Monthly Archives: March 2015

Free speech dialogue 2/3 – Michael Nugent and Abdullah al Andalusi at UCD – Video

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Free speech dialogue 2/3 - Michael Nugent and Abdullah al Andalusi at UCD
This is part 2 of 3 of Michael Nugent and Abdullah al Andalusi discussing freedom of speech or right to insult at the Islamic Society in University College Dublin on 5 March 2015. You can view...

By: Atheist Ireland

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Free speech dialogue 2/3 - Michael Nugent and Abdullah al Andalusi at UCD - Video

UT, OU Take Different Approaches to Racist Speech

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Students rally against racism, outside the Fiji house in February.

photo by Jana Birchum

On Feb. 7, University of Texas frat Phi Gamma Delta, more commonly known as Fiji house, hosted a theme party where guests wore ponchos, sombreros, construction outfits, and border patrol costumes despite the official theme of the party being, according to Texas Fiji president Andrew Campbell, "a Western or Old West theme."

Many students and faculty were upset about the party and, though skeptical, hoped that the administration would take bold action against Fiji. At the time, Marilyn Russell, coordinator of sorority and fraternity life in the Office of the Dean of Students, told the Chronicle, "To be skeptical is premature because nothing has come of this exact case right now." (See "Frat Party Fallout," Feb. 20.)

However, a week later, the official UT-Austin Twitter account tweeted, "While the behavior doesn't mirror UT core values, it's within students' right to freedom of speech at a private off-campus event." UT Senior Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Soncia Reagins-Lilly told The Daily Texan that because the party didn't violate any university rules (primarily because it was an off-campus event), the frat faces no penalty, though UT is working with Fiji to increase the frat's "cultural sensitivity."

Christian Umbria Smith of UT's chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Longhorn LULAC) said that the response was "somewhat expected. And it's not so much that we don't have any faith in their ability to tackle student issues. I mean, President Powers has stood with us when it came to affirmative action policy, among other things." Still, he says, the response has, yet again, been just "words, but no actual actions." Yes, Smith says, it's good that the administration has made supportive statements, but they need to take concrete actions as well.

UT-Austin is no stranger to dealing with issues of racial insensitivity on campus, and the university is far from alone when it comes to these issues. The problem of racism in fraternities has recently gone viral, after a 10-second video of University of Oklahoma Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) members chanting racist slurs and making reference to lynching was leaked to the OU student paper.

For UT-Austin student Cat Tran, both the Fiji incident and the OU SAE video draw "attention to the legacy of racism that penetrates institutions, especially in the South, and how exclusion of minorities has historically been the norm, not the exception."

In contrast to UT's reaction (or lack thereof) to Fiji, OU's response to SAE was swift and powerful. The video leaked on Sunday, March 8, and by the next day, OU President David Boren had ordered the fraternity to be removed from OU and expelled two of the students seen leading the chant in the video. The video's publication also caused promising high school offensive tackle Jean Delance to reconsider his previous commitment to OU, and led to a protest by the school's current football team.

Smith said that he and many others considered OU's reaction to be encouraging and "very respectable." "It was good, but it was also disheartening to see that we didn't have that same level of vigor when it came to how the administration of the campus responded. Granted, there are differences," Smith said.

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UT, OU Take Different Approaches to Racist Speech

Half Audio – Jay on W.L. Craig, Atheism, Transcendental Arguments – Video

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Half Audio - Jay on W.L. Craig, Atheism, Transcendental Arguments
I had numerous requests for more theology, mathematics and metaphysics, so here you go. In this latest audio, I talk over William Lane #39;s talk over a Ted Talk. I thought it illustrative of both...

By: Jay D

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Half Audio - Jay on W.L. Craig, Atheism, Transcendental Arguments - Video

Muslim Gunned down while admiring snow | Islam on the New Atheism – Video

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Muslim Gunned down while admiring snow | Islam on the New Atheism
Another Muslim Is Killed in America. Anyone Care? After surviving years of war in Iraq, Ahmed al-Jumaili was gunned down after less than a month in Dallas. You are dead. We are going to...

By: TheDeenShowTV

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Muslim Gunned down while admiring snow | Islam on the New Atheism - Video

Atheism in Hinduism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Atheism (Sanskrit: , nir-vara-vda, lit. "statement of no Lord", "doctrine of godlessness") or disbelief in God or gods has been a historically propounded viewpoint in many of the orthodox and heterodox streams of Hindu philosophies.[1] Generally, atheism is valid in Hinduism, but some schools view the path of an atheist to be difficult to follow in matters of spirituality.[2]

Hinduism is a religion, but also a philosophy.[3]Klaus Klostermaier, a prominent scholar of Hinduism, says that Hinduism is more than myth, ritual, doctrine, as it affects other aspects of existence such as economics, politics, and law.[4] Among the various schools of Hindu philosophy, Mimamsa, and Samkhya while not rejecting Brahman, typically rejects a personal God, creator God, or a God with attributes. While Samkhya rejected the idea of an eternal, self-caused, creator God, Mimamsa argued that the Vedas could not have been authored by a deity.

