Martin Luther King, Jr

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

A lie cannot live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

A right delayed is a right denied.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

A riot is the language of the unheard.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

martin_luther_king_jr

All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

martin_luther_king_jr

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies – or else? The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I submit that an individual who breaks the law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life’s most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society… shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jimmy-Kimmel on Jay-Leno

The announcement comes just one day after Jimmy seemed to align himself with Conan O’Brien in The Peacock’s brewing battle over the face of late night. Kimmel donned a prosthetic chin and grey wig and spoofed Leno for more than an hour on Tuesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.

On Sunday, NBC announced that it will move The Jay Leno Show to 11:35 PM, forcing Conan’s Tonight Show into the 12:05 AM timeslot beginning next month. NBC is scrapping the cost-cutting experiment that put Leno on TV at 10 PM because the show earned poor ratings and backlash from local TV stations that said it hurt the local 11 PM newscasts that followed. Conan has since announced that he will no longer host the late night show if he is bumped for Leno.

www.etonline.com

haiti-_earthquake

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Doctors and search dogs, troops and rescue teams flew to this devastated land of dazed, dead and dying people Thursday, finding bottlenecks everywhere, beginning at a main airport short on jet fuel and ramp space and without a control tower.

The international Red Cross estimated 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in Tuesday’s cataclysmic earthquake, based on information from the Haitian Red Cross and government officials. Hard-pressed recovery teams resorted to using bulldozers to transport loads of dead.

Worries mounted, meanwhile, about food and water for the survivors. “People have been almost fighting for water,” aid worker Fevil Dubien said as he distributed water from a truck in a northern Port-au-Prince neighborhood.

earthquake in haiti

From Virginia, from France, from China, a handful of rescue teams were able to get down to work, scouring the rubble for survivors. In one “small miracle,” searchers pulled a security guard alive from beneath the collapsed concrete floors of the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters, where many others were entombed.

But the silence of the dead otherwise was overwhelming in a city where uncounted bodies littered the streets in the 80-degree heat, and dust-caked arms and legs reached, frozen and lifeless, from the ruins. Outside the General Hospital morgue, hundreds of collected corpses blanketed the parking lot, as the grief-stricken searched among them for loved ones. Brazilian U.N. peacekeepers, key to city security, were trying to organize mass burials.

Patience already was wearing thin among the poorest who were waiting for aid, said David Wimhurst, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

“They want us to provide them with help, which is, of course, what we want to do,” he said. But they see U.N. vehicles patrolling the streets to maintain calm, and not delivering aid, and “they’re slowly getting more angry and impatient,” he said.

In Washington, President Barack Obama announced “one of the largest relief efforts in our recent history,” starting with $100 million in aid. The U.S. Southern Command reported the first 100 of a planned 900 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division landed in Haiti from North Carolina on Thursday to support disaster relief, to be followed this weekend by more than 2,000 Marines. The American troops “will relieve pressure” on overworked U.N. elements, Wimhurst said.

From Europe, Asia and the Americas, other governments, the U.N. and private aid groups were sending planeloads of high-energy biscuits and other food, tons of water, tents, blankets, water-purification gear, heavy equipment for removing debris, helicopters and other transport, and teams of hundreds of search-and-rescue, medical and other specialists.

But two days after much of this ramshackle city was shattered, the global helping hand was slowed by the poor roads, airport and seaport of a wretchedly poor nation.

Some 60 aid flights had arrived by midday Thursday, but they then had to contend with the chokepoint of an overloaded Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport. At midday, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was temporarily halting all civilian flights from the U.S. at Haiti’s request, because the airport was jammed and jet fuel was limited for return flights. The control tower had been destroyed in Tuesday’s tremor, complicating air traffic. Civilian relief flights were later allowed to resume.

Haiti Earthquake

“There’s only so much concrete” for parking planes, U.S. Air Force Col. Buck Elton said at the airport. “It’s a constant puzzle of trying to move aircraft in and out.”

