Monthly Archive for November, 2008

The continued desire for a sense of Community after de-Conversion

Published

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

Recently, in a post titled “Moving Beyond De-Conversion?” the question was raised by The Apostate about the purpose and usefulness of this site. Specifically, he asks:

But what about this site? Is it a help, or a hindrance to mature growth? Are we ex-Christians sulking about, fooling themselves that we are providing positive reinforcements for other non-believers and soon-to-be non-believers. Or is it what we say it is - a resource for former and skeptical religionists? Perhaps health and instruction is not part of what we do. Perhaps we are merely deconstructers, allowing the faithless to flounder in their own philosophies of non-belief. Is it possible for this sort of community to act as just another crutch, another religious-like entity that cannot think beyond itself?

In reply to the questions, I insisted that sites like this do have a positive affect because they provide a sense of community for a very marginalized group. As an American, I am constantly surrounded by the religious. Religious dialogs are impossible to avoid. They permeate our elections, they happen on the bus, they are handed out as fliers and pamphlets. Even if I wanted to “move beyond” Christianity, it would be an impossible task, because religion is simply unavoidable. Aside from the large Christian culture present in the US, my own family are all deeply religious, so religion will always be a part of my life, and I have to find ways to deal with that. One very helpful way is to communicate with fellow ex-Christians.

To any human being, a sense of community is a very important thing. I remember after George W. Bush was first elected hearing him give a speech in which he dropped several Christian buzz words. I don’t remember what they were exactly, but I turned to my mom and said, “It’s so cool. He’s speaking to us Christians. It’s like we have a secret language.” When I left Christianity I left my community, that group that I belonged to with its own secret language that I understood so well, with its rites and traditions that were so familiar, and with its built-in support system. Every friend, every family member I loved, and every school teacher I had were all Christians. I went from a large extended network of friends and mentors with a shared world view and value system to being completely alone. That loneliness was keenly felt when I went to college and realized that I’d never belong to a Christian fellowship group or go to another church potluck. As a Christian, I felt that no matter where I went, I already belonged to a community, but now I had to go it alone. And more than that, I had to be careful. I had no commonalities and no mutual starting point. Worse than that, I was constantly afraid of offending someone. Since Christians are such a vast majority, I think they tend to take it for granted that pretty much everyone else they meet are Christians too. As an atheist, I am also aware of the fact that virtually everyone else I meet is a Christian, and that makes me nervous. I don’t want to mention anything that could hurt their religious sensibilities. Can I talk about evolution around this person? Can I mention that I’m an atheist? I don’t know. There is no secret language to fall back on, no assured common ground. If I give myself up as a non-Christian then I give up the fact that I’m not a part of the established community. I’m not part of the club.

Christians like to downplay the communal aspect of their faith. They often say that they aren’t “church-goers,” or “Christians,” but just “followers of Christ.” They decry organized religion just as often as Christopher Hitchens, calling it a human distortion of God’s word, insisting that what really matters is not the extended religious community, but the personal relationship with Jesus.

In a recent Slate article, Paul Bloom looks at the correlation between religion and niceness (and happiness) and atheism and meanness (or unhappiness). He looks at studies conducted within the US and reports that Christians seem to be more moral and nice. He references a study from 2004 which found that “twice as many religious people say that they are very happy with their lives, while the secular are twice as likely to say that they feel like failures,” showing that US Christians are also happier than their irreligious counterparts. He goes on to show that this division between religious and irreligious is not present in countries that are largely secular, such as Denmark and Sweden. He writes that, “If you look within the United States, religion seems to make you a better person. Yet atheist societies do very well—better, in many ways, than devout ones.”

So what’s going on here? Why are only American atheists the ones who feel so unhappy and unfulfilled? Bloom explains that the European secular countries maintain a strong sense of community, even religious community, without actually believing in God. He points out that most of these atheists still consider themselves culture Christians. They maintain the religious rites such as church marriages and infant baptism; their sense of community remains intact, despite the fact that they have ceased to believe in an all-powerful deity. Bloom explains that it is the communal aspects of religion, the very same ones that Christians in the US are so quick to dismiss, are those that have a positive affect. He explains that out of all of the facets of religious belief, the creation of a strong community is the most beneficial:

There are factual beliefs, such as the idea that there exists a single god that performs miracles, and moral beliefs, like the conviction that abortion is murder. There are religious practices, such as the sacrament or the lighting of Sabbath candles. And there is the community that a religion brings with it—the people who are part of your church, synagogue, or mosque.The positive effect of religion in the real world, to my mind, is tied to this last, community component—rather than a belief in constant surveillance by a higher power. Humans are social beings, and we are happier, and better, when connected to others.

