Showing posts with label atheism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atheism. Show all posts

Monday, April 20, 2009

Take your pick, but be careful

The religious learn about one god and believe it all. A fair percentage admonish those who believe in any other deity. Let's find another way.

Take your pick:
Agdistis or Angdistis
Ah Puch
Ahura Mazda
Alberich
Allah
Amaterasu
An
Anansi
Anat
Andvari
Anshar
Anu
Aphrodite
Apollo
Apsu
Ares
Artemis
Asclepius
Athena
Athirat
Athtart
Atlas
Baal
Ba Xian
Bacchus
Balder
Bast
Bellona
Bergelmir
Bes
Bixia Yuanjin
Bragi
Brahma
Brigit
Camaxtli
Ceres
Ceridwen
Cernunnos
Chac
Chalchiuhtlicue
Charun
Chemosh
Cheng-huang
Cybele
Dagon
Damkina (Dumkina)
Davlin
Dawn
Demeter
Diana
Di Cang
Dionysus
Ea
El
Enki
Enlil
Eos
Epona
Ereskigal
Farbauti
Fenrir
Forseti
Freya
Freyr
Frigg
Gaia
Ganesha
Ganga
Garuda
Gauri
Geb
Geong Si
Hades
Hanuman
Hathor
Hecate (Hekate)
Helios
Heng-o (Chang-o)
Hephaestus
Hera
Hermes
Hestia
Hod
Hoderi
Hoori
Horus
Hotei
Huitzilopochtli
Hsi-Wang-Mu
Hygeia
Inanna
Inti
Iris
Ishtar
Isis
Ixtab
Izanaki
Izanami
Jesus
Juno
Jupiter
Juturna
Kagutsuchi
Kartikeya
Khepri
Ki
Kingu
Kinich Ahau
Kishar
Krishna
Kukulcan
Lakshmi
Liza
Loki
Lugh
Luna
Magna Mater
Maia
Marduk
Mars
Medb
Mercury
Mimir
Minerva
Mithras
Morrigan
Mot
Mummu
Muses
Nammu
Nanna
Nanna (Norse)
Nanse
Neith
Nemesis
Nephthys
Neptune
Nergal
Ninazu
Ninhurzag
Nintu
Ninurta
Njord
Nut
Odin
Ohkuninushi
Ohyamatsumi
Orgelmir
Osiris
Ostara
Pan
Parvati
Phaethon
Phoebe
Phoebus Apollo
Pilumnus
Poseidon
Quetzalcoatl
Rama
Re
Rhea
Sabazius
Sarasvati
Selene
Shiva
Seshat
Seti (Set)
Shamash
Shapsu
Shen Yi
Shiva
Shu
Si-Wang-Mu
Sin
Sirona
Sol
Surya
Susanoh
Tawaret
Tefnut
Tezcatlipoca
Thanatos
Thor
Tiamat
Tlaloc
Tonatiuh
Toyo-Uke-Bime
Tyche
Tyr
Utu
Uzume
Venus
Vesta
Vishnu
Volturnus
Vulcan
Xipe
Xi Wang-mu
Xochipilli
Xochiquetzal
Yam
Yarikh
Yhwh
Ymir
Yu-huang
Yum Kimil
Zeus

You don't have to believe in any particular one. It is also possible to see all of these gods as renditions of the same thing. But you try going into a group of one religion and saying that. Try telling them all these gods are a product of a gene found in the brain, not actually something they can talk to, or look up to.
I've done that. The bruises have almost healed.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Podcasts

One of my favorite podcasts at the moment is 'Point of Inquiry'.

I cycle to work, some 16kms each way, each day. Listening to many podcasts on my trial, not only keeps me informed, but also awake. Its a long way, and by Friday, I'm a little bit tired. MMMyeah, some days I pike it and I drive. Anyway, most days, I have a bit of dead-air to fill. I also subscribe to 'In Our Time' from BBC4, which covers immensely interesting subjects in great detail, with a panel of experts, 'The Science Show' from the Australian ABC. Now on podcast. Also ABC's 'Media Report', Rob Kaufman's 'Turn off your TV', and good old 'Vox Populi'.

Working in TV over 25 years, then newspapers, radio, and now Web, I know from bitter experience I cannot stand advertising, worse still is Radio advertising, so Podcasts are just brilliant for cutting to the meat of the program.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

It's Official: We cannot possibly be alone.

The European Southern Observatory has just announced they have discovered a previously unknown globular cluster orbiting the Milky Way. Take a look at this mother!!




While this image is not in visible light, this is the most common way 21st Century, and for the most part of last century astronomers would find globular clusters. Located 30,000 light-years away, this previously unknown closely-packed group of about 100,000 stars is most likely a new globular cluster.

In our own Galaxy about 150 globular clusters are known, each containing many hundreds of thousands of stars. In contrast to their smaller and less regularly shaped siblings - open clusters - globular clusters are not concentrated in the galactic disc; rather they are spherically distributed in the galactic halo, with increasing concentration towards the centre of the Galaxy.

Star clusters provide us with unique laboratory conditions to investigate various aspects of astrophysics. They represent groups of stars with similar ages, chemical element abundances and distances. Globular clusters, in particular, are fossils in the Milky Way that provide useful information. With ages of about 10 billion years, they are among the oldest objects in our Galaxy - almost as old as the Universe itself. These massive, spherical shaped star clusters are therefore witnesses of the early, mysterious ages of the Universe.

If you're still saying 'we're the only ones', go further down and read Carl Sagan's 'Mote of Dust' passage.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Imagine

I know, I know,...

But some people have not actually listened to the words, and this is timely.

John Lennon - 'Imagine.'

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Not God

Many times, over my 45 year or so life, I've desired an invisible friend. Someone who watched over my shoulder, guiding with whispers, bringing my good fortune and wisdoms. As anyone would, I thought the idea was pretty cool. I heard the odd hard advice come from realizing new solutions along the way, and understood, that voice, was me. Thats all.

Not God.

When I met people in far off lands who then helped me, and introduced me to others, who gave me work and a career path and even introduced me to other people; that was coincidence, networking and good fortune. Thats all.

Not God.

I thought it would be grand to be able to survive death, to stay conscious and come out the other side. I could meet all those long gone relatives and friends, kick on in some strange but glorious place where you could do anything. Hmm, rather like those places Enid Blyton wrote about in 'The Wishing Chair' and 'The Faraway Tree'. A nice dream but adults should wake up to themselves a little. It is fanciful fiction. Don't you think neurology, psychology, medical science would have a few areas of serious research into the splitting of the physical and spiritual at death if it was fact? In real life, when one dies, thats it. Thats all.

Not God.