Archive for May, 2007

Fuck the Poor, Grab your Oil, and Follow Me…

Published
by
DocMike
on May 31, 2007
.

In the ; Matthew, Mark, and Luke relate a story of telling a rich man to sell everything he has and give to the poor (Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22, Matthew 19:21).

But in John 12:3-8, pours expensive ointment on and, when one of the disciples asks why he wouldn't rather sell the ointment and give the money to the poor, says, "For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always."

love to hail Jesus as selfless and giving. This story brings new meaning to the phrase, "What would Jesus do?"

P.S. I threw in the "Follow Me" line just for kicks...

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How long before some idiot ruins it?

Published
by
Gareth
on May 31, 2007
.


The atheist revolution is gathering momentum, that is not in doubt.

We have the big names of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens we have groups such as RDF, FFRF, The Rational Response Squad, The Brights and many others employing a variety of strategies to put the atheist agenda forward.

There have been a number of best selling books in the last 12 months and the mass media has taken notice and started giving coverage to atheists.

The atheists are coming out of the closet and we are making progress. There is opposition but we are winning the arguments, we have logic, science and rational thought on our side whereas the opposition only have circular reasoning, ancient mythology and idle threats of eternal damnation to offer.

We have only one thing to fear, only one thing which would reverse the tide and put us back to a worse position than before the atheist movement first took off.

As the supporters of our cause grow in number, it is increasingly likely that an individual or a small group of extremists will emerge. It would just take one nutcase to decide that words and peaceful methods are not enough, one idiot to decide that a bomb or bullet would be quicker.

If just one lunatic decides to shoot an evangelist leader or blow up a church in the name of atheism, all the good work that has been done so far will be wasted. Every religious group and evangelist would sieze this opportunity to condemn the entire atheist movement. They would say that they were right all along and atheists are evil. They would take every chance to tar all atheists with the same brush and condemn all the atheist groups as terrorists.

This is my greatest fear and I really hope that it will never happen but I feel that we must all be ready to condemn any such action in the name of atheism as loudly and to as many people as possible if it ever does.

Anyway, Sorry to start my new blog with such a depressing and downbeat post, it's just something that's been on my mind for a while and I feel that I need to get off my chest.

Gloriously Huge Universe

Published
by
David W.
on May 31, 2007
.
Several years ago I was debating the existance of God in an online forum. The debate was pointless, as my opponent was quick to draw arbitrary "micro-evolution, not macro-evolution" lines and resort to the inerrancy of the bible to 'prove' his point of view. He was a young-earther, too. Even though the debate stagnated after a while, there was one topic I had delivered, about which I was never able to extract a response. I posted one picture, and he put a full stop on all efforts he had been making in that direction. It was a nice moment for me. What was the topic, and what was my response?

As I stated, my opponent was a young-earther. I asked how, then, were we able to see light from stars millions of light years away? Did he not believe in the speed of light? No, he responded, the speed of light was fine. But the methods used to measure the distances to the stars were 'unreliable,' and that they were in fact much closer than we had been led to believe. This was when I struck.

Then how, I asked, do you explain the Hubble Deep Field image? I included a link to the hi-res image, and pointed out that, save for a few foreground stars, every glob of light in that image represented an entire galaxy of stars. And, if they were all within 6000 light years of us, how could the individual stars in these galaxies exist, considering they must be much smaller than a star needs to be in order to maintain nuclear fusion, and how would it have enough gravity to withstand being blown up by the nuclear energy?

This was what I couldn't get a response to. There is just something very compelling about a good visual.

The original Hubble Deep Field image (hires version here) was a snapstop of a tiny piece of the sky, like looking through a tiny keyhole. If you were to look up at the night sky, the little window this was taken from would be about the size of a dime -- held 75 feet away. And it showed more than 1,500 entire galaxies. What is really incredible is that the entire universe is like this, in all directions.

The image at the right is a more recent image, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image (breathtaking hires version here). This image was taken from a section of the sky about 1/10 the diameter of the moon, over an exposure lasting 1,000,000 seconds. It reveals more than 10,000 galaxies. Aside from the foreground stars, these are all entire galaxies with billions of stars each.

It should again be noted that this is typical throughout the sky. That means that, lurking behind the moon, is at least 1,000,000 entire galaxies. And the full moon only takes up about half of 1/1000th of 1% of the full sky (360 degrees, north and south hemisphere), or 1/200,000th of the sky. Which results in roughly 200,000,000,000 galaxies that would be, barring any obstruction, visible from the Hubble telescope at a similar acuity as the HUFD.

Folks, that's one big universe.