American atheists do not enjoy the same benefits that those in secular European countries do. As soon as we forgo the devotion to a mythical deity, we lose our club membership, and we no longer receive the benefits of community life that religion provided. We are left to either go it alone or forge new communities of our own, such as the de-Conversion blog. Bloom concludes his article with a poignant paragraph about atheists living in America:

The sorry state of American atheists, then, may have nothing to do with their lack of religious belief. It may instead be the result of their outsider status within a highly religious country where many of their fellow citizens, including very vocal ones like Schlessinger, find them immoral and unpatriotic. Religion may not poison everything, but it deserves part of the blame for this one.

I don’t presume to speak for all, or even most atheists, but I can say that in my personal life, the cause of the most grief is not existential angst, fear of damnation, a lack of purpose or meaning, or any of the other things that the religious claim plague unbelievers. The cause of the most grief is my exclusion from the Christian community, and the attitude Christians have toward unbelievers. What hurts the most is knowing that my own family would likely disown me if they knew of my unbelief (or at the very least be incredibly disappointed in me and lament my lack of faith). It’s knowing that the majority of people in my life would consider me immoral, unpatriotic, hell-bound, and in short, a bad person if they knew that I didn’t believe in the God that they believe in.

The Apostate questions if such communities like de-Conversion might be nothing more than a “crutch,” and also suggests that religious communities might be nothing more than a crutch. In my opinion, the desire to belong to a community that brings the religious together with other religious people and the irreligious together with other atheists and agnostics is not a crutch, but a way to meet a vital need. I feel an intrinsic desire for the sort of communal connection that religion provides. I want to be able to interact with a group of people who share something in common with me, and that is understandable. It’s written into my evolutionary heritage and something that every person longs for. We all need community, regardless of whether we believe in the supernatural or only the material.

The Apostate also expresses a concern that a community organized according to a set of beliefs may be unable to “think beyond itself,” but I believe this pitfall can be avoided, especially by a community like the atheist/agnostic community, which is organized around one large generality: the disbelief of a God. We don’t have a dogma or a set of rites and rituals. Our beliefs are flexible, open-ended, and varied. You don’t have to swear by The God Delusion to join our club–you just have to desire membership. The same cannot be said of religion. If I don’t accept Jesus as my personal savior and conform to a specific set of moral beliefs, I can never really be considered a member of the Christian community. If atheism and agnosticism continue to maintain such flexible parameters, then we will remain open to new concepts and different practices. We will be able to think beyond ourselves by including a diverse group of people in our community who each have a unique set of personal morals and opinions. We also have the additional benefit of being able to forge communal ties with other groups. Because we do not hold the belief that we possess the ultimate truth to morality and the mysteries of the universe, we can freely associate with people of different beliefs, and we don’t have to be afraid of the influences of those outside of our community.

We all have a desire to fit into a group and find a label that suits us (even if that label is “nonconformist”). Although I accept the atheist label, it is not my only self-definition, nor the most important. I hope that the atheist community can adopt the positive aspects of religious community and improve upon them by being tolerant, inclusive, and open. I hope that we can be there for one another to provide friendship and support, while maintaining the ability to see ourselves as more than just atheists or ex-Christians, but as multi-dimensional people unique experiences, histories, and futures.

- orDover

Posted in orDover Tagged: atheism, christianity, Church, community, de-conversion, religion

Same old crap, different trappings

Published

Barry Duke

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

THERE’S this geezer over in Italy, who was a Muslim, recognised Islam as defective and absurd, then turned to Catholicism, which is …

Oh never mind!

Anyway Magdi Cristiano Allam, the Egyptian-born writer who was recently baptised by Pope Ratzinger after renouncing Islam, announced today that he has formed a political party that would enter candidates in next year’s European Union elections.

Allam, swapping one dumb religion for another in exchange for a cracker

According to this report, his “Protagonists for Christian Europe” party would work to defend Europe’s Christian values, which he sees threatened by secularism and moral relativism.

He said his new party would be open to people of all faiths and would be close to the conservative European People’s Party.

Allam built his career in Italy as commentator and book author attacking Islamic extremism and supporting Israel.

In March, Allam angered some in the Muslim world with a high-profile conversion during an Easter vigil service led by the pope in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Allam, who took the name Cristiano upon converting, has credited Benedict with being instrumental in his decision to become a Catholic and has said the pope had baptised him to support freedom of religion.

