title, what title?

Somewhere in this picture, there is a pale blue dot. It is your home. It is the home of every living thing that we know and we don't know of. This is a picture taken by the Voyager in 1990 of our planet from 6 billion kilometers away. It is the most humbling picture I have ever seen. It has been said that science does not provide moral values but religion does. I beg to differ. Even though science by itself, which is merely a method, cannot provide a moral framework, the fruits of knowledge it gives us let us define our morals. This picture is a great example. Carl Sagan, touched by this picture wrote a book on this. Here is an excerpt from the introduction, which everyone should listen from time to time to wash away his or hers false ideas of grandeur: "Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In...

The fairy tale of Sodom of Gomorrah is one of many peculiar tales in the Abrhamic religion. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah are involved in homosexuality. Yahwe or Allah depending on which version you are reading decides to destroy these cities because of this "incredible crime". He sends his angels to warn Lot, the only believer in the city. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah surround his house, and demand the angels to be returned to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, for a little bit of homosexual orgy. Lot, the prophet, offers his virgin daughters to the mob instead. The angels intervene and people go home. Lot, this wonderful father, is the only male to escape the devastation of the cities. His wife, who commits the crime of looking back at the city is turned into salt. In the Biblical version, his daughters seduce Lot and have babies from him... This disgusting tale of morality is one of the causes of the terror on and discrimination against homosexuals all around the wor...

Mr. Deity is God. Lucy is Lucifer. Mr. Deity is funny. Mr. Deity is serious. Everyone should watch Mr. Deity.

... be good without God. Yet another atheist bus campaign. This time from Obama's home state. I think this is better than their original plan "In the beginning, man created God"

A strain of indescribable post-modernism may be termed anti-scientism. According to this strain, scientific method is "just another story," along the stories told by religion, tradition, mysticism. Of course the actual argumentation is far more complex and subtle -which I do not claim to have explored-, but the common theme is more or less the same. Recently rhe rise of religion in both eastern and western societies, and their natural clash with modern values based on truths obtained by scientific method, has undoubtedly created a problem of ontologically categorizing the places in the society and meanings of science and religion. On the one hand there is the so called New-atheists, New-humanists, or as they describe themselves the "Brights" - to be fair they call those who are insistent on a supernatural powers the "Supers". They are of the opinion that religion should ultimately be taken out of the public discourse, and left to persons only just like wha...

This is from the avesome blog Pharyngula . Click to zoom. On the left is a timeline of universe, with Human involvment in it. Just in case you still think we play an important part in the Universe. On the right the same timeline from a young earth creationist point of view, which takes Genesis in Bible literally. Yes, there are still some crackpots out there.

Odtü'lü olmaktan gurur duymak.

This is hilarious -and very informative on the travesty of Proposition 8-: "Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

Happy Festivus Everyone! Let your grievances be heard, and seek your forgiveness in the people you hurt, disappointed, or let down. Not in someone(s)/something(s) in the skies, seas, trees, soil.

Auth (c) 2005 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Reprinted by permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.

If you have been to a large Western city, you probably have seen church advertisements like "Jesus loves you" or "Jesus saves" on public transport. They involve no public spending. In Turkey, I cannot imagine such advertisements, but a lot of public money is spent on religion. I wonder, what would be reactions to such an advertisement on a bus in Turkey: "There is probably no god. Now stop worrying. And enjoy your life." It is worth noting that the Anglican Church welcomed the advertisement. They argued this would motivate people to think about God, and draw the same conclusion as they did...

Richard Dawkins'in sitesi Harun Yahya takma adli Adnan Hoca'ya hakaret icerdigi gerekcesiyle Türk mahkemelerince Türkiye'de erisime kapatildi. Hicbir aciklama olmadigi icin asagidaki yazinin mi baska bir yazinin mi bu kapatmaya sebep oldugunu bilemiyorum. Sansür arkasinda gerceklerin örtülmemesi icin Richard Dawkins'in Harun Yahya'nin Yaratilis Atlasi adli komik kitabi ile ilgili yazisinin cevirisini yayinliyorum, bu blogu takip eden ve blog sahibi olan herkesten de aynisini yapmasini rica ediyorum. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya Richard Dawkins - Ceviri Kutluhan Celik 2006 yilinda, Musluman Turk apolojist Harun Yahya tarafindan yazilmis, Atlas of Creation isimli kitabi, siparis vermemis olmasina ragmen, tamamen ucretsiz olarak posta kutusunda bulan dunya capinda onbinlerce bilim adamindan biri oldum. Onbir dilde yayimlanan kitabin tezi, evrimin yalan oldugu. Ana "kanit", her biri gunumuzdeki karsiliklari esliginde sayfa sayfa sunul...