Teams that did land then had to navigate Haiti’s inadequate roads, sometimes blocked by debris or by quake survivors looking for safe open areas as aftershocks still rumbled through the city. The U.N. World Food Program said the quake-damaged seaport made ship deliveries of aid impossible.

The looting of shops that broke out after the 7.0-magnitude quake struck late Tuesday afternoon added to concerns. The Brazilian military warned aid convoys to add security to guard against looting by the desperate population.

“There is no other way to get provisions,” American Red Cross representative Matt Marek said of the store looting. “Even if you have money, those resources are going to be exhausted in a few days.” The city’s “ti-marchant,” mostly women who sell food on the streets, were expected to run out soon. Red Cross officials have estimated one-third of Haiti’s 9 million people are in need of aid.

The quake brought down Port-au-Prince’s gleaming white National Palace and other government buildings, disabling much of the national leadership. That vacuum was evident Thursday. No senior Haitian government officials were visible at the airport, although President Leonel Fernandez of the neighboring Dominican Republic said after meeting with President Rene Preval that the Haitian leader was in control of the situation, working from the airport.

“Donations are coming in to the airport here, but there is not yet a system to get it in,” said Kate Conradt, a spokeswoman for the Save the Children aid group. “It’s necessary to create a structure to stock and distribute supplies,” the Brazilian military said.

Edmond Mulet, a former U.N. peacekeeping chief in Haiti, arrived Thursday from U.N. headquarters in New York to lead the relief effort, along with a U.N. disaster coordination team. The first U.S. military units to arrive took on a coordinating role at the airport, but State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley underlined, “We’re not taking over Haiti.”

Wimhurst said the Haitian police “are not visible at all,” no doubt because many had to deal with lost homes and family members, and law-and-order needs had fallen completely to the 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers and international police in Haiti.

Across the sprawling, hilly city, people milled about in open areas, hopeful for help, sometimes setting up camps amid piles of salvaged goods, including food scavenged from the rubble. Small groups by roadsides could be seen burying dead. Other dust-covered bodies were being dragged down streets, toward hospitals where relatives hoped to leave them. Countless remained unburied, stacked up, children’s bodies lying atop mothers, tiny feet poking from blankets.

haiti-earthquack-victims

The injured, meanwhile, waited for treatment in makeshift holding areas — outside the General Hospital, for example, where the stench from piles of dead, just a few yards (meters) away, wafted over the assembled living. Crews began removing unclaimed bodies with bulldozers, dumping them into trucks, possibly for mass burial.

Heavy damage to at least eight Port-au-Prince hospitals severely hampered efforts to treat the many thousands of injured, the World Health Organization said in Geneva. At least 2,000 injured were reported to have been treated at hospitals next door in the Dominican Republic, including the president of the Haitian Senate, Kelly Bestien.

Here and there, small tragedies unfolded. In the Petionville suburb, friends held back Kettely Clerge — “I want to see her,” she sobbed — as neighbors with bare hands tried to dig out her 9-year-old goddaughter, Harryssa Keem Clerge, pleading for rescue, from beneath their home’s rubble.

“There’s no police, there’s nobody,” the hopeless godmother cried. By day’s end, the girl was dead.

At the collapsed U.N. peacekeeping headquarters, search-and-rescue firefighters from Fairfax County, Va., pulled an Estonian guard, Tarmo Joveer, alive and unhurt from the ruins at 8 a.m. Thursday, 39 hours after the quake — a “small miracle,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in New York. But U.N. officials reported that 36 other U.N. personnel, mostly peacekeepers and international police, were confirmed dead and almost 200 remained missing, including top staff.

Nearby, a rescue team from China, with sniffer dogs, clambered through rubble and searched for signs of life. Two excavators stood by, ready to dig for survivors — or dead. A French team, meanwhile, rescued three people alive from the wrecked Montana Hotel, U.N. officials reported.

European and Latin American nations reported scores of their nationals unaccounted- for in Haiti, and a handful confirmed dead. Of the estimated 45,000 Americans in Haiti, the U.S. Embassy had contacted almost 1,000. Only one American was confirmed dead, a veteran Foreign Service officer, Victoria DeLong, killed in her collapsed home.

