Two Cheap Day Returns on the Atheist Bus, Please!

Once you have spotted that arch-Thatcherite blogging solicitor Donal Blaney doesn't quote any sources whilst spouting his bile, it's fairly easy to wind him up. In a disjointed and rambling post Blaney takes his Tory colleagues to task for believing that US Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is a Christian fundamentalist.

The first commenter here, Dave Cole, picks up on two episodes in Palin's religious career, one of which Blaney retorts is a "fake". A quick reading of the of the article which Blaney cites indicates that it is in fact the Pastor who is the fake, the one who gave Palin a blessing to protect her from witchcraft, and that Blaney has got his wires crossed.

Blaney doesn't enjoy having the weakness of his argument revealed, and he quickly resorts to sarcasm and then insults.

Here he is accusing me of holding a "warped" set of views following my assertion that witchcraft doesn't exist.

Blaney appears to have great difficulty in arguing coherently with those who hold opposing views. To me it is quite astonishing that he holds down a job such as a solicitor, and yet he has never learnt the ability to use facts to support his arguments, and to keep a level head when people challenge his assertions. He has reached adulthood with the debating skills of a teenager, and now armed with a computer and even a merit star from his peers (his blog is described as 21st in the Total Politics list of "Top 200 UK Political Blogs") he is ready to spout his nonsense to the world at large.

And then along came the atheist bus!

I must admit I don't like advertising - I'd actually prefer it if buses didn't have adverts on the side - but if we are going to have ads, let's see one that supports rationalism. And thinking!

Author and scientist Richard Dawkins has been rightly asserting that the notion of "god" is a delusion. A persistent delusion, and one with a universal appeal, but a delusion none the less. His books have invigorated atheists to assert their rationalist position. Blaney, as mentioned above, lives in a world where his ridiculous assertions that people need to pray in order to be "protected from witches, the devil or any other form of evildoing" largely go unchallenged. Supposedly we are meant to "respect" his childish beliefs. Let's put religion back into it's rightful place: stories for those in their formative years.