The next step is to try to picture how big a galaxy is. A new image from Hubble shows exactly that. It is the highest detailed image of galaxy M81 (Bode's Galaxy, about 12 million light years away, shown left) ever taken. Fabulous hires version here. Yes, every single little pinpoint of light is a star. In the center they are so dense and the galaxy is so thick that they cannot be distinguished from one another. I don't even have to calculate how many stars that is, you can just see for yourself. (I've heard that 150 billion stars is average for a galaxy)

Another neat demonstration of how big the universe is -- by showing how small we are, is here in a series of image. First, the earth compared to the other rocky planets (and Pluto). Then to the rest of the planets. Then to the sun. Then the sun is compared to other normal stars. And finally, to the very largest stars. Earth grows invisible very quickly.

I don't want to write a complete rehash of my last post on nature -- but doesn't it feel just wonderful seeing how big the universe is? How could anyone possibly believe they are "God's chosen people" after seeing how amazingly tiny we are?

Hitler - the devout catholic…..

Published
by
Panj
on May 30, 2007
.
"We were convinced that the people need and require this faith.
We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement,
and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have
stamped it out."

-Adolf Hitler, in a speech in Berlin on 24 Oct. 1933

I have an alloy belt buckle gifted to my father-in-law by a German officer during WW2. The leather belt has perished but the buckle is well preserved. It bears the message

"GOTT MIT UNS"

Which means 'God with us'. The german officers in the internment camps guarded by my father-in-law often prayed.

There is a lot of other reliable evidence testifying to the Nazis respect for religion and antagonism toward atheism. It is easy to find many similar quotations from Hitler's speeches, books and letters.

The widespread notion that the Nazi regime was purely secular or atheist in nature is clearly untrue. At best there has been a successful propaganda coup by the churches. There may be a very dirty story waiting to be uncovered.


“Clothes make the man, but nakedness makes the human being.”

Published
by
beepbeepitsme
on May 30, 2007
.

Spencer Tunick - Melbourne

A while ago I wrote a piece about Spencer Tunick and his photography. It was called "Now lies the earth all Danae to the stars." What I failed to include was this video when he organized some of the people from Melbourne, Australia to be part of one of his nude photographic sessions. The day was enjoyed by all who participated it seems, except for a lonely protester who wanted to use the photographic session to voice his religious opinion. There's one in every crowd apparently, but to the cheering of the crowd he was removed from the scene. Even the police at the end of the shot seemed a little sad for the poor man and gave him a consoling pat on the back. What needs to be remembered is that this was a legal photo shoot with willing participants who were not paid for getting naked. But at least according to the lone protester, god was upset with this display of nakedness. What do you think?


By the way, those of you who may be offended by naked Australian wobbly bits bouncing around in full view, should avert their eyes from the video.


Thoughts On Memorial

Published
by
drmomentum@gmail.com
on May 30, 2007
.

When a high cost is being paid, we deserve assurance that the goals are worthy of the cost. If the path is unclear and long, we should expect milestones. We should demand accountability.

In the case of the Iraq war, there is a price in treasure being paid. But our service men and women are, in ever-growing numbers, paying the ultimate price.

Some would tell you that to honor the fallen we must only continue along a course with no accountability and no apparent progress. My view is different. I believe that everyone involved, and especially the family and neighbors we have sent to do our fighting for us deserve to have someone in charge put pen to paper and commit to goals and milestones. Aren’t their lives worth at least that consideration?

As I thought about the people who have given their lives for this country, I thought that we should do more than honor them with ceremonies. We should honor them by making sure they are deployed wisely and effectively and that the lives lost during deployment are not simply to run out the clock on a presidency.

The president has said he wants no strings attached to his Iraq war spending. “Strings” is another word for responsibility.

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Life Imitates Puppets

Published
by
ZC
on May 30, 2007
.
So there's this guy Justin who has mounted a video cam on his head for the purpose of letting all of us listen in while he takes a whizz. Sounds pretty oh-so-Jennie-cam to me, but he's got an audience. And now he's hired a chick sidekick, Justine Ezarik.



She sure looks familiar, though, doesn't she. . .

Oh, yeah, I remember. She's been in the movies. When last seen, she was having hot puppet love and saving America from Kim Jong Il.

Memo to Ken Ham

Published
by
ZC
on May 30, 2007
.

T. Rex, Other Big Dinosaurs Could Swim, New Evidence Suggests
T. Rex, Other Big Dinosaurs Could Swim, New Evidence Suggests
Richard A. Lovett
for National Geographic News
May 29, 2007

Predatory dinosaurs such as the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex could swim, say scientists who claim they have found definitive proof of the behavior.
It's beginning to look as though the dinos didn't need the Ark. Maybe Noah was riding a brontosaurus?

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Too Much Christian Coverage?

Published
by
ZC
on May 30, 2007
.
Conservative Christians and the Media - U.S. - CBN News
Conservative Christians and the Media CBN News May 29, 2007 CBNNews.com - A new report on religious news coverage claims that the major media give too much coverage to religious conservatives. And is silencing spiritual diversity.
A news report on religious news channel CBN claims that left-leaning organizations funded a study of mainstream media coverage of religious conservatives. And is silencing grammar teachers.