For the long-suffering people of Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, shock and disbelief were giving way to despair.

“We need food. The people are suffering. My neighbors and friends are suffering,” said Sylvain Angerlotte, 22. “We don’t have money. We don’t have nothing to eat. We need pure water.”

But life also went on. Brazilian soldiers helped deliver a baby girl in an improvised garage-hospital at their base, just hours after the quake hit. Capt. Fabricio Almeida de Moura said the child was doing well, but the life of the mother, who apparently went into labor from the shock of the tremor, was in danger from bleeding, the Agencia Brasil news service reported.

The unimaginable scope of the catastrophe left many Haitians, a fervently religious people, in helpless tears and prayer.

Reached by The Associated Press from New York, Yael Talleyrand, a 16-year-old student in Jacmel, on Haiti’s south coast, told of thousands of people made homeless by the quake and sleeping on an airfield runway, “crying, praying and I had never seen this in my entire life.”

Earlier, she said, one woman had run through Jacmel’s streets screaming, “God, we know you can kill us! We know you’re strongest! You don’t need to show us!”

___

Associated Press contributors to this story: Mike Melia, Jennifer Kay and Gregory Bull in Port-au-Prince; Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Tales Azzoni in Sao Paulo, Brazil; David McFadden in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Adam Geller in New York; Matthew Lee and Pauline Jelinek in Washington.

-  “Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear”. –Thomas Jefferson

- “I don’t know & you don’t either.” “Militant Agnostic” bumper sticker from CarryaBigSticker.com.

- “I don’t ‘know’ if there is a God; but I think that if there is one, he certainly isn’t the one proclaimed by the Judeo-Christian tradition, the one who is actively and powerfully involved in this world.” Bart Ehrman, “God’s Problem: how the Bible fails to answer our most important question — Why we suffer.”

The range of meanings of the term: “Agnostic:”

Agnosticism is a concept, not a full religion, like Judaism, Christianity or Islam. It is a belief related to the existence or non-existence of God. However, many people have started with an Agnosticism, and have added a moral code, rituals and other items to create a belief system with many of the attributes of a religion.

When asked what their religion is, many of those who are unsure of the existence of a God will reply “Agnostic.” Since so many Agnostics regard this as their religion, we have a policy of capitalizing the term out of respect, as we do for all religions on this web site. This is not often seen on the Internet, but we feel that it is appropriate.Agnosticism implies uncertainty about the existence of God. The basic problem here is that there are many answers to the question “Does God exist?” However there is only this one term available to cover all of the meanings. Some of today’s possible overlapping answers to the question are:

1. I don’t personally know.

2. I don’t know but will lead my life in the assumption that no God exists.

3. I don’t know but will lead my life assuming that God does exist.

4. I cannot give an opinion because there is no way that we can prove the existence or non-existence of God given currently available knowledge.

5. I cannot give an opinion because there is no way to know, with certainty, anything about God, now and in the future.

6. Yes, God exists. But we do not know anything about God at this time.

7. Yes, God exists. But we have no possibility of knowing anything about God, now or in the future.

Ultimately, the term “Agnostic” is something like “Christianity.” Both refer to a wide diversity of belief systems. In many cases, an individual asserts that their particular definition is the only fully valid one.

The one principle linking all meanings of “Agnostic” is that God’s existence can neither be proved nor disproved, on the basis of current evidence. Agnostics note that some theologians and philosophers have tried to to prove, for millennia, that God exists. Others have attempted to prove that God does not exist. Agnostics feel that neither side has convincingly succeeded at their task.

Evolution of the term “Agnostic” over time:

Three main meanings have been associated with “Agnostic” since Thomas H. Huxley invented the term in the mid-19th century.

