I've been hearing of some pretty tasteless admixtures of marketing and proselytizing out there recently- with glee of course... obviously the Anglican's are going into the death-spasm mode. You all are pretty well advanced- the States on the other hand... in the south, one must travel many kilometers to find the first New-Ager. Philosophers are still burnt at the stake.

I was wondering, when do you see Christianity becoming 'unfashionable' in England? any time soon?- I know it must be approaching it now, but obviously Christianity still has some adherants there so it must not be too out of style.

I'm probably grossly over-estimating your soggy isles godlessness- Why should I laud your countries immorality before a fine penal colony like Australia? Or those tired Continental Europeans. Are they not more conveniently located near the epi-center of the most negative vibrations on the planet?

I fear it is only the Americas that are left. We fly the banner of superstition proudly- Southern Baptist Doctrine makes a fine foundation for our modern pop culture; we will not stop until all thought has been vanquished. My heart swells with pride contemplating the utility of it all!

Tim Campbell

Anglicans are on the skids, and have been for years. Most people don't go to church. The biggest group are the apathetic vaguely superstitious-religious types who would not use a Bible if they ran short of cigarette paper but never go to church. It does make for a reasonably healthy society as something like 80% of the people believe in evolution (although of that 80% less than 5% understand it) while a large proportion of the people have some kind of idea of religion to back up their morality. Of course I don't believe that religion does back up morality, but they do. Most of the atheists are quite cool unlike many of the hotheads that the crucible of piety spits out. The current mix of declining Christianity with a small but growing Islamic community plus a sizeable swathe of atheists and agnostics means that our politicians find the mouthing of platitudes about God and praying for our nation does not play well. Well thank the Lord for that. ;-)

Britain is a safe place to try to be rational. But it rains a lot.

Martin

There was recently a '5K' website competition - you had to implement a funcioning website in 5K total. The overall winning entry was PixxxelChix - A 5K Porn Site (5120 bytes - anything goes)
http://www.the5k.org/description.asp/entry_id=293
Do those count as porn images, and porn movies? Or were you trying to broach the issue from a strict legal viewpoint? I believe that some insight into the mind of the powers that make such decisions can be obtained from the recent Chris Morris 'Brass Eye' documentary on paedophilia (and you'll have to trust me on this, rather than the knee-jerk press).

Oh - for reference there is Coca grown outide South America. Several places in Africa grow it which doesn't help much, but I can now name names as we head further east - Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Indonesia. (from an ethnobotanical leaflet which referenced a book by de Witt from the 40s, or so the anthropologist sitting next to me says!)

Cheerio, Phil

I think the porn fails as porn, it is recognizable but it isn't

I guessed it would just fall that side of the threshold, but felt it worth sharing, if only to get a data-point on the wrong side of the line.

in the least stimulating, although it is hilarious. Perhaps it fails to excite because there are no curves? In contrast the little bikini image does have some appeal. Sexual stimulation is a strange subject isn't it?

Too much information!!!! :-)

I didn't see it but from what I can gather it was excellent satire. Are you refering to faked pictures of children and obviously faked willies on dogs or something of the sort? This is a legal minefield.

Yeah, he had a bunch of bizarre composites, set up as if it was an avant garde art exhibition, He got some judgements from the expert who said 'this with that is OK, but not with the other', and feeding from that he tried to create more borderline cases - by merging the artworks. This merging involded taking them off the wall, and folding them up! (The copper said something like "I don't think the artist will appreciate you doing this). Note, however, that it wasn't supposed to be a sensible attempt at finding the boundary, it was just another motif in the mockumentary.

I remember seeing in a sex shop a bunch of magazines purporting to show "uncensored shots of teenage girls" and I wondered which laws they were breaking; were they illegal child pornography or were they old issues of Jackie and The Brownie offered at seven hundred times the original price and so blatant (although perhaps not actually illegal) misrepresentation? I was never rich, curious or gullible enough to find out.

I bet the returns policy isn't particularly customer fiendly. The lesson is never to buy anything you can't get your grubby mitts on before you part with your folding beer tokens.

Anyway - pornography as printed material - I ask you - how quaint?

Thank you. At long last some answers. I first asked the cocaine question in autumn 1999, you are the first person to think I was serious in wanting to know.

Oh - I forgot to say that figures from the 90s say that 98% is South American though (Bolivia, Peru, Columbia), so these other regions really are fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Considering how much of a cash crop Coca must be, like you I'm truly surprised that there isn't more widespread exploitation of the plant. That's why my g.f. and I took a little time-out yesterday to chase up your question, it piqued us both - we had to find out. Fortunately she's a demon with all things anthropological.

Cheerio,

Phil

Hi, there.

I'm Gabriella and I'm writing from Italy. First thing first. I found a mismatch in your links: the address of the "Rejection of Pascal's wager" homepage seems to have changed. This said, I just read your "Why I am an Atheist" page, and what I have to say is (please forgive the joke): amen to that.

