Monthly Archive for February, 2008

Dissatisfaction with Religion Growing

Published

on February 29, 2008

According to the latest opinion poll from Pew Research, dissatisfaction with religion seems to be growing in the US:

More than one-quarter (28%) of American adults have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion -- or no religion at all.... In addition, about 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.

One of the most interesting aspects of the survey is the fact that young people are less likely to be religious than older people.

The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.

There's a couple of takeaways from this survey. While the US is still far more religious than most of the other western democracies, especially those in Europe, we may be starting to see a turning point. As the population ages, it's clear that religion will become less of a factor in public life. Young people today are less likely to be religious, and less likely as they grow up to pass that onto their children.

With all the disturbing news about science education and creationism, religion in politics and the intolerance of many of the more fundamentalist christian churches here in the US, it's refreshing to note that time is on our side.

I’m A…SLAVE…for you!

Published

Zennalathas

on February 29, 2008

This is the best and most ridiculous comment I've read all day...I mean, all three hours of this day...

I would like to say that in no instance does the Bible ever endorse or ever support the type of slavery that was forced upon African Americans in the United States.

chron.Commons Blog | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!

Types of slavery? Really? I think this blogger's forgotten something: SLAVERY IS SLAVERY!

The Old Testament allowed for the enslaving "conquered enemies", according to the blogger, and then claims that American slave traders were simply kidnappers? He seems to have completely forgotten the 1800s and all the little wars Europe fought to "conquer" Africa. Africans were very much a conquered people. The West just didn't really give enough of a crap about the human beings to force them into non-autonomous roles.

Conversely the Bible's version of slavery was meant for a man who might "sell" himself to another to pay off a debt. But that person is not a slave. That's a servant. That's why we have these wonderful words that describe similar, but different things. They're similar, but different.

The blogger then quotes Roman slave practices without realizing that Roman society was established in such a way LONG before the Bible was babbled out.

I could keep picking the post apart, but I just laughed out loud at my quoted sentence, and suggest to not bother with the rest of the piece, since it simply tries to affirm that:

One should not determine that validity of a truth system by the level of its abuse.

Let's remember that atheists don't attack the truth system, but the "truth" itself. But, even under the assumption that there is some sort of truth hiding beneath the disgusting rubbish called religion, the statement does not hold up. Let's play a little game of analogous comparison:

One should not determine that validity of a justice system by the level of its abuse.

Well, if a justice system consistently was misused to entrap innocent people, then it would be invalid, and it would be replaced. (I realize some people may jump down my throat for assuming that modern justice systems ARE indeed in need of replacement. To you I say: they don't consistently fuck up, so suck it up. It'll get better as time goes on. Give it some time.) Even assuming truth in the religious text of the Bible, the fact that it so often is misused to distort the truth proves its invalidity, and it ought to be replaced with a system that does not allow for such errors.

Of course, there'd have to be truth there for that argument to apply. It's simply ludicrous to think that the truth system is valid if both sides are using the same source to support opposing arguments. It'd be like Creationism using Evolution's evidence to prove itself correct and Evolution incorrect...

Oh wait...that's what happens...and, hold on...isn't Creationism blatantly false? Heh, irony.

- Zennalathas
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.

Blogged with Flock

I’m A…SLAVE…for you!

Published

Zennalathas

on February 29, 2008

This is the best and most ridiculous comment I've read all day...I mean, all three hours of this day...

I would like to say that in no instance does the Bible ever endorse or ever support the type of slavery that was forced upon African Americans in the United States.

One should not determine that validity of a truth system by the level of its abuse.

One should not determine that validity of a justice system by the level of its abuse.

Blogged with Flock

WTF HAX

Published

Zennalathas

on February 29, 2008

This is an outrage! How dare the military not let the troops read this brilliant blog!

Air Force Blocks Access to Many Blogs | Danger Room from Wired.com

What if one of my two readers volunteers?! US Military: think about what you're doing to my reading base!

Okay, on a more serious note: What's the reasoning behind this? Are troops going to hit up the internet, read a blog, and suddenly regret their decision to be in Iraq? We can only hope so! That's half the point of "freedom of expression"! You have to have other people's expressed opinions and pieces available so that other people can see it, read it and evaluate the content, thus opening them up to an opportunity to changes their preexisting opinions/notions.

Censorship isn't appropriate in any situation. What are they afraid is going to happen: a huge morale loss?

Regardless of how necessary the soldiers are to the war, removing any ridiculously improbable means through which they might lose faith in the war is unnacceptable. They have to want to be there, and they have to be able to decide that for themselves.

They are not conscripts being forced into a conflict. The military hierarchy has to respect that their decision to join the war effort is sincere, and (I hope) informed. More information shouldn't change the opinion of someone with such a resolve, and the military shouldn't be so scared that more information would change their position.

Of course, this is all a little rant about the little word: should.

Now, another reason, which I admit is a lot more reasonable, is that if they allowed the troops to access blogs, comment, or even post their own blog threads, they'll leak out secrets. But, seriously, the Air Force fucks up enough at their own official site to really warrant much concern from troops who are less-in-the-know, and the military protocols require each outward transmission to be approved before it can be sent. So...seriously...what's the problem?

- Zennalathas
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.

Blogged with Flock

WTF HAX

Published

Zennalathas

on February 29, 2008

This is an outrage! How dare the military not let the troops read this brilliant blog!

Blogged with Flock

Turkey strives for 21st century form of Islam

Published

Dave McRitchie

on February 28, 2008

After 900 years of cultural stagnation Islam may yet see its Age of Enlightenment. From: guardian.co.uk Feb. 27, 2008. Turkey is engaged in a bold and profound attempt to rewrite the basis...

Mapping light pollution

Published

Steve Weaver

on February 28, 2008

An astronomy post, for a change!

