where less is more

It's being reported the Irish media that a parish in Galway are offering a "quickie mass". By ditching all but the essentials, the congretation are in and out in 15 minutes. Apparantly attendance has increased tenfold.
Now why am I reminded of Richard Dawkins take on atheism? He asks the christian believer if they believe in Thor. Answer is no. Zeus? No. Egyptian god Ra? No. He then explains that the christian is a Thor atheist, a Zeus atheist and a Ra atheist, while he, Dawkins, just goes one god further.
If the believers of Galway really like their churchgoing short and sweet, why not just reduce it by 15 more minutes?

Zero Albedo
25 Feb 2010

Examiner far from sceptical

Yesterday was the anniversary of the first reported “moving statue” in Ireland. This occurred in Asdee, Co. Kerry in 1985 and so began a summer of vibrating Marys up and down the country.

The Irish Examiner chose to mark the occasion with a piece by journalist Conor Keane who described his involvement in reporting on the phenomenon at the time as well as his recent visit to the village.

While he describes his initial reaction as sceptical and explains that the locals are reluctant to discuss the moving statues themselves, he doesn’t take the opportunity to explain to the reader the most probable reason for the mass visions. i.e. eidetic imagery. He didn’t explain that most of the visions of movement came at twilight, after the viewer had been staring at the same spot for a long period. He didn’t explain that this was all an optical illusion.

In a time when thousands gather at Knock, and stare at the sun looking for predicted magic phenomena, permanently damaging their retina in the process, wouldn’t it be more journalistically valid to explain to the readership what actually happened in 1985 ( i.e. the facts), rather than wallow in some nostalgia for a simpler time?

Zero Albedo
16 Feb 2010