My story is similar: I was raised a Catholic (luckily my parents weren't church-goers, I just had to attend Sunday Masses). I went obediently through the motions, but I never really felt what I was supposed to, and at the end I realized that the "truths" the church was teaching me didn't sum up and stopped even trying. But then, I didn't even take a serious position against it, either. Some month ago I decided that, at 37, it was high time I took a decision on what to believe.

I've been a skeptic and a "non-practicing scientist" all my life (I've a degree in astronomy, and I'm interested in almost anything scientific, from paleonthology to particle physics, but I work as a programmer) and a fantasy and science fiction fun as well. At the end (and thanks in part to The Jesus Mysteries), I decided that religion had more to do with fantasy than with reality, and I just couldn't be bothered anymore by its dogmas and lunacies. Me being me, that meant I had to study the "problem" of atheism, and since the Pope leaves here in Italy, there aren't many books on the argument, nor many atheists around, so I got some english-written philosofic book and started surfing the net for like-minded people. That's where I got to your site. Well, now I've vented off some of my frustration at living in a religious-oriented society (and I'm not referring just to Italy), I want just to add a thank you for your site. It's always a pleasure finding one that's well written and, above all, makes you think.

Have a good day.

Gabry

I will be doing some work on the site tomorrow and so I will make sure the links work as intended.

Thanks for the comments. I welcome all comments but female, and non-native English speakers are especially welcome. I don't know why I have had so little contact with Italians, from what I can gather there are a lot of Italians out there on the net but not many come my way, and fewer still pass comments. Have you read the letters from Michal? You might have some experiences in common, as he comes from Poland, another hotbed of Catholicism. He talks about feeling alone in a country surrounded by unthinking believers.

Thanks for the comments, messages like that give me the boost I need to keep on doing what I do.

Martin

Martin,

I've visited The Meme Machine many times and referred others to it. I, too, have been called a "Nazi," inaccurately.

Your comments about the 11th and aftermath are dead-on. Some bits that may interest you:

I live in North Carolina, USA, which is solidly within our "Bible Belt," and the atmosphere here has gotten thick lately with prayer and public displays of religiosity.

Pat Robertson, our self-appointed Pontifex Maximus, actually said that the UCLA, feminists, gays, and the like are partially to blame for the tragedies in NY and DC.

"We have imagined ourselves invulnerable and have been consumed by the pursuit of ... health, wealth, material pleasures and sexuality... It (terrorism) is happening because God Almighty is lifting his protection from us."

-Pat Robertson

Jerry Falwell agreees:

"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad."

If anyone other than card-carrying christian nutbars had made public comments to this effect that we deserve these attacks they'd have been crucified by the media. But nobody dares speak out against these psychotics, not in the press.

I am terribly afraid of what our government is about to do. Our lifelike animatronic President is a source of great concern. This is the worst situation he could have been placed in; a complex game of high-stakes diplomacy. The man can barely read a teleprompter, can you imagine what he might say if he has to speak face to face with Taliban high holy men in tense negotiations? I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that George Jr. is UNIQUELY suited to cock this up.

Here's your insider news from America: as a people, we're ready to shoot first and ask questions later. Not me personally, but in general the atmosphere over here is suggestive of the smoky few minutes preceding a biker bar gang-rape. Everyone's fingering an invisible trigger. Bush's unsubtle threats and Old West terminology (Wanted: Dead or Alive) are met with hoots and hollers. And of course, American Muslims are being hassled despite the community's best efforts to distance themselves from terrorism.

Sept. 11th has been compared to Dec. 5th, Pearl Harbor. Back then we were the Sleeping Giant. This time we were already awake, armed with a potentially species-extincting arsenal, grouchy and a little coked up.

Our military geared up for Hitler, went into overdrive to prepare against the Soviet Union, and now has become so powerful and influential that our warfighters are able to steer public opinion as to whether they should fight and how. A dangerous situation!

Alex

I have seen a little of the hysteria you talked about but I am surprised at how well Dubya has played this. I was expecting a bomb first, ask questions later approach but that has not transpired.

The world is now so ready for the attacks that it would be very difficult for any country to act all surprised and horrified about them. As long as they are done carefully in a controlled manner I think the USA will keep the high moral ground.

The high moral ground does stink more than a bit of naked chauvinism. Nobody ever seems to ask why God should bless America, that one has always puzzled me.

Martin

Martin, just wondered if you had seen this?

Seems quite relevant to your website.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4257777,00.html

Regards

Chris Walker

Hi Martin,

I love the site - very well put together and most insightful.

I have read most of it, it's a big read! I have it set as my homepage at the moment - best way to keep up on the updates. I'm quite busy at the moment, so don't get so spend quite as much quality internet time as I'd like.

I respect your insights into atheism. I couldn't agree more with you. There has been some good debates going I see. I like the forum and will contribute when i get to read it through. My name on there will be 'feed my brain' (I'll change it when I find a decent name the server will accept).

You also seem to have a very clear take on memes (at least your view matches mine). I've recently read the Meme Machine (Susan Blackmore) and found it well written and plausible. Also just finished The Blind Watchmaker (Richard Dawkins). Look forward to some interesting chats in the future. best regards

Ken