The 56-year-old Allam has lived most of his adult life in Italy, becoming a citizen in 1986. In recent years he was given a police escort after receiving death threats from radical Islamic groups.

While working to encourage tolerance between cultures he has also grown increasingly critical of his former faith.

He said in leading daily Corriere della Sera, where he has worked as deputy editor, that the “root of evil is inherent in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictual.”

Hell is other people’s children

Published

James F. Elliott

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

I hereby propose that airlines and adventure excursion operators all institute a policy of "no children" flights and outings. Because if I have to put up with another 12-child brood of ill-mannered Cajun brats, I'm going to go mildly psychotic and start pitching rugrats over the side of the next catamaran we're on. Of course my child will be perfectly well-behaved on vacations. Because I won't take her or him on one until he or she is old enough to follow directions.

A modest proposal…

Published

Bing

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

One of the reasons that I find skepticism so appealing is that it gives me a sense of control in a world where, let's face it, a lot of people want to get as much from me as they can while doing as little as possible. I'm not lapsing into paranoia here. There are people like Kevin Trudeau, who only satisfies the genetic requirements of the word "people." The man is shameless, and when I become

Chasing Rainbows: The Damage of a System of Rewards

Published

Joe Brummer

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

One of the turning point philosophies that led me to really want to learn more about Marshall Rosenberg’s process called, Nonviolent Communication is the idea that people do things from a place of giving rather than the avoidance of punishment or the seeking of reward. Rosenberg mentions the book, Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn which offers the idea that praise, rewards and gold stars are really just bribes and manipulation. Since reading the book, Nonviolence Communication: A Language of Life by Rosenberg, I have been awaken to just how much we use punishment and reward as motivation, but even more I have been awaken to just how destructive and devastating such a system is to our society, especially our children.

Rewards distract us from the real reason we should do things in life. As opposed to doing things because they will enrich the lives of others or ourselves, rewards get us to do things to get something we think we want. Rewards also lessen our ability to enjoy the things we do. We become so focused on getting the reward, we forget to enjoy what we are doing. It, in essence makes what we are doing less about the action and more about what we will get for doing it. Peacemaker and Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hahn in his book, Creating True Peace uses the example of doing the dishes. He notes that if our goal is to rush through the dishes so we can have the reward of our tea, we will be stuck living the future not enjoying the present. We will not notice the joys of the warm soapy water or the feel of each plate being cleaned because we are too focused on the reward of out tea.

Examples of the destructive force of rewards is everywhere. Our education system is a prime example. We teach our students by system of reward either by cute little gold stars or by grades. We do the same thing to teachers with test scores and funding. Children fail to enjoy the beauty of the process of learning because they are taught to focus on the grades. The don’t work to learn the material, they worked towards getting good grades. Sadly, it doesn’t matter if they can name all the 50 states 2 weeks after the exam because they got the reward of the A. They may remember them, they may not but in the end we adults made it more about the grade than we did about learning the 50 states. This system stems from what lingers above it and that would be the reward of funding. In order for the best schools to get the reward of more funding, they need to have children getting the reward of good grades. So rather than a system of education that has teachers teaching so that kids learn, teachers teach to get good test scores. Doesn’t matter if the kids can’t read when they graduate, the passed the test and got the scores. If the children aren’t doing well on the tests, don’t check to see if they are learning, that isn’t the real goal. Our system calls for rewards of grades and test scores, so change the test so they get better scores, not the lessons so they get better educations. It becomes a sick cycle of nothing as teachers teach to get scores and children learn to get grades, nobody is teaching or learning so that kids actually make life better. It isn’t life enriching, it is chasing rainbows. Rosenberg elaborates on this system more in his book, Life Enriching Education.

I have more recently seen examples of the damages of this system of rewards in our current economy. For many years now, Americans have been focused on “getting more” or having better than they do. They can’t enjoy the TV they have knowing there is a bigger better one. They don’t enjoy the car they have if they is a better and faster one. The house is never “big enough” and we are always working toward having more. Rarely do I hear too much about enjoying what you have. It is this mentality that has driven this country for decades. Our industries are built on the idea that people will always want more. The advertising convinces them they “need” more and what they have will never be good enough. We have a Walmart, Target and K-Mart all within steps of each other carrying the same products and we have brainwashed to believe we need all these products rather than enjoying the ones we have. Now, as people are going for broke, they are realizing they don’t “need” any of it. Factories are closing, companies are closing, and all those folks who believed their lives would be better if they managed the reward of the bigger better house are losing those to the big banks who need to be bailed out as their CEOs also drive themselves to have more. Because of course, we deserve it right? It is our reward for [fill in blank].

