I was looking at the Wikipedia entry for the decade of the 2010s to see if anything interesting was going to happen in the next decade. This got my attention:

In the year 2012, conventional CPUs are expected to reach their maximum computing potential, according to Moore’s Law.

I always knew there had to be a limit. I just didn’t know it was going to happen so soon. I don’t think I’m ready for that.

Then further down in the article, in the section labeled “Widely known fictional references”, is this tidbit:

Philip K. Dick mentions the death of God in passing in his 1970 novel Our Friends from Frolix 8 :

“God is dead,” Nick said. “They found his carcass in 2019. Floating out in space near Alpha.”

Don’t you love good science fiction? (Alas, why does it have to be fiction?)

Anyway, I haven’t read this particular book, but it got me thinking. Do you guys know of any similar references in science fiction? Tell us in the comments section!

Update: I just remembered that in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, God disappears in a puff of logic (just as he did in real life for about 9% of Americans).

That makes two references from science fiction. Any others?

Fundie propaganda site One News Now reports that the Catholic League is in a snit about the forthcoming movie The Golden Compass, which will be released on December 7. It’s based on the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy by evil atheist Philip Pullman. I haven’t read these books, but I just ordered them. They look like interesting reads.

The One News Now article tells us:

The Catholic League has kicked off a two-month campaign against a children’s fantasy film that features a young girl on a mission to kill God.

And this is a problem how?

Actually, I’m being flippant here. I don’t know how accurately that characterizes the film. Summarizing a movie like this in one sentence is probably oversimplifying it, which does not benefit the reader in trying to determine whether the film is worth seeing or avoiding.

New Line Cinema officials said they did not include many Godless themes, found in the books, in an effort to not offend Christians.

So the movie isn’t anti-Christian, but we’re supposed to ban it anyway?

Bill Donahue of the Catholic League is concerned that the movie could cause unsuspecting parents to get the books for their children.

Well that part of his concern is legitimate. I hate it when the movie is completely different from the book.

Parents shouldn’t buy books for their children that run in opposition to their beliefs. However, they shouldn’t freak out when Johnny and Jane check the books out of the library. If the parents’ faith is so fragile that it can’t withstand a couple of questions raised in a children’s book, then just what sort of feeble, anemic beliefs do they have?

“This is pernicious,” he continues. “This is selling atheism to kids, and it’s doing it in a backdoor fashion.”

But it’s perfectly OK to sell theism to kids. To brainwash them from an early age with all of the nasty content of the Bible.

In interviews, Pullman has stated that he wrote the series in response to C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. He said he hates the Narnia books and wants to undermine Christianity.

I tried to find proof that Pullman made these statements. I can’t find any. Of course it’s asking too much for One News Now to cite their sources.

The article finishes with:

Read the OneNewsNow review of the movie, “Does The Golden Compass point to a new atheism?”

Sure! We haven’t read enough fear yet today. Let’s check out the review, written by Rebecca Grace:

It all started with a phone call I received several months ago. … Several more phone calls followed the first one as did a plethora of emails expressing disgust over this movie — and rightly so.

OOO! It’s so disgusting!

I plan to review the movie, but I haven’t had the opportunity to see it yet.

Wait a minute! This was billed as a review! You haven’t even seen it? Typical fundie. She forms her opinion on something she hasn’t even seen. She just knows it’s disgusting!

According to CNSNews.com, leading atheist writers and intellectuals are engaged in a “scientific” quest to ultimately destroy organized religion, particularly Christianity.

Really? Where’s your proof? Oh, that’s right! You don’t need proof! You’re quoting a fundie propaganda site! There is no scientific quest to destroy religion. Many of us would like to see its influence diminish, but there is no agenda to wipe it out.

CNSNews.com defines the Out Campaign as “a movement started by Dawkins to encourage Americans to proudly display their atheism.”

So how is that trying to destroy religion? We’re just trying to let you fundies know that there are a lot more of us than you think. Oh, that’s right. You religious nuts don’t want to know that. You’re afraid of knowledge. That’s why you burn books and ban movies. In fact, the very (apple) core of your religion is based on the premise that some knowledge is too much for your puny brains, so you should not partake of it.

The Blasphemy Challenge targets teens while an upcoming movie that may have a similar agenda is likely to appeal to families, especially children.

Oh no! Now they’re targeting the chillun!

From watching the trailer, it’s easy to see that the film has a C.S. Lewis/Narnia feel to it, but don’t be deceived.

Deception. The tactic of Satan!

“I don’t know whether there’s a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say,” Pullman said in an interview posted on his website.

Therefore, without yet seeing the film, at least one pro-family group — the American Family Association — is alerting Christians to the potential dangers of The Golden Compass.

There’s another fundie group condemning something they haven’t seen. And where do they get off calling themselves “pro-family”? People who hold views contrary to theirs are not anti-family!

Because of Pullman’s clearly articulated anti-Christian motives,…

How is saying that nobody can know whether God exists “anti-Christian”?

…AFA is warning all viewers to run from the film.

Wow. They’re not merely telling them to not see the film, they’re telling them to “Run! Run for you lives! If it touches you, you’ll have atheist cooties!”