A majority of people now live in cities, so they have not seen all the wonders of the night sky from a truly dark environment. I live in the middle of nowhere, so it's less of a problem here, but there's still pollution from nearby streetlights and the town.

Well, now there's an effort underway to quantify how much light pollution is affecting stargazers around the world. The GLOBE project is asking for your help. It's pretty straightforward:

1) Find your latitude and longitude.

2) Find Orion by going outside an hour after sunset
(about 7-10pm local time).

3) Match your nighttime sky to one of their magnitude charts.

4) Report your observation.

5) Compare your observation to thousands around the world.

GLOBE will then be able to compare pollution levels to last year, when they had 8491 observations. They're hoping for more this year. It's a great excuse for you to go out and look at the stars - and, if you can, encourage others to do the same, especially kids. Generating an interest in Astronomy now will pay off down the road with more educated people in all aspects of science.

So, go out and enjoy the sky. They're accepting observations from now until March 8th.

When Garfield goes missing..

Published

Steve Weaver

on February 28, 2008

..what you end up with is:

an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?

according to Garfield Minus Garfield. Some of the strips are great. My favorite at the moment could easily apply to creationists:

Some others that make me laugh are here and here.

I got a Big Word!

Published

Steve Weaver

on February 28, 2008

Just started up is a new site aiming to redefine every word in the English language. For a small fee ($1 per letter), you can own a word in The Big Word Project's dictionary, and have it linked to your site.

The Big Word Project is redefining words. You pick a word and link it to your website. Your website is then the new definition. Simple.

How cool is that!

You have to act fast, because words are being snapped up pretty quickly. Good news though!

I scored "atheist"!!

Teflon Deity

Published

DocMike

on February 28, 2008

In the wake of the tornadoes that recently ravaged the Southern US, I am once again amazed by the ability of Christians to justify and excuse their god for the evil in the world and praise him for the things that turn out positive. What's worse, they sometimes claim that their "omnipotent" god is not even responsible for the bad things!

"Thirteen were killed in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky, and five were killed in Alabama where some 500 homes were also destroyed. Tennessee was the hardest hit, with 34 killed and 230 citizens still unaccounted for in the poor, farming areas of Macon County near the Kentucky border."

Today's comic was inspired by a report on NPR, in the aftermath of the tornadoes. A woman being interviewed had survived (not in very good shape, mind you) her mobile home being destroyed around her. When the interviewer asked why she thinks she survived, she said, "God must have a plan for me." The very next question was about her husband who was killed in the storm. She replied, "Jesus took him home."

And that reminded me of a conversation I had with a christian friend right after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans a few years ago. I asked, "How can your god kill and injure so many innocent people?" Her reply was, "You can't blame God for the weather."

Unbelievable!

Genesis 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 11:17 And [then] the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and [lest] ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

Deuteronomy 28:24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

1 Samuel 12:18 So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.

Nahum 1:3 The LORD [is] slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit [the wicked]: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds [are] the dust of his feet.

Technorati Tags: humor Atheist Bible Christianity Comics disaster

Lulz

Published

Zennalathas

on February 28, 2008

Golly gosh gee, Mary and Joseph. Look at this hick-tastic comic I came across. It's praise-the-Lord funny:

Believe Out Loud | HoustonBelief

Must...resist...lude joke about...sexual...repression...

- Zennalathas
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.

Blogged with Flock

Lulz

Published

Zennalathas

on February 28, 2008

Golly gosh gee, Mary and Joseph. Look at this hick-tastic comic I came across. It's praise-the-Lord funny:

Believe Out Loud | HoustonBelief

Must...resist...lude joke about...sexual...repression...

- Zennalathas
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.

Blogged with Flock

Losing the Faith

Published

Steve Weaver

on February 27, 2008

As I recounted in an earlier post, my wife and I lost a child at the end of the year, stillborn at 22 weeks into the pregnancy. It's been difficult getting over the loss, and we're still not there yet.

We're undergoing bereavement counseling, and attend regular support group meetings to help us through, and it's been comforting knowing that we're not alone in this process.

But, onto the point of the post. One of the things I've noticed as we attend counseling and the meetings is that there's a lot of people in similar situations to us who've lost the faith that they've had. To be sure, there are some whose faith has been strengthened, but they're certainly in the minority from what I can tell.

Many people are dealing with anger with God, and, from my perspective, it's just one more level of pain to deal with that I, as an atheist, don't have to worry about. I hear constantly "Why did God do this to us?", "What did we do wrong?" and so on.

The bottom line is that people are rationalizing that they believed in a God that is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, but the horror of losing a child indicates that God directly caused their suffering if he is such a being. So, the theory goes, he is not omnipotent, or if he is, he is not omniscient or if he is both, he's not benevolent. So why worship and pray if it's not going to do any good? What follows is a loss of faith, compounded by a church that frequently doesn't know how to deal with child loss. As a case in point from our own example - two weeks after our son died, my wife's church sent us additional offering envelopes for our other children as if to say "Sorry for your loss - please give more".

It seems to me that this loss of faith has not been a bad thing in many people's lives - indeed, it has been freeing to an extent. I know for a fact from my personal experience that not having to worry that some psychopathic sky fairy was out to get me reduced the weight of the loss.

Muslim Medics Pose a Danger of Infection in UK Hospitals

Published

Dave McRitchie

on February 27, 2008

There seems to be no end to the demands made by Muslim immigrants with respect to their religious beliefs. While often some accommodation can be made, in this instance their demand is simply...

Muslim Medics Pose a Danger of Infection in UK Hospitals

Published

Dave McRitchie

on February 27, 2008

There seems to be no end to the demands made by Muslim immigrants with respect to their religious beliefs. While often some accommodation can be made, in this instance their demand is simply...