The Atheist Handbook: Demon Haunted World

Showing posts with label Demon Haunted World. Show all posts

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Carl Sagan's last interview

Carl Sagan gave his last interview with Charlie rose on May 27th 1996. He discussed pseudo-science, religion, unfounded claims, his personal love affair with science and his struggle with myelodysplasia as well as other elements of his last book: The Demon-Haunted World.

Part one:

Part two:

Part three:

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I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us-then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir. Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

The Handbook reading list.

American Fascists, by Chris Hedges
Bertrand Russel on God and Religion, edited by Al Seckel
Cosmos, by Carl Sagan
God is not Great, by Christopher Hitchens
Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalsim, by Michelle Goldberg
Letter to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris
On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin
Scientific Method, by Barry Gower
The Bible and the Koran
The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan
The End of Faith, by Sam Harris
The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins

"The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science, especially in the schools of America. I am one of those scientists who feels that it is no longer enough just to get on and do science. We have to devote a significant proportion of our time and resources to defending it from deliberate attack from organized ignorance. We even have to go out on the attack ourselves, for the sake of reason and sanity. But it must be a positive attack, for science and reason have so much to give. They are not just useful, they enrich our lives in the same kind of way as the arts do. Promoting science as poetry was one of the things that Carl Sagan did so well, and I aspire to continue his tradition." - Richard Dawkins

I suggest that we might want to depose this incumbent God and start dealing with The Real World. He's proven — time and again — to be cruel, capricious, and vindictive. He drowns, crushes, burns, and starves millions of us every day. He created cancer, viruses, and germs to invade and destroy our bodies as He sees fit, and uses them very effectively. In His wisdom, He directed those in charge to impede stem cell research so that such a powerful approach would not be available to us and He wouldn't have to strain the Divine Intellect to disarm that defense. We amuse Him as we flail about vainly trying to appease Him. I vote that we dump Him. -James Randi

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Carl Sagan's last interview

Should public schools allow religious groups to hand out faith texts to students?

Followers

Blog Archive

Handbook links

Titus Lucretius Carus

The Handbook reading list.

About Me

Do you believe in a personal god?

Labels

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Carl Sagan's last interview

Should public schools allow religious groups to hand out faith texts to students?

Subscribe To the Handbook

Followers

Blog Archive

Handbook links

Titus Lucretius Carus

The Handbook reading list.

About Me

Do you believe in a personal god?

Labels