There is no benefit from hiding the facts for the sake of political correctness. The scriptures of the three Abrahamic Religions include pieces that can be used to justify terrible acts of violence. Here is a piece from Deuteronomy 7, from the Old Testament: "When the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you." This is a mild excerpt. I invite interested reader to read more on Deuteronomy, especially what it suggests people to do, when one of their family members, in case they commit the ultimate "crime" of worshiping other gods. Here is a piece from Koran, Sura 9, Sentence 5: "So when the sac...

The second half of the final season of the best thing on TV, Battlestar Galactica, will start January 2009. I am already dreaming about it. Literally, I had a dream about the show last night, in which I was Adama, and had to command my ships against Cylon base ships to find earth. After reaching earth, I led a search effort into the underground caverns where we found human survivors from thousand of years ago. Fascinating dream. One of the reasons I love BSG is that it can discuss contemporary issues pretty openly, as it is set in the future in an imagined society. So there is no holding back due to concerns of "hurting" certain group of peoples feelings. In the episode The Woman King , a group of Saggitarians -an imagined nation in BSG, is taken on board the Galactica. Then a deadly epidemic breaks out. However the interpretation of Saggitarians of their holy texts forbids them from using modern medicine. The show opens up with a woman's struggle with her faith and the p...

Keciören'deki vahsi iddalar üzerine yazdigim girdiye dostum Mehmet yorumda bulunmus. Ben bu olayi siyasallastirmanin efektif olmayacagini savunurken, Mehmet bilakis bu olayin siyasallasmasinin bu olayin mesulü olan iktidar partisinin zararina olacagini ve siyasallastirilmasi gerektigini söylemis. Sanirim bu nokta da siyasallastirmadan ne anladigimi aciklamam gerekli. Siyasallastirmadan kastim bu olay ile siyasi ve hukuki boyutta yapilan mücadelenin birbirine karistirilmasi. Söyle ki, ortada idari, adli, ve siyasi boyutlari olan bir olay var. Idari kismi Kecioren Belediyesi'nin tüm vatandaslardan toplanan vergiyi dini vecizeler yazdirmak icin kullanmasi, ve belediye calisanlarinin icki satanlara kanun disi yaptirimlar uygulamalari. Laik bir sistemde bunun mümkün olmamasi gerekli. Ancak Diyanet Isleri gibi devasa bir kurumun oldugu bir ortamda isin bu boyutuyla mucadele etmek isteyen kisilerin zorunlu din dersi'nin karsisinda tavir almalari, Diyanet Isleri'nin finansman...

Iddalar korkunc . Bu iddalar'i siyasallastirmadan -yani secim malzemesi yapmadan, ortada iki taraf varmis, ve birinin eline koz gecmis gibi davranmadan- sadece suclulari hedef alarak yargiya tasimak laik ve demokratik bir duzene inanan herkesin sorumlulugudur. Özgürlükler'den yana oldugunu idda eden Basbakan'dan ya da onun Icisleri Bakani'ndan birsey beklemek cok da mantikli degil, zira özgürlük anlayislarinin sadece kendi dar dünya görüsleri ile ilgili oldugunu kendileri dahi biliyorlar. Tarih ile ilgili bir konuda ettigi sozler yuzunden Orhan Pamuk'un pesine dusen aktivist hukuk adamlarindan hukuk camiasi icinde özgürlüklere inanmislarinin da olduguna inaniyor, onlarin harekete gecmesini bekliyorum. Bu vesileyle acilen ihtiyacimiz oldugunun bir kez daha altini cizmek istedigim Americans United tarzi laik sistemi demokratik yollar ile korumak icin kurulmus, siyaset üstü bir sivil toplum örgütünün bu ve bunun gibi davalarda finansal ve hukuki olanaklarina ihtiyac d...