	Huxley defined agnosticism as follows: “… it is wrong for a man to say he is certain of the objective truth of a proposition unless he can provide evidence which logically justifies that certainty. This is what agnosticism asserts and in my opinion, is all that is essential to agnosticism.” 11
	“… an agnostic is someone who not only is undecided concerning the existence of God, but who also thinks that the question of God’s existence is in principle unanswerable. We cannot know whether or not God exists, according to an agnostic, and should therefore neither believe nor disbelieve in him.” 12
	An agnostic is undecided about whether or not God exists.

Are Agnostics also Atheists?

Agnostics are not Theists. Agnostics do not believe in a God, or a Goddess, or in multiple Gods, or multiple Goddesses or in a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. However, some Agnostics consider themselves to be Atheists. That is because the term “Atheist” has two slightly different meanings:

1. A person who positively believes that no God(s) or Goddess(es) exists. E. Haldeman-Julius suggests that:

“The atheist perceives that history, in every branch of science, in the plainly observable realities of life and in the processes of common sense there is no place for the picture of a God; the idea doesn’t fit in with a calmly reasoned and realistic view of life. The atheist, therefore denies the assumptions of theism because they are mere assumptions and are not proved; whereas the contrary evidences, against the idea of theism, are overwhelming.” ₁

This is the definition of Atheism used by most Christians, other Theists, and dictionaries of the English language.2. A person who has no belief in a God or Goddess. Just as a newborn has no concept of a deity, some adults also have no such belief. The term “Atheist” is derived from the Greek words “a” which means “without” and “Theos” which means “God.” A person can be a non-Theist by simply lacking a belief in God without actively denying God’s existence. This is the definition of Atheism used by many Atheists. They use the term “strong Atheist” to refer to a person who denies the existence of one or more deities.

Some Agnostics feel that their beliefs match the second definition, and thus consider themselves to be both Atheist and an Agnostic. Such confusion is common in the field of religion. We have found 17 definitions for the term “Witch,” eight for “cult,” and six for the “Pagan.” — all different. A lack of clear, unambiguous definitions for religious terms is responsible for a great deal of confusion and hatred. It makes dialog among Agnostics, Theists, and Atheists very difficult. In fact, when such a dialogue is attempted, it should be preceded with a long session to resolve definitions.

As currently defined, an agnostic usually holds the question of the existence of God open, pending the arrival of more evidence. They are willing to change their belief if some solid evidence or logical proof is found in the future.

Further definitions:

George Smith, the author of “Atheism” divides agnostics into two types:

	Agnostic theists: those who believe that a deity probably exists;
	Agnostic atheists: those who believe that it is very improbable that a deity exists. 5

Another category of Agnostic is “empirical Agnostics.”  They believe that God may exist, but that little or nothing can be known about him/her/it/them. Still another category are “Agnostic Humanists.” These individuals are undecided about the existence of God. Further, they do not really consider the question to be particularly important. They have derived their moral and behavioral codes from secular considerations. Their ethical behavior would not be altered if a deity were proven to exist.Some agnostics who feel the need for religious discussion, fellowship, or ritual join a congregation of the Unitarian-Universalist Association or an Ethical Culture group.

Dictionary definitions of “Agnostic:”

	Houghton Mifflin: “One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.” 8
	Columbia encyclopedia: “[A belief] that the existence of God cannot be logically proved or disproved. Agnosticism is not to be confused with atheism which asserts that there is no God.” 9
	Wikipedia: ['A belief] that the (truth) values of certain claims — particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods, or deities — are unknown, inherently unknowable, or incoherent, and therefore, irrelevant to life.” 10
	Merriam-Webster: “A person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god.” 13
	Die.net: “One who professes ignorance, or denies that we have any knowledge, save of phenomena; one who supports agnosticism, neither affirming nor denying the existence of a personal Deity, a future life, etc.” 14

Famous Agnostics:

Charles Darwin, a 19^th century British self-taught geologist and writer. He attended a course in theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Darwin wrote in two places in his book “Life and Letters” about his personal faith:

“The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic.”

“I think an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind. The whole subject [of God] is beyond the scope of man’s intellect.”