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A Little Light Dawns. Still Dark As Hell, Though

Published
by
ZC
on May 30, 2007
.
Harry Potter wins in Ga. court | Local News | pnj.com
Harry Potter wins in Ga. court
HARRY R. WEBER
Associated Press Writer
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A suburban Atlanta mother who believes the best-selling Harry Potter books promote witchcraft said Tuesday she may take her quest to ban the writings from her county schools to federal court after a state judge rejected her latest effort.

Laura Mallory, who said two of her four children attend public schools in Gwinnett County, told reporters it may be time to rethink her arguments with the help of an attorney.
I do enjoy Christians who think righteous attitudes are persuasive. And have standing in legal situations. But at least Ms. Mallory is reconsidering her tactics.

“I maybe need a whole new case from the ground up,” said Mallory, who was not represented by an attorney at the hearing.
You think?

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Creation Ham Sammitch

Published
by
drmomentum@gmail.com
on May 29, 2007
.

Skepchick alerted their readers to a face-off between Ken Ham and Nica Lalli on “Fox and Friends” this morning. So I set the DVR, went to sleep, and dreamed of cowboys riding dinosaurs.

Whenever you hear that something is scheduled to be on Fox, and especially on Fox and Friends, you have to be prepared to absorb some drivel. “Fox and Friends” is a lot like the worst of the second hour of the “Today Show” only more crass, more snide, less helpful, more patrioholic1, and even less substantive, as the “debates” are timed to fall within a 6-year-old’s attention span.

Basically, the debate consisted of Ham repeating “come to the museum” as many times as he could, while telling Lalli she was irrational for not believing in everything he believed in.

The Fox host tried to cast Lalli as a kook who would object to any museum involving religion, but gave her a chance to respond and she clearly expressed the difference: Ham’s isn’t a museum dedicated to knowledge about a religion. It’s dedicated to promoting a belief.

It was a funny moment when Ham said “but that’s an irrational belief” and it sounded like he was talking about “belief in God.” This was too much for Lalli, who vocally agreed.

They showed footage of the museum while the two were talking, including pictures of dinosaurs. Lalli noted the dinosaurs and pointed out that they weren’t mentioned in the Bible. Ham responded by saying that they were mentioned in the Bible2 but that the word “dinosaur” wasn’t invented yet. Lalli came back with, “Well why not include evolution, which also wasn’t invented yet?” And so it went.

I have to give Lalli credit for even appearing opposite this guy. But she reinforced something important. You can’t “do science” in the 3 minutes that you are given for a segment on a “news” show like this. Creationists have known for a long time that you don’t reach the general public by arguing rationally. When 3 minutes, or a biased audience, are all you have, you have to stop being a scientist for a bit and go for the rhetorical jugular.

Just being intelligent and well-spoken isn’t good enough. It helps to be able to “have good comebacks” for the opposition’s assertions. But I think it is better still to have a very small handful of points (maybe just one or two) hammer at them, repeat them, and be ready for the kind of response you’re going to get. But don’t get run off into a rabbit-warren of argument. In 3-or-so minutes you’re only trying to make your point and so repetition is your friend.

I think Lalli did a decent job, and I think it’s important that there are people willing to do what she did. She didn’t push her book at all, though the host did mention it. Her points came across as “you’re wrong about dinos in the Bible and it’s not a real museum if you’re asked to ‘prepare to believe.’” I think the tactic of “you’re wrong on the dinos, and that calls your whole museum into question” is a good point.

These shows are how many people get their information. Scientists concede this ground at the peril of public support for science.

1 pa·tri·o·hol·ism n. A disorder characterized by the excessive focus on the superiority of your love for your country leading to psychological harm and impaired social and vocational functioning, eventually rendering you capable only of working for right wing bloviators.

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It Feels Good to Be Good

Published
by
The Alpha
on May 29, 2007
.
According to a recent Washington Post article , a recent study lends further support to the idea that doing good may be a primal, natural instinct. Neuroscientists at the National Institute of Health conducted brain scans of individuals as they were asked to think about donating a sum of money to a charity or keeping it for themselves. The results of the study revealed that "The generosity activated a primitive part of the brain that usually lights up in response to food or sex. Altruism, the experiment suggested, was not a superior moral faculty that suppresses basic selfish urges but rather was basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable." The study appears to be yet another example of how differing fields of science have crossed into the territory that theology his historically claimed for its own. I believe Grafman, the chief of cognitive neuroscience at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said it best. "Eventually, you are bound to get into areas that for years we have preferred to keep mystical. Some of the questions that are important are not just of intellectual interest, but challenging and frightening to the ways we ground our lives. We need to step very carefully."

The article mentioned some of the implications of such research one of them being how society judges immoral people. If morality is about brain chemistry and the process by which individuals reach moral decisions, should we hold certain people to different standards of accountability? It's a good question with legal and philosophical ramifications. I think it shows that as science continues to expand our understanding of ourselves and our environment, we must work to include our new understanding into how we deal with one another.