I do not know any contemporary Western democracy where ideas of a single man are felt so profoundly in the politics and daily life. It is therefore perhaps difficult for those living in these democracies to appreciate the status of Mustafa Kemal, the founder of the single democracy in the Islamic state tradition, in the Turkish society. I´came to believe that an agreement of a true "separation of state and religion in a society is one of the main pre-conditions of democracy. In the face of rising Political-religion -Political Islam, Political Christianity, Political Hinduism- his revolutionary reformations he undertook in the 1920's have been attacked from the political Islam side in Turkey very harshly these days. In one of the recent such rows, two young Islamists were taken to the court after they declared on TV that they did not like Mustafa Kemal, but preferred the old Iranian revolutionary leader Khomeini. The draconian protection of revolutionary ideas laws -which are t...

Su an Ergenekon gözaltilariyla baslayan sureic ile ilgili yorum yapmak icin cok erken. Ancak moralim cok bozuk. Cunku cozumsuzluk görüyorum olaylarin sonunu. Sadece bu cozumsuzlugun nedenleri ile ilgili yorum yapabilirim. Cozumsuzlugun en onemli nedeni yarginin siyasilesmesi ve sonucunda gelen güvensizliktir. Yargi da diger tüm organlar gibi ikiye bolünürse durum son derece tehlikeli hale gelecektir. Yargi'nin yavas calismasindan kaynakli Yargi'nin isleyebilirligine dair bir güvensizlik her zaman olmus olsa bile, iki tarafin da Yargi'nin her hareketin ardinda baska bir neden aramasina kadar büyüyen güvensizlik ile ilgili daha önceki girdimd e düsüncelerimi belirtmistim. Bu noktaya gelirken iki tarafin da hatalari oldugunu düsünüyorum. * Abdullah Gül'ün Cumhurbaskanligi: Abdullah Gül gibi tarafsiz olmasi, ya da tarafsiz olarak kabul edilmesi imkansiz olan birini Cumhurbaskani yapmak AKP'nin büyük bir yanlisiydi. Demokrasi'nin karsilikli anlayis sanati oldugunu ...

Su aralar gündemde olan birkac olay cok ama cok sinirimi bozuyor. 1. MNG Holding'in Bodrum'da Pina yarim Adasinda Yaptigi Dolgu MNG Holding'in cevre bilinci kampanyasi acmasi ise iki yüzlulükten baska birsey degildir. Bu tarz "kurumsal sorumluluk" kampanyalarinin ictensizliklerine bir örnek daha. 2. Hayasiz kiyafeti yuzunden 6 ay hapis cezasi alan Kadin Konu ile ilgili Oral Calisar'in yazisi ve NTVMSNBC haberi 'ni okumanizi tavsiye ederim. Yargi ile Yasama arasindaki makro tartismalar icinde kaybolmusken, ve "Irtica"ya karsi en önemli koruma mekanizmasinin yargi oldugunu düsünürken bu tarz bir haber ile karsilasmak gercekten cok moralimi bozdu. 3. Kamu arazilerinin isgalinin suc olmaktan cikarilmasi, ve iskan ruhsati olmayan binalara altyapi hizmetleri verilmesinin suc olmaktan cikarilmasi Konuyla ilgili NTVMSNBC haberi . Bu konular ile ilgili tepkimi göstermek, göstermekden ziyade birseyler yapmak istiyorum. Eminim bu haberleri okuduktan son...

Seküler etik -daha önceki yazimda belirttigim gibi etik dogasi geregi sekülerdir, bu seküler sifatini daha sonra dogan din bazli etikten ayirmak icin kullaniyorum- bu aralar kafami mesgul eden konulardan biri. Milli Takim'in basarisi bu aralar bu konulari biraz gündemde geriye dusurmus olsa bile AKP'nin kapatilma davasi ve Yargi ile Genel Kurmay arasindaki ilginc iliskiler bu konuyu baska bir acidan bakmama vesile oldu. Seküler etik'in en basit sorularindan biri birey'in neden yalan söylemedigidir. Cok hakim olmasam da Kant'tan baslayarak filozoflar bu konuya cevaplar getirmeye calismislar. Benim en kafama yatani önemli Özgürlükcü düsünürlerden biri olan David D. Friedmann 'in aciklamasi oldu. Insanlarin kisitli hafiza ve hesaplama yetenegine sahip varliklar oldugu, ve söyledikleri yalanlarin hepsini hatirlayamayacaklarini, ve bir kez yalan söyleyince yiyecekleri yalanci damgasinin bedelinin dogruyu söylemenin bedelinden daha yüksek olacagi icin yalan söylemedik...