In a comment to an earlier post, reader Robert Madewell calls our attention to the above T-shirt (I’m not going to dignify the site by linking to it), which you are supposed to put on your toddler. Robert says:

I found a truly disgusting T for a baby. Now tell me what kind of mother would put this T-shirt on her baby?

It’s vulgarity defined.

I refuse to watch Dog the Bounty Hunter, because his behavior is offensive.

Everybody is in a tizzy right now, because Dog said “nigger” in a private phone call. Should he have used that word? Should his show be cancelled? I have no opinion on that, because I don’t have a dog in this fight (so to speak).

I’ve only seen his show once, and that was a while ago. Once was enough. Before he and his crew went out on their raid, they all got together and did some sort of bizarre group-hug/pray-a-thon. WTF?

First of all, if I want to see a bunch of guys grope-pray each other, I’ll watch whatever Ted Haggard’s next show will be. Second, is that even legal? Doesn’t this pray-datory behavior create a hostile work environment? What if he hires somebody who doesn’t want to participate? Is it a requirement of the job? Would he refuse to hire someone who doesn’t want to participate? It seems to me that he’s on thin legal ground.

It also makes for annoying television. I don’t want my entertainment interrupted by periodic bouts of superstition. But when I encounter an offensive TV show, I do the only logical thing: I refuse to watch it.

Compare that with what the Parents Television Council, the American Decency Association, and countless other fundie asshat organizations do when they’re offended: They try to get the shows cancelled.

One action is about personal responsibility. The other action is about controlling other people’s lives. One action is the hallmark of a free society. The other action is the hallmark of oppression.

“Judgment Day” is nigh! As I mentioned briefly a couple of months ago, Nova will air a special two-hour episode devoted to the 2004 creationism trial in Dover, PA. Here’s how the Nova website describes this episode:

In this program, NOVA captures the turmoil that tore apart the community of Dover, Pennsylvania in one of the latest battles over teaching evolution in public schools. Featuring trial reenactments based on court transcripts and interviews with key participants, including expert scientists and Dover parents, teachers, and town officials, “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial” follows the celebrated federal case of Kitzmiller v. Dover School District.
…
NOVA presents the arguments by lawyers and expert witnesses in riveting detail and provides an eye-opening crash course on questions such as “What is evolution?” and “Is intelligent design a scientifically valid alternative?”
…
U.S. District Court Judge John E. Jones III ultimately decided for the plaintiffs, writing in his decision that intelligent design “cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents.”

The program is scheduled for November 13, 2007. That means the program is already in your Tivo’s program listings (you have a Tivo of course!), so you can go schedule it right now, before you forget!

For the technologically impoverished (who watch live TV), you can go to the Nova website to find out when and where you’ll be able to see it.

Don’t miss this. It ought to be good. (BTW, next week’s Nova is about Sputnik. That one looks good, too!)

I haven’t posted much these last two weeks, because I’ve been busy. I’m hoping to have some more stuff soon. In the meantime, I went looking for something fun to give you for today.

I came across a website devoted to debunking Kent Hovind. That site is no longer being updated, as of January 2007, because Hovind is now serving a ten-year sentence for tax evasion. Nevertheless, the site has a wealth of information about this crackpot. I knew he was crazy, but I had no idea just how looney this toon was.

The quotations that follow are all from the “Quacky Quotes on Evolution” page. If you go there, you’ll find even more quotes like these, as well as references to where the quotes come from.

Now sit back and enjoy the “wisdom” of Kent Hovind. (Remember that Hovind is one of the big names in the creationism field. This gives you a good indication of how and what these people think.)

Every farmer on planet Earth counts on evolution not happening. They count on it. It doesn’t happen. People can believe whatever they want but whenever a farmer crossbreeds a cow he expects to get a cow not a kitten.

Do you know chimpanzees are still having babies? Why don’t they make another human?

Guess what happened to the T Rex. According to evolutionists the T Rex turned into a bird. … Man, those guys need some serious, serious help.

… so it’s totally wrong, bogus, and some bold faced lie that some professor told you that the Earth receives energy [from the Sun] and that is how [evolution] overcomes the Second Law [of Thermodynamics]. It’s just a bold face lie. It is true we receive energy but it is not going to overcome the Second Law.

Teaching the pagan religion of evolutionism is a waste of valuable class time and textbook space. It is also one of the reasons American kids don’t test as well in science as kids in other parts of the world.

There is definitely a conspiracy, but I don’t think that it is a human conspiracy. I don’t believe there is a smoke filled room where a group of men get together, and decide to teach evolution in all the schools. I believe that it is at a much higher level. I believe that it is a Satanic conspiracy. The reason these different people come to the same conclusion is not because they all met together; it is because they all work for the devil. He is their leader and they don’t even know it.

If Evolution is true, there is no Creator, so laws come from mans opinion. That is called a democracy, which is a terrible form of government. Democracies always degenerate into dictatorships. In America, it is sad to say, has become a democracy.

The Smithsonian Institute [sic] has 33,000 sets of human remains in their basement right now as you are reading this. Many of them were taken while the people were still alive. They were so desperate to find missing links, so desperate to prove their theory that they murdered people to prove it.

If evolution is true, you could not know that it’s true because your brain is nothing but chemicals. Think about that.