Brazil to subsidize birth control pills

Published
by
Aviaa
on May 29, 2007
.
SAO PAULO, Brazil - Just weeks after Pope Benedict XVI denounced government-backed contraception in a visit to Brazil, the president unveiled a program Monday to provide cheap birth control pills at 10,000 drug stores across the country.

(applauds) If this is the effect the Pope has on the countries he visits, I encourage him to tour widely and often.

"The church favors responsible parenthood, with parents using natural (birth control) methods," said Tempesta, who oversees the church in the northeastern state of Para.

- Brazil to subsidize birth control pills

As the joke goes, the Catholic Church allows women to use mathematics to prevent pregnancy, but neither physics nor chemistry. "Natural Family Planning" has always struck me as a ridiculously contrived loophole. I once heard it explained that the method leaves open the opportunity for God to "give" you a child, if he so wishes. I suppose that if I were to believe in an omnipotent deity who reputably once managed to impregnate a virgin, I'd likely trust that neither a condom nor a pill full of hormones would be likely to thwart him. Perhaps I’m over-estimating omnipotence.

(cross posted at The Atheist Mama)

The Tu Quoque Fallacy: Or Atheism is a Religion Too.

Published
by
beepbeepitsme
on May 29, 2007
.
~*~
I am going to start a series of posts which just involve a few lines of either my own thoughts on a specific subject, or a few lines of someone else's thoughts on various subjects. Comments are welcomed.

My understanding is that a religion would require an explicitly stated set of beliefs. There is no explicitly stated set of beliefs for someone who calls themself an atheist. However, if someone calls themselves a 1. Materialist 2. Naturalist 3. Existentialist 4. Humanist 5. Secular humanist - it could be argued that these philosophies display an explicit set of beliefs.

Would the evidence of explicitly stated beliefs mean that these philosophies were a religion? For that you would need to be able to demonstrate how a philosophy differs from a religion, or more pertinently, how it doesn't differ. Off the top of my head, I would suggest that a philosophy involves itself with arguments primarily based in reason and that a religion involves itself in arguments primarily based in faith.

Faith, in this context means that regardless of the argumentation or the processes used, that the argument would not under any circumstance change the position of the person of faith. Faith, in this sense, is an unwavering belief, which is not ameliorated or mitigated in the light of new or contradictory evidence or information. Secular humanists, materialists, naturalists or philosophers do not have "faith" of this nature. They may endorse a variety of beliefs, but those beliefs are open to review and to change in light of evidence to the contrary.



Getting a tan from the Book of Mormon

Published
by
Steve Wells
on May 28, 2007
.
The Book of Mormon is black and white about skin color.

White skin is good and "delightsome"; black skin is bad and "loathsome". In fact, God created dark skin just to punish people for their bad behavior.

And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity ... wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people. 2 Nephi 5:21-22
This color-coding scheme was designed by God to separate the good from the bad and to keep them forever separate. God will curse the children that result from any "seed mixing".
And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done. 2 Nephi 5:23
And the difference between the races is much more than skin deep. God not only darkened the skin of people of color; he made them lazy, wild, and mischievous, as well.
And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey. 2 Nephi 5:24

[But people of color shouldn't give up all hope. God's curse can be undone, at least in certain circumstances. An especially well-behaved dark-skinned person may become white and delightsome again! (See 3 Nephi 2:14-16)]

And readers of this blog should take note: God may cause your skin to darken if you spend your time dwindling in unbelief.

And the angel said unto me: Behold these shall dwindle in unbelief. And it came to pass that I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations. 1 Nephi 12:22-23
But then, that might not be such a bad thing. You'll be loathsome, filthy, lazy, and abominable to God, but you'll get a nice, safe tan out of it!

Creationism Museum A-OK

Published
by
drmomentum@gmail.com
on May 28, 2007
.

There’s been a lot of hubbub lately over the erection of a creationism museum.

I don’t know why people are so hot and bothered about it. If you ask me, this is a brilliant idea.

Moldering away in some museum is exactly where creationism belongs. In fact, I think every natural history museum ought to have a small exhibit on creationism, for a refreshing contrast to reality.

If museums have the resources to set up their own zoos, why not have a few creationists behind glass as well? Keep them safe from what must be a fairly frightening world of facts and research, and preserve them for future generations who would like to know how far we’ve progressed.

And the humor factor? The fact that there are still creationists is an under-appreciated source of amusement.

Creationism finally admitting its obsolescence and retiring to a museum? Where do I send the check?

Atheist donates to Catholic schools

Published
by
Panj
on May 28, 2007
.
I saw this headline today:

Atheist Hedge Fund Manager In Boost To Catholic Schools

I have said in earlier postings that we Atheists are ignoring the successful tactics used by the churches. When wealthy Atheists are looking around for good causes do they see trusted, established, well publicised Atheist organisations doing 'good work'. Not really. There are plenty of secular institutions connected to the state or big business but I do not see similar bodies aligned specifically to Atheists or Brights.