Thomas H. Huxley, a well known English religious skeptic, invented the term Agnostic in the mid 19th century (sources differ about the exact date).  He combined “a” which implies negative, with “gnostic” which is a Greek word meaning knowledge. In 1899, he wrote:

“…every man should be able to give a reason for the faith that is in him; it is the great principle of Descartes; it is the fundamental axiom of modern science. Positively the principle may be expressed: In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively: In matters of the intellect do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. That I take to be the agnostic faith, which if a man keep whole and undefiled, he shall not be ashamed to look the universe in the face, whatever the future may have in store for him.” ₇

He also wrote:

“When I reached intellectual maturity, and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; a Christian or a freethinker, I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until at last I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last…So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of “agnostic”. It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the “gnostic” of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant…” ₂

Robert G. Ingersoll is perhaps the most famous American Agnostic of the 19^th century. He commented on the problem of theodicy — the presence of evil in a universe that many people believe was created and is run by God:

“There is no subject — and can be none — concerning which any human being is under any obligation to believe without evidence…The man who, without prejudice, reads and understands the Old and New Testaments will cease to be an orthodox Christian. The intelligent man who investigates the religion of any country without fear and without prejudice will not and cannot be a believer….He who cannot harmonize the cruelties of the Bible with the goodness of Jehovah, cannot harmonize the cruelties of Nature with the goodness and wisdom of a supposed Deity. He will find it impossible to account for pestilence and famine, for earthquake and storm, for slavery, for the triumph of the strong over the weak, for the countless victories of injustice. He will find it impossible to account for martyrs — for the burning of the good, the noble, the loving, by the ignorant, the malicious, and the infamous. “ ₃

Bertrand Russell was a well known British philosopher of the 20th century. He was arrested during World War I for anti-war activities, and filled out a form at the jail. The officer, noting that Russell had defined his religious affiliation as “Agnostic” commented: “Ah yes; we all worship Him in our own way, don’t we.”  This comment allegedly “kept him smiling through his first few days of incarceration.” ₄

Francois M. Arouet, the French 18^th century author and playwright who worked under the pseudonym Voltaire is often considered the father of Agnosticism.

How many Agnostics are there?

The number of agnostics is unknown. Most data sources lump together agnostics, atheists, freethinkers, persons of no religion and skeptics. Some Agnostics identify themselves as Humanists, Unitarian Universalists, or Ethical Culturalists.

The Graduate Center of the City University of New York conducted a massive “ARIS” study of over 50,000 adults in 2001. ₆ They estimate that there are 991,000 American adults who identify themselves as Agnostics. This is about 0.5% of the total population. There are more self-identified Agnostics than Atheists in the U.S. The number of Agnostics exceeds the number of followers of each of the organized religions, except for Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. If one were to count the number of Agnostics among the Humanists, Unitarian Universalists, and those who refused to answer the pollster, they would probably outnumber all of the organized religions, except for Christianity.

The 1996 Canadian Census only counted 21,975 Agnostics. The 2001 census data showed that the percentage of Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, adherents of no religion, etc rose from 12.3% in 1991 to 16.2% in 2001.

Unfortunately, all public opinion surveys of religious affiliation include a significant percentage of individuals who do not reveal their religion. In the case of the ARIS study, this amounted to about 7% of the total surveyed. We suspect that many of them are actually Agnostics.

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References:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. E. Haldeman-Julius, “The Meaning Of Atheism,” at: http://www.infidels.org/
2. J. Hastings, ed., “Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics”
3. R.G. Ingersoll, “Why I am an Agnostic,” at: http://www.infidels.org/
4. See a brief note in the Atheists-for-Jesus website at: http://www.atheists-for-jesus.com/
5. G.H. Smith, “Atheism: The case against God,” Prometheus, (1980) Read 24 fascinating reviews and/or safely order this book from Amazon.com online bookstore
6. “American Religious Identification Survey,” by The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, at: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/
7. Thomas H. Huxley, “Agnosticism,” (1889). Online at: http://www.infidels.org/
8. Yahoo! education, at: http://education.yahoo.com/
9. Columbia Encyclopedia, at: http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/
10. Wikipedia, at: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/
11. “Agnostic definition,” Essortment, at: http://azaz.essortment.com/
12. “Theism, Atheism and Agnosticsm,” Philosophy of Religion, at: http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/
13. Merriam-Webster, at: http://www.m-w.com/
14. “Definition: agnostic,” at: http://dict.die.net/

