The following is an open letter from activist atheist Dr. Richard Dawkins written to his daughter Juliet on her tenth birthday and published as the last entry in his book A Devil’s Chaplain.

The topic of this letter is Good and Bad Reasons for Believing, and the short summary would be that Dr. Dawkins advocates that his daughter (and presumably all of us since the letter is public) employ analytical reasoning whenever new information is presented.
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This is not meant to be offensive to anyone, but I found it educational to understand the depths of the Islamic religious basis for the status of women in society. So far as I am aware there is no similar religious teaching in Christianity, Buddhism, or other major religions - although I’m sure someone will correct me if that is not true.

Muslims in general may not bat an eye towards this philosophy, as it may be so ingrained into the culture so as not to be noticed, but I have to wonder how this edict works in the United States where spousal abuse is a crime and can land a man in jail.
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Dr. Richard Dawkins, Oxford professor and author of The God Delusion, reads excerpts and answers questions at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia on October 23, 2006.

Dr. Dawkins is one of the most divisive figures in the evolution vs creationism debate mainly because his position tends to be offensive to believers. His position is that religion, and people who believe in God, do more harm than good.
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The next time you take your freedom of speech for granted just think about the alternative. A young man in Egypt has been sentenced to 4 years in jail for “criticizing the President and Islam”.

Half of all Americans would be in jail if it were illegal here…

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters)

An Alexandria court convicted an Egyptian blogger Thursday for insulting both Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced him to four years in jail over his writings on the Internet.
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I’ve searched the annals (he, he… he said anal) of the Internet to find the two greatest video arguments I could find, one for the existance of a supreme diety, one against.

In the end, at least to me, it all seems to boil down to a simple philosophical decision. Is it possible that everything known to mankind simply exists? Or is an explanation required as to why?
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Religion is one of those topics I normally don’t want to touch with a 10 foot pole. I’ve found that no one ever agrees when it comes to this topic. Heck, I’ve seen Christians arguing with one another over the meaning of a particular passage of scripture, so you know no good can come of a debate with an Atheist.

Having said that, I was very disturbed to learn that some YouTube staffer decided to ban a member on religious grounds. Nick Gisburne, an outspoken member of the YouTube community recently posted a video comprised solely of a slide show of quotes taken from the Qur’an. All of the quotes deal with the negative aspects of being a non-believer - such as going to hell, being killed and burning for eternity.

Clearly this video illustrates just one side of the discussion, and I would imagine an appropriate Islamic response would have been a video depicting passages of love and peace from the same book. But no one had the chance to issue such a response.
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How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars?

This map gives a brief history of the world’s most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds?
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“I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”