The End of Christianity

The End of Christianity (the long awaited sequel to The Christian Delusion) is now available in bookstores (and I'm assured will soon be available in kindle and other digital formats). Delusion was an awesome book. End is even better. Indeed, I think the two volumes together amount to a decisive refutation of Christianity. A bona fide litmus test. No rational person can read both volumes and not walk away a skeptic. That won't stop the irrational (just see The Infidel Delusion). But at least from here on out we'll be able to call a spade a spade.
 

Atheist Film Festival

I'll be appearing at this year's Atheist Film Festival at the Roxy in San Francisco, California, to give a Q&A for the audience after the showing of the film Agora. The festival starts on Sunday, August 21 (2011) at 10am. There will be two screens with different things running concurrently. For more details (including directions, tickets, etc.) see the SF Atheist Film Festival website.

If you want to catch the showing of Agora and my Q&A afterward, you'll have to get there early. Sadly, it's the first up and starts at 10am, so Sunday insleepers might miss out. And it's running opposite Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God, which is also awesome, so sadly we can't watch both! As to Agora, which is a moving piece of quality historical fiction about the pagan philosopher Hypatia (and her murder by fanatical Christians), if you want to bone up before the event, you can check out my past blogs on the film, especially since I'll certainly be referring the audience to them anyway. Here they are, linked in reverse chrono: [1], [2], [3].

Other films that will be shown include The Nature of Existence in which I have an inconse-quential split-second appearance (I've blogged this movie several times before, here linked in order of worth bothering to read: [1], [2], [3], [4]). And there's lots more, from feature films to documentaries to runs of funny and interesting shorts. And in several cases the directors are on hand to chat after the show (including Roger Nygard for The Nature of Existence). Check out the schedule for more.

Sadly I want to watch everything but I can't be in two theaters at once! You'll surely find something between them worth watching, so I say buy a complete day pass and have at it.

Amazon Dumps Us

Now that California has signed into law a tax reform that counts internet business associations as establishing legal "nexus" for state taxes to apply, Amazon has dumped all of its California internet sales associates. That means I can no longer earn a commission on referring you to Amazon to buy my books, or other books that I think are worth reading (which I had been doing in my Richard Carrier Recommends Amazon store, with my top recommendations in history and philosophy, as well as my favorite films and novels). This isn't because it costs Amazon anything (sales taxes are paid by the customer, not Amazon), but solely because Amazon wants to maintain it's edge in price competition with other vendors (like Barnes & Noble, which, having brick-and-mortar stores in California, already had nexus and thus was already paying California sales taxes on its internet sales).