Agnostic resources on the Internet”

Many Agnostics contribute to the Atheist, freethinker and secular sites. Some resources are:

	The About.com website has a group of essays on Agnosticism at: http://atheism.about.com/
	Agnostic church describes their web site as “the net’s premier Agnostic Ezine & resource site.” See: http://www.agnostic.org/
	Agnostic.com promotes empirical agnosticism at: http://www.geocities.com/
	A critical Agnostic Review of Christianity examines and evaluates “Christianity and the claims it makes about the Bible and the nature of the universe.” See: http://www.geocities.com/
	Agnostic Web features “An Agnostic’s brief guide to the Universe” at: http://www.agnosticweb.com/
	Thomas Huxley and Victorian Agnosticism is described at: http://www.cyberartsweb.org/
	The Internet Infidels has a great deal of material on Agnosticism. You can find it by using their internal search engines. The Secular Web at: http://www.infidels.org Forums at: http://www.iidb.org Their Kiosk containing popular essays at: http://www.secweb.org Their library at: http://www.infidels.org/library/ See, for example: A talk by Clarence Darrow in which he explained why he was not a Christian at: http://www.infidels.org/library/ Notes from a debate on the existence of God between Dr. D.M. Jesseph from NC State and Dr. W.L. Craig of Campus Crusade for Christ, 1996 at: http://www.infidels.org/library/ A 1896 talk by Robert G. Ingersoll titled “Why I am an Agnostic” is at: http://www.infidels.org/library/ “Agnostics,” a rather intolerant essay by the late Madalyn Murray O’Hair is at: http://www.infidels.org/library/ H.J. Blackham’s 1981 essay: “What is Agnosticism?” is at: http://www.infidels.org/library/
	Reaching the World for Christ Ministries has a section called: “Christian Apologetics ~ Refuting Atheism/Agnosticism.” It discusses and refutes agnosticism and other related philosophies and world views at: http://www.reachingforchrist.org/A famous essay by Bertrand Russell titled “What is an Agnostic” is online at: http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/
	The Universal Church Triumphant of the Apathetic Agnostic delivers a sometimes light-hearted view of Agnosticism. See: http://www.ApatheticAgnostic.com

youtube_logo

On December 9 YouTube CEO & co-founder, Chad Hurley, announced the video-sharing site is currently working on building a better search function.

Whilst talking to LeWeb founder and blogger Loic Le Meur at the LeWeb, Hurley revealed that the next big change for YouTube would be improved discovery tools for videos and content creators on YouTube.

“We need a better search for YouTube,” said Hurley.

He explained that while YouTube gives everyone the chance to put their videos on the video-sharing site it can be difficult to locate relevant content.

Hurley said that YouTube’s search features need to make better use of consumers’ search history and watching habits to create a better experience for our users.

YouTube will also be working on getting people more involved in creating and uploading videos from their mobile devices. The company is also experimenting with a better delivery system for an on-demand TV service.

In addition, the video-sharing site will be ramping up their live broadcasts of large events. Hurley said they are hoping to stream one large event or concert per month whilst trying to make the video content as global as possible.

The future of YouTube will involve the site becoming more social. “We have a long way to go,” said Hurley. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”

http://www.independent.co.uk

Brian Kelly

Cincinnati football head coach Brian Kelly enters the teams awards
dinner at a hotel in downtown Cincinnati,
Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009.
Brian Kelly will be Notre Dame’s next football coach,
according to two people familiar with the negotiations.
The two people confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday
that a deal has been reached with the Cincinnati coach.
They requested anonymity because an official announcement
had not been made. (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman)

———————————————————————————————–

CINCINNATI — Notre Dame has settled on Brian Kelly as the man who can restore its faded glory, just as he turned Cincinnati into a national title contender.