Our drive to reward ourselves reached fatal levels on November 28, 2008 when a 34 year old Walmart employee died because people were more interested in getting the rewards than respecting his life. A mob of reward seeking customers who had been brainwashed into believing they need “more” broke down the doors and trampled the young man killing him. When told by crying and mourning store employees they must leave while his family could be notified and an investigation could be completed, they complained that they had waited in line for hours and “deserve” to be there. Remember, if you feel you deserve it, then it is a reward and from what I can see, rewards aren’t that rewarding when you look at what they cost society.

Punishment is no better of a game. Punishment teaches us to do things from a place of fear, guilt, shame or worse obligation. I have come to a point in my own life where I would prefer no one do anything for me if it done from any of the places I have listed. I would rather people do things for me because they see how it enriches my life and theirs.

Punishment never accomplishes what we hoped anyway. When we use it to “teach” children lessons we find that we teach them to avoid punishment not the beauty in doing things differently. Next time, the child will simply get better at not getting caught rather than changing the behavior that isn’t working.

If we moved away from this system of punishments and rewards and moved into a system that focuses on meeting the needs of others, I am sure we could create a society where we buy things when we really need them, not to reward us. We would recycle not because we get fined by the city for not doing it, but because we see the beauty in taking care of the earth. We would see the value of making sure each and every child can read regardless of the test scores. Children would work toward learning the material to enjoy the knowledge rather than just passing the exam that raises the test scores that ups the funding that pays the teachers their rewarding bonus for doing a good job. People would actually do things for the beauty of doing them rather than the benefit of rewards or the fear of punishment.

All of this could happen if we just started to change the way we do things. It really could happen.

Science vs Norse mythology

Published

nullifidian

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

Science vs Norse mythology

Click to embiggen.

/hattip: yottaparsec in The Atheist Experience’s Ustream chatroom

Edit: from The Pain

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Heather Has Two Mommies

Published

Rev. Reed Braden

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

I went to the public library today to register for a library card. While I was there, I looked through the card catalogue. (No, not a real card catalogue… it’s computerised and not nearly as cool as a drawer full of index cards.)

Out of curiosity, I searched through the catalogue for children’s books about homosexual parents. There are a lot of gay couples in the Roanoke area and some of them have children. It’s important that the children have access to materials that can reinforce their self-esteem, especially with the level of intolerance that many (if not most) heterosexual couples teach their children in the Southeast United States.

The books Daddy’s Roommate, King And King and And Tango Makes Three were nowhere to be found. Even young adult books with gay themes like Geography Club, Rainbow High and The Outsiders were conspicuously absent.

The one homosexual-themed book for young audiences they had was Heather Has Two Mommies. I went to the children’s section to look at the book and was shocked (Yes, it’s naïve that I didn’t expect it.) when I found half of the pages ripped out and the other half covered in graffiti along the lines of, “FAGGOTS RUIN CHILDEN [sic],” “HEATHERS MOMMIES ARE GOING 2 HELL [sic],” and “DYKE!”

I was about to set the book back on the shelf and leave, defeated, but I thought about what a daughter of two lesbians would feel if she found the book like that, and I returned to the shelf and brought the book to the counter.

Here’s that exchange as best as I can remember it, and since I just got back from the library, I’ll make it all authory and stuff.

“Hi, I just went to find this book in the children’s section and it’s been vandalised.”

“Oh dear. Let me see it.” She took the book, read the cover and threw it in a bin below the counter without opening it. “Well, that’s to be expected,” came the curt reply.

I paused to find words through my incredulity, “No. No it’s not. What I expect is a library that can take care of its own books.”

“We can’t possibly check every shelf for destroyed books.”

“Don’t give me that. This is one of the smallest, worst-stocked libraries I’ve ever been in. It would take all of an hour to open every single book in this place. Not only that, but the trash cans in the children’s section are tiny. You would have seen the pages wadded up in the bins and you should have investigated what book they were torn from. Are you even going to replace that book?” By then, I’d gathered an angry crowd of hippies who thought I was insulting their library, which I guess I was.

“Sir, if we replace the book, the same thing will happen to the new one. It’s just too offensive for this library.”

“What good is a library when its patrons are allowed to ban the library’s books through acts of vandalism?” She made a noise that was probably the beginning of the word please, as in, Please get out of the library, but I kept going.

“When rednecks in flannel with Sharpie markers get to decide what I’m not allowed to read, the entire library system fails. This is not a church