I hope I am wrong in this. Please demolish my argument by posting worthy examples.

Another Interesting Atheist vs. Christian Exchange…

Published
by
The Jolly Nihilist
on May 28, 2007
.

Recently, I had another discussion, with another Christian, on a popular religion-oriented message board. It revolved around my recent essay, “The Heartache of Loss,” and my contention within it that religion, while a source of comfort for believers, is not actually true. I do not have verbatim quotes from the Christian with whom I was debating because I had posted my original essay on an atheists-only board at the forum; shortly after my final response, which is published here, the moderators deleted all the Christian’s posts because of that rule violation. However, before sharing my response, I will convey the Christian’s arguments as fairly and accurately as possible.

We had a few very brief exchanges during which period the Christian basically was feeling me out, and getting a sense of the degree to which I reject his faith. When I said something along the lines of, “I know religion is not real,” he posted the following arguments:



1. The type of prayer I describe in “The Heartache of Loss” is not legitimate, but rather a straw man description given by one who does not understand religion. He said he knows nobody who prays the way I describe in that piece.

2. There is evidence for the existence of God—and rational evidence, at that. He argued that one might choose to reject that evidence but, since evidence does exist, it is much more appropriate to embrace agnosticism. Indeed, he flatly said being an atheist is logically impossible since one cannot prove God’s non-existence.

3. Deism is a better choice for atheists. He asked why I do not embrace deist views.



What follows is my rebuttal to the above-articulated arguments:

Well, even though I did not mean to start any type of atheist vs. theist debate with this post, since I deliberately posted it in the atheist-only forum, I will be happy to respond to this quickly.

I used to be a Roman Catholic, so I have some familiarity with Christianity and prayer. I know many people who pray in order that God makes their lives better in some way. Individuals pray for the health of family and friends, success and prosperity at work, the safe return of children trapped in Iraq and, indeed, the healing of sick loved ones. In particular, people pray when they feel powerless otherwise. I know this because my Christian family members have been praying quite a bit since my grandfather got his terminal prognosis. They say, "It's in God's hands now" and pray for some sort of divine assistance. They are Christians, and that is exactly what many are doing.

I am an atheist about God in the same way I am an atheist about invisible garden banshees. I see no good hard evidence and, thus, I presume non-existence. I need be agnostic about God only if I also need be agnostic about invisible garden banshees or white-haired closet goblins. I do not mean to be demeaning in any way, but I simply base my beliefs on the hard evidence at hand. I do not care about holy texts because there are 10,000 distinct religions in this world right now and they all have their own special texts, each equally as reliable as every other (because each contains extraordinary claims which, most of the time, lack extraordinary corroborative hard evidence). I also find the concept of “God” useless since there are infinitely various God characters, with infinitely various skill sets, demanding infinitely various behaviors, promising infinitely various things. Why worship Yahweh and not Thor? Why worship Yahweh and not Enlil (Ellil)? Why worship Yahweh and not Hargazorn? [Hargazorn is a Scandinavian-region deity yet to be discovered by man.]

Deism still involves a God—and a creative God, at that. I see no need for such a God to explain anything on our planet or in our solar system, galaxy, galaxy cluster or universe. I comprehensively reject the divine, including an afterlife. Moreover, I believe Dr. Richard Dawkins' "infinite regress" argument obliterates the very notion of a designer God that constructed/planned/designed our universe.

Texts will not budge me; there are 10,000 others competing for my allegiance (along with innumerable ancient, forgotten mystical texts). Neither will "gaps" arguments; no knowledge gap, in the history of humankind, ever has been filled with the supernatural or the divine. I would need positive, hard evidence for the existence of a God. Then, of course, we would need to narrow that God down from infinitely many and infinitively various to just one.

Not in Kansas Anymore

Published
by
David W.
on May 28, 2007
.
For years it seems like much of the news about Intelligent Design was coming out of Kansas, especially since ID was kicked out of Dover. This is probably because I lived in Kansas at the time, but I've heard it mocked so many times I believe it is safe to say that Kansas had a national, if not international, reputation for being ID-friendly. But now the winds of change have arrived, and Dorothy and her little dog Toto have been picked up and dropped into Kentucky. And as with the travelers to Oz, what they found there was quite a different reality.

Yep, Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis are opening the Creation Museum to the public today. Or, as I've also heard it called, the Fred and Wilma Flintstone Memorial Museum. PZ has collected a good selection of quotes from various newspapers about the opening. Zachary Lynn got a sneap peek and posted his photographs of the museum in a guided online tour that's interesting to look through, if only to see the Robo-Adam and Robo-Eve. (does anyone else think that Eve looks a bit like Alanis Morissette?)