Hindu atheists accept Hinduism more as a "way of life" than a religion. They are unlike other Hindus in their religious outlook, but they share the same cultural and moral values.[5]

The Sanskrit term stika ("pious, orthodox") refers to the systems of thought which admit the validity of the Vedas.[6] Sanskrit asti means "there is", and stika (per Pini 4.2.60) derives from the verb, meaning "one who says 'asti'". Technically, in Hindu philosophy the term stika refers only to acceptance of authority of Vedas, not belief in the existence of God.[7] However, though not accepted universally, stika is sometimes translated as "theist" and Nstika as "atheist", assuming the rejection of Vedas to be synonymous to the rejection of God.[8] In Indian philosophy, three schools of thought are commonly referred to as nastika for rejecting the doctrine of Vedas: Jainism, Buddhism and Crvka. In this usage, nastika refers to the non-belief of Vedas rather than non-belief of God.[6] However, all these schools also rejected a notion of a creationist god and so the word nastika became strongly associated with them.

The Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, deals with a lot of skepticism when dealing with the fundamental question of a creator God and the creation of the universe. It does not, at many instances, categorically accept the existence of a creator God. Nasadiya Sukta (Creation Hymn) in the tenth chapter of the Rig Veda states:[9][10]

Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation? The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.

The Brihadaranyaka, Isha, Mundaka (in which Brahman is everything and "no-thing") and especially Chandogya Upanishads have also been interpreted as atheistic because of their stress on the subjective self.[11]

Mimamsa was a realistic, pluralistic school of philosophy which was concerned with the exegesis of the Vedas.[12] The core text of the school was the Purva Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini (c. 200 BCE200 CE). Mimamsa philosophers believed that the revelation of the Vedas was sacred, authorless (apaurusheyatva) and infallible, and that it was essential to preserve the sanctity of the Vedic ritual to maintain dharma (cosmic order).[13][14]:5253 As a consequence of the belief in sanctity of the ritual, Mimamsas rejected the notion of God in any form.[12] Later commentators of the Mimamsa sutras such as Prabhkara (c. 7th century CE) advanced arguments against idea of God.[15][16] The early Mimamsa not only did not accept God but said that human action itself was enough to create the necessary circumstances for the enjoyment of its fruits.[17]

Samkhya is an atheistic[18] and strongly dualistic[19][20] orthodox (Astika) school of Indian philosophy. The earliest surviving authoritative text on classical Samkhya philosophy is the Samkhyakarika (c. 350450 CE) of Ivaraka.[14]:63 The Samkhyakarika accepts the notion of higher selves or perfected beings but rejects the notion of God.[21]

Crvka, a materialistic and atheistic school of Indian philosophy, had developed a systematic philosophy by 6th century CE. Crvkas rejected metaphysical concepts like reincarnation, afterlife, extracorporeal soul, efficacy of religious rites, other world (heaven and hell), fate, and accumulation of merit or demerit through the performance of certain actions. Crvkas also refused to ascribe supernatural causes to describe natural phenomena. Crvka philosophy appears to have died out some time after 1200 CE.[22]

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Atheism in Hinduism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hottest tech at South by Southwest: FireChat, 'mind cloning'

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AUSTIN, Texas -- As a plane with a Grumpy Cat flag flew overhead, courtesy of Friskies, the Technorati flooded into panel discussions and happy hour spots at the annual tech festival South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.

Top tech influencers pondered immortality and mind cloning. FireChat, an app that lets smartphone users connect via mobile chat even without a cellular connection, was another hot topic. Here's a look at the most notable trending topics Sunday at the tech jamboree.

Off-the-grid mobile chat

No cell service? No problem.

An app called FireChat uses phone signals such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect to other users' phones and enable chats without any network connection. The app, created by a San Francisco startup called Open Garden, debuted in 2012 and was a hit last August at the Burning Man festival in Black Rock, Nevada, where cell phone service is scarce.

It links people via what it calls a "peer-to-peer mesh network," connecting through phone signals rather than a network. The range is about 90 feet but the connection can jump from phone to phone if there's a crowd. It's software-only, says co-founder and CEO Micha Benoliel. Currently the app supports public group chats and hashtags; private messaging is coming.

The app, which is a finalist for South by Southwest's innovation awards, has 5 million users and has been used by tens of thousands of people in India and the Philippines at political protests. As a new startup, Benoliel says his first time at South by Southwest has been positive. "The best surprise has been going to parties and having people asking how they can use FireChat for their event," he says.

Transgender and beyond in tech

United Therapeutics CEO Martine Rothblatt, who considers herself a "transhumanist," discussed advances in "mind cloning" in a keynote Sunday. She said she believes people will one day be able to clone their cognitive functions, and detailed her biotech company's advances in cloning organs and making the process of transferring organs from donor to recipient more efficient.

Rothblatt urged everyone to question authority and noted that in other eras she might not have survived as a transgender person.

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Hottest tech at South by Southwest: FireChat, 'mind cloning'