About 2 weeks ago, news came to light of an unfortunate story involving  church in Zaragoza Spain, a century old fresco of Jesus, and the church’s attempt to restore the image to its original form. Over the years the image painted by Elias Garcia Martinez had deteriorated, mostly affected by moisture, and the face of Jesus was becoming harder and harder to see. One well-meaning parishioner, the octogenarian Cecilia Gimenez, upon seeing...

Yesterday my good buddy Jake Farr-Wharton and I had a conversation over Skype, which Jake recorded for his podcast The Imaginary Friends Show. In the podcast we discuss such topics as Deepak Chopra, the Christmas Myth and children, parenting tips for for the day you meet you daughter’s first boyfriend, plus news including a faith-healing church in the UK claiming it can cure HIV through prayer, and an Islamic cleric’s crusade against...

Just over a week ago the fine folks ofer at Ungodly News posted a periodic table made up of the names of a bunch of atheists, and lo-and-behold, who do I see taking the pride of place at number 92 with the element name “Mp” but little old me! Though I am hadrly deserving of this honour, I got a little chuckle when I noticed that my number is the atomic number for Uranium, which is quite fitting since my twitter name is @Pribbzilla, a...

My brother, an atheist like me, posed to me this humorous thought experiment, and I thought it was worth playing the game and posting it here: God – the bearded white guy who looks a lot like me (he wears more robes than I do) – turns up on Earth, having decided to prove his omnipotence once and for all. He turns up everywhere you go, in all your recent photos, and in all the morning shows. He agrees to meet Mr Obama, and he is...

Pareidolia is not just limited to toast, taps and teapots, it actually extends into any place where a random shape might be found. Recently I looked up into the clouds during a particularly spectacular sunset and, lo-and-behold, I saw this: To me this looks just like a sleeping Luck Dragon from The Neverending Story. See? Okay I admit, the resemblance is at best fanciful, but when I saw this cloud, the thought was immediately “Luck...

You want to know one thing I love about the human brain? The ability to create patterns where there is none. This is one of the ways we make sense of the world, for it is far more beneficial for us to find a pattern when it represents itself in everyday life than to accidentally miss one. Imagine our ancient ancestors, without the abiloity to predict, from their own observations, what would happen when clouds ammassed to the east, or as the sun...