He’s leaving behind an undefeated and upset Cincinnati team that didn’t seem prepared to lose him despite rampant speculation that the job was his.

“He went for the money,” receiver Mardy Gilyard told The Associated Press after Kelly told players of his decision, nearly three hours after the news broke. “I’m fairly disgusted with the situation, that they let it last this long.”

Only 10 days after Charlie Weis was fired, Notre Dame picked the Irish Catholic coach to revive a program coming off the worst decade in its storied history — a 70-52 record and three losing seasons. Kelly, who earned the Home Depot National Coach of the Year award on Thursday night, signed a five-year contract and will be introduced at news conference Friday afternoon in South Bend.

“I am very pleased that a thorough and extensive search has led us to a new head coach in Brian Kelly, who I am confident will help us accomplish our goal of competing for national championships,” Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick said in a news rel

When Kelly’s name was linked to Notre Dame’s search last week, he told his players that he was happy in Cincinnati. A few days later, he said he would listen to Notre Dame’s offer, but still sounded like he would be around to coach the No. 4 Bearcats (12-0) against Florida in their first Sugar Bowl appearance.

Instead Cincinnati athletics director Mike Thomas decided offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn — an assistant to Kelly for the last 22 years — will run the team on an interim basis.

The parting was painful.

The team held its annual football banquet at a downtown hotel on Thursday night. As players arrived for what was supposed to be a night of celebration, they were greeted by camera crews and reporters asking about Kelly’s decision to leave Cincinnati for Notre Dame.

Three hours later, players were told to gather in a meeting room so Kelly could share the news that most already knew.

One minute into the meeting, the door opened and Gilyard walked out angry and alone, save his MVP trophy. His teammates soon followed, some with teary eyes. They had a difficult time accepting that Kelly was leaving one of the nation’s top teams before its biggest bowl game.

“We already knew what he was going to say. We weren’t giving him a round of applause or anything,” tight end Ben Guidugli said. “It’s like somebody turned their back on us. We brought this whole thing this far. We’ve come this far. To have someone walk out now is disappointing.”

Kelly’s statements leading up to a title-clinching win over Pittsburgh last Saturday made it harder to accept.

“The Tuesday when we were practicing for Pittsburgh, he said he loves it here and he loves this team and loves coaching here and his family loves it here,” quarterback Tony Pike said.

Notre Dame was one of the few jobs Kelly has always coveted. Guidugli said Kelly thanked the players for making the move possible by doing so well on the field.

The 47-year-old Kelly was 34-6 in three seasons at Cincinnati, leading the Bearcats to back-to-back Big East titles and two straight Bowl Championship Series berths. The Bearcats set a school record last season for victories with an 11-3 record, then topped that with a 12-0 mark this season. They finished third in the BCS rankings, barely missing out on the title game.

When Kelly arrived in Cincinnati three years ago, then-university president Nancy Zimpher told Kelly she expected him to turn the football program into a Top 25 mainstay, win a Big East title right away and make sure his players graduate. He’ll face even higher expectations at Notre Dame.

He goes to South Bend with slightly less job security than previous coaches.

The last three Notre Dame coaches got six-year deals — Weis, Tyrone Willingham and George O’Leary. Weis signed a new 10-year deal midway through his first season, and O’Leary resigned five days after being hired following the 2001 season when it was revealed he didn’t have the master’s degree in education that he claimed. The last coach to get a five-year deal was Bob Davie when he took the job after the 1996 season.

No matter. Kelly has long admired Notre Dame, though turning the program around won’t be easy. The Irish have a 16-21 record over the past three seasons. And he’ll have to do it without two of Notre Dame’s best players.

Quarterback Jimmy Clausen and his favorite receiver, Golden Tate, announced Monday they will bypass their senior seasons and enter the NFL draft.

Tate, speaking in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., after winning the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver, said he doesn’t know a lot about Kelly.

“He seems to be a guy of high character. I’m excited for him. I think he’s good for the Irish,” Tate said.