We've probably all heard stories about the museum by now, like images of a Tyrannasaurus Rex grazing in a meadow and eating leafy greens and opening coconuts with six-inch razor sharp teeth, but now there are pictures in the flesh -- and when I say in the 'flesh' I'm talking about the two skinned and bloody goats in a diorama about sacrifice. And Cain standing woefully over the inert Abel, lying bloody on the ground with a bashed in head. I think these gory shock-value images are only peppered here and there to make the 'science' seem more adult and less elementary-school level. In the same way that a producer might insert a few especially brutal or graphic scenes in order to bump a movie into an 'R' rating. Also in the same way that teenagers think that ridiculous amounts of cursing will somehow make them seem more grown up.

Fortunately there is a four-page primer by Lawrence Krauss called "Top 10 Reasons Why the Universe, the Sun, Earth, and Life are NOT 6000 years old". Something I find interesting -- and sad -- is that old-earth people calmly gather facts, data, and arguments that easily blow the young-earth view out of the water. They let the facts choose the truth. But the young-earthers simply make up stories that suit their beliefs, and let the belief choose the truth. I've read Genesis, and there was nothing in there about dinosaurs eating coconuts.

Maybe religious people would be easier to debate with if they actually knew more about their own religion! Stephen Prothero has a book called "Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- and Doesn't" (A book that made my wish list on Amazon as soon as I heard about it.) Did you know that less than half of the people polled could identify Genesis as the first book in the bible? More than 10 percent think that Noah's wife as Joan of Arc. And evangelicals don't know a whole lot more about the bible than non-evangelicals. Right or wrong, spreading the word is the important part, eh?

I think that about sums of the Creation Museum, too. All $27 million dollars of it.

Fluidity

Published
by
Q
on May 27, 2007
.
One characteristic I've recently come to realize I admire greatly in people is fluidity. Religions, many traditions, and many mentalities adhere to a strict set of laws which are considered "sacred" and "timeless". However, as faults in these laws come under scrutiny, it becomes apparent that one has only three options:

1. Stick to the laws no matter the circumstance.
2. Overlook the faults and pretend they don't exist while making small adjustments to the laws to make them more acceptable.
3. Realize that the laws are man-made, time-dependent, and far from perfect, and discard them completely.

Who has the right to define how you live your life, how you treat people around you, the things you can and cannot do, or even what you can eat or drink? People try to suppress what they cannot understand or accept, their memes fight a losing battle for dominion, hindering progress and destroying generations in the process.

I always find it funny to see some narrow-minded traditionalist, or religious apologist, struggling to keep up with globalization, trying in vain to close all the holes in a sinking boat. A small rubber band, trying to stretch to contain what can no longer be contained until it ruptures. The casualties of the process, however, are children that grow up in a severely contradicting environment, children who are usually not lucky enough to escape the viruses of the mind their environment is infested with....

Creationists Do It

Published
by
ZC
on May 27, 2007
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In the Missionary Lizard Position.

(h/t Pharyngula for the image)

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Remembering Their Last Salute

Published
by
The Alpha
on May 27, 2007
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In remembrance of the soldiers who gave their last salute to this nation by sacrificing their lives.

Atheism is just another religion?

Published
by
Panj
on May 27, 2007
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I have recently read that some notable godsuckers are claiming that Atheism is nothing more than a new minority religion. Calling Atheism another religion is like calling perfect health a disease or like a creature without floppy ears, no trunk and no tusks is another type of elephant.

Perhaps not playing football is a sport?

"Are you into sport"

"Oh yes. I don't play football"

"Didn't you play any football yesterday."

"No, and I didn't play football the day before or any day before that."

"Aren't you going to play today."

"No, I never play football"

" I think you are a bit of a fanatic. All this not playing football has turned you into a fundamentalist not football player."

Exit stout party.

Insanity or Bad Reasoning

Published
by
The Alpha
on May 26, 2007
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During a recent meetup of like-minded people, we discussed the notion that personal feelings/experiences somehow validate religion for some individuals. We all thought the notion was ridiculous because millions, if not billions, of people from differing and completely contradictory religions believe that their personal feelings somehow speak of the truth behind their particular religion. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that personal feelings are unreliable when determining whether a religion is true. The group was more interested, however, in the ramifications and nature of the experiences people claim to have.

For example, some people believe that they were struck by an idea (or revelation) so awesome that it must have been divinely inspired. Some suggested that such a line of reasoning speaks of how people's faith in God may actually belittle the abilities of the individual. Others thought that outsourcing one's own intelligence to a supernatural deity may make one feel less responsible for their own "uninspired" moments of stupidity.