Offensive lineman Christian Lombard, a high school senior from Palatine, Ill., who has committed to play for the Irish next season, said he was excited about the hire.

“I’m really optimistic. He’s got a great track record so hopefully he’s going to get things turned around,” Lombard said. “From the time coach Weis got fired, he was the guy I wanted.”

Kelly grew up in Chelsea, Mass., and went to Assumption College, a Catholic school in Worcester where he played linebacker while getting his degree in political science. The son of an alderman, he intended to go into politics after college and he even worked on Gary Hart’s 1984 presidential campaign in the Boston area.

But football won out.

He learned how to be a head coach at Division II Grand Valley State in Michigan, where he won back-to-back national titles and 32 consecutive games over one stretch. He moved on to the Mid-American Conference and turned Central Michigan into a winning program in only three years.

Kelly was criticized in September 2004 for remarks he made to the Detroit Free Press about perjury charges filed against two former Central Michigan players after other CMU players were charged with second-degree murder in the fatal beating of a man.

“A number of them were African-Americans that had been in that culture of violence, and they’re taught to look away,” Kelly said. “You don’t want anything to do with it. Get out of there. You don’t say anything to anybody.”

In 2006, when Mark Dantonio left Cincinnati for Michigan State, UC decided Kelly and his no-huddle, spread offense would bring a spark not just to the program but to the town, where college football ranked behind high school games in fan interest.

The Bearcats won 10 games his first season, set a school record with 11 wins and a Big East title the second and this season he had the high-scoring Bearcats (12-0) contending for a national title.

Gilyard said some players were angry Kelly is leaving just as the program had become nationally prominent.

“Just blindsided by the fact that it’s a business,” Gilyard said. “People lose sight of that. At the end of the day, NCAA football is a business. People have got to make business decisions.”

Associated Press Sports Writer Tom Coyne in South Bend, Ind., and Antonio Gonzalez in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

2010 is just around the corner, and though there aren’t many big name franchises returning next summer, fear not, there is still plenty to keep your local cinema busy.

With that in mind, we take a look at the biggest and best that 2010 has to offer…

Daybreakers  ( 8 January)

The Talent: The Aussie Spierig brothers direct Willem Defoe, Ethan Hawke and Sam Neill.

The Pitch: In 2019 a virus has transformed nearly everyone into vampires. The vamps strategise to save themselves from starvation, while the dwindling humans plot salvation.

The Hook: The Spierigs gave us the rough but still ace zombie flick Undead – now they have a cast, a bigger budget, and Weta doing the effects. Our calculations point to awesome.

Official site here.

The Book Of Eli (15 January)

The Talent: Directed by the Hughes brothers, starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.

The Pitch: A post-apocalyptic Western, with Washington’s dangerous loner guarding the secret hope of mankind through a radiation-ravaged afterworld.

The Hook: The trailer is all dusty cyberpunk bandits and sudden, lethal action. Set to be an ass-kicker with a desolate atmospheric hook.

Official site here.

Edge Of Darkness (29 January)

The Talent: Bond specialist Martin Campell directs a returning Mel Gibson.

The Pitch: Based on the bleak but brilliant BBC drama from 1985, it features a cop who gets tangled up in radical politics and political conspiracy following the death of his daughter.

The Hook: It looks a disaster – the original was awash with austere, Cold War-era dejection – but not only has Campbell directed the two best Bonds of the last 20 years, he was also behind the TV camera for the ’80s version. Might just work – if he can keep Gibson’s ego in check.

Official site here.

The Wolfman (12 February)

The Talent: Starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, special effects by Rick Baker.

The Pitch: Del Toro is Victorian gentleman Lawrence Talbot, reunited with his estranged father following the disappearance of his brother. But there’s something unnatural and dangerous about his bro’s vanishing…

The Hook: The film’s release has been shunted backwards for over a year already, but if Baker’s effects are half as effective as his work in An American Werewolf In London, they’ll make up the shortfall on shabby plotting or studio editing.

Official site here.

www.digg.com