The interesting part of the discussion, however, dealt with the nature of the supposed personal feeling or inspiration. One person asked whether or not religious people are hearing a voice, other than their own, in their heads when they claim that God inspired or spoke to them. I replied that it was more along the lines of attributing their own thought process to whatever deity they happen to believe in. Jokingly, he said the answer was unsatisfactory. His preferred answer was more along the lines of someone suffering from schizophrenia. He'd cut religious people some slack if they were actually hearing multiple voices. In his opinion, their position would be more understandable and less unreasonable if that was the case. I agreed with him, but I still preferred my answer because I think it's easier to educate someone about their false reasoning than it is to medicate a mental illness. So what do you prefer, insanity or bad reasoning?

Village Atheist = Village Idiot?

Published
by
Abacquer
on May 26, 2007
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The jobs don't pay a lot, and you take most of your pay in self-esteem, but somebody is always trying out for village idiot or village atheist. Often they're one and the same...

-- Wesley Pruden, Revival time with the village atheist, (Washington Times)

In a classic pot-and-kettle scenario, Wesley Pruden has done disservice to the readers of the Washington Times with an irrational screed mocking atheists for writing "irrational screeds mocking those who have the faith the authors clearly envy."  The saving grace for these unfortunate atheists is that the average Times reader is probably too smart to be taken in by such drivel.

Pruden has nothing constructive to offer in his screed.  He merely calls atheists names and cites examples of atheists saying bad things about people who deserve to have bad things said about them.  This is what his article boils down to:

  • Did you know that there are atheists living among you?
  • Atheists are idiots.
  • Atheists hate people of faith because they don't have faith but desperately want it.
  • Atheists say the darndest things.
  • Atheists are getting more attention than I am and it pisses me off.

Mr. Pruden apparently doesn't concern himself with the facts regarding persons atheists have spoken ill of, or even facts about the atheists themselves.  I mean really, who among us who has actually read The God Delusion would use the word "irrational" to describe it?  I've been struggling with the book myself and have found it incredibly dense, repetitive, and belaboring of points, but irrational?  Rationality is the coin of the atheist realm.  The author has got it backwards... it is faith that is irrational.

The article is clearly calculated to incense the readership, as opposed to communicate any meaningful argument as to why atheists are idiots, or naughty, or whatever else he's trying to say.  He notes Christopher Hitchens' reference to Mother Theresa as "the ghoul of Calcutta", without bothering to say why.  He notes Pulitzer prize winner Paul Greenberg's mention of Reverend Falwell's one "decent" moment on record, without bothering to say why.  Apparently the "why" doesn't concern the unencumbered-by-a-Pulitzer-Prize-Pruden.

A rational person will find little of interest in this yawn-inspiring rant against atheism, except perhaps an appreciation of the irony by which the author reveals himself to be the shrill irrational caricature that he tries to paint atheists as.  Beyond that, there's nothing to see here.

Comments for all

Published
by
Xander
on May 26, 2007
.
I have now enabled comments for all people, regardless of whether they have a blogger account. A few rules though. Comments should be relevant to the post, and all constructive criticism is welcome. Just sheer hate-mail will be removed and posted elsewhere for mine (and others) amusement. Your comment may be removed at my discretion (though I will try to avoid this). Sorry to sound Orwellian about this, but I want a bit of decorum on this blog. Many thanks.

If America Was Really a Christian Theocracy

Published
by
DocMike
on May 25, 2007
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The book of has a nice little checklist (or hit list) for so they know who they should put to death in God's name. Here are a few lovely examples:

20:9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.

20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

20:11 And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

20:12 And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.

20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

20:14 And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.

20:15 And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.

20:16 And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

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More additions to the PA top Technorati ranks table

Published
by
Dehumanizer
on May 25, 2007
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The top technorati ranks table for Planet Atheism members has been improved again. :) In addition to showing the Technorati rank, number of incoming links (from Technorati as well), and Google Pagerank, the table now shows Alexa ranks as well.

You can now also click on any of the above column titles to sort the table by that particular value/rank. Incoming links and Pagerank are "the more, the merrier", while Technorati rank and Alexa rank are "the lower, the better", so sorting takes that into account.

A note of warning: I've mentioned before that you shouldn't really take any of these ranks too seriously, and this is especially true for the Alexa ranks. Alexa is a nice idea (it's the only one that measures traffic instead of incoming links), but it has the following problems:
  • it only counts hits if the user has installed either the Alexa toolbar (for Internet Explorer) or the SearchStatus Firefox extension (I recommend the latter, since, as everyone knows, MSIE sucks), and
  • it often lumps all subdomains for a particular domain together (i.e. doesn't distinguish between aaa.domain.com and bbb.domain.com, even though they may be totally unrelated). It apparently has some hard coded exceptions for some (not all) blogspot.com blogs... but the values aren't really reliable. Still, you can use it to measure the changes in traffic for one site.
Incidentally, the application I've coded (and have been improving) to generate this table from a list of blogs is almost ready for public release. :)

How creative…

Published
by
Robert
on May 25, 2007
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and of course i say this with a hint of sarcasm.... checked my email this morning to find that I had a new comment on one of my older blogs titled "Do you believe" from Victoria. I thought it was kinda funny, and figured I would respond to it here. From her writing and spelling I figure she's probably still in high school.
Listen dude, God is real and if u wanna have a convo about it, i'll straighten all the insucurities u have about the bible.
First let me say, I have no problems having a "convo" about it, but in all fairness I doubt you will "straighten all my "insucurities" about the bible. I have no insecurities about the bible. Calling the bible fiction and worth reading does not seem to me to be an insecurity, it's simply my honest opinion.
It is ashame that u r so stubborn and unsure about the bible as well as urself.
I'm not unsure about myself.. I did not think i was being "stubborn". I'm quite willing to change my views... Given enough proof :)
No matter what u believe, I promise, u will know the truth one day, and God WILL give u a second chance.
Ok? I've noticed this seems to be a common "physiological" game with those of faith. It's an interesting trick... but really does not mean much... It would be like me saying "I promise you... one day you will doubt".
U have alot of knowledge, now use it in a useful and beneficial way.
Thank you for the kind compliment, but everyone has the capability to learn unfortunately many do not want to.
u probly won't listen, but at least u now know SOME truth.
I have listened, but you have not provided me with any truth unless you consider your promise to be a truth. Thanks for your comment, but I won't be contacting you to enlighten me of my "insucurities".....

Paring Down The Prepuce II / Fred Phelps Sings!

Published
by
Holy Prepuce
on May 25, 2007
.
Astute readers may note that today is Friday. More astute readers may note that today's post is thus two days late on the every-Wednesday schedule that this blog has followed for most of its existence. This is by design, because I have decided to downshift Holy Prepuce! from a weekly to a whenever-I-damn-well-feel-like-it-and-no-whining-because-it's-free schedule.

This change will, of course, inconvenience those among you who visit the blog on the web each Wednesday for your weekly toke. Your dedication makes me happy with each mid-week spike on the usage stats, and I apologize. But I can promise that if you sign up for the email service, or subscribe to the site feed, updates will be yours as they happen.

Two factors have influenced this decision. First, I am starting a new job and so will have different demands on my time and the predictability thereof. Second, I have come to realize that arbitrary self-discipline is overrated; and it is sometimes OK to peel off the gimp mask and whisper the safeword.

Now then:

The mad, mad world of virulent anti-gay Christianism got a little more fun Wednesday, when a student at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University was arrested for cooking up a batch of homemade napalm in preparation for Falwell's funeral. Mark David Uhl allegedly planned to use the explosives against the Rev. Fred Phelps and his congregants from the Westboro Baptist Church.

Westboro Baptist, you may remember, is the organization that attends gay funerals toting banners with such charming slogans as "AIDS cures fags," and "Fags die, God laughs." The group also protests at productions of The Laramie Project, and maintains an online clock ticking off the days that Matthew Sheppard, the young gay man on whose murder the play is based, has been in Hell.

More recently, the church has taken to protesting at the funerals of U.S. service members killed in Iraq, on the theory that God smites soldiers out of hatred for America's tolerance of homosexuality. Of course, there can be little doubt that Phelps' vitriol stems from his own repressed homosexuality, since no human being in history outside of a Queer Studies department has spent as much time obsessing on the subject of gayness.

In any event, Westboro Baptist announced that it would protest at the funeral of Jerry Falwell. Now, you might think that Phelps would be a fan of Falwell, fellow travelers as they were on the anti-gay hate-mongering circuit. But there you would be wrong. According to Phelps, Falwell "split Hell wide open the instant he died" because he espoused "false doctrines like 'God loves everyone,'" and believed in free will. (Phelps is an old-school Calvinist and as such believes in strict predestination.) So, Westboro planned a protest, Falwell supporters planned a counter-protest, and Mark David Uhl planned to napalm the whole thing.

But all of this is old news for finger-on-the-pulse information mavens such as Holy Prepuce! readers. What may interest you more is something I discovered while browsing through Westboro Baptist's website, GodHatesAmerica.com. (Lest you think the church insular, it also maintains GodHatesCanada.com, and GodHatesSweden.com.) No, it's not their list of the recently-damned-to-Hell; although that is certainly informative, including as it does Coretta Scott King, Gerald Ford, and all 31 Virginia Tech shooting victims.

What caught my eye--and ear--is that Westboro Baptist has a choir. And you will be pleased to know that this august ensemble has made its recordings available on the Internet! So as a public service and for your listening enjoyment, I present Westboro Baptist's adaptations of several patriotic standards. (Clicking on a title will launch the corresponding .mp3 recording.)

OriginalWestboro Baptist Version
God Bless AmericaGod Hates America
Proud to Be an AmericanAshamed to be an American
This Land is Our LandThis Land is Fag Land
America the BeautifulWicked Land of Sodomites
The United States Marine Corps AnthemSemper Fi Semper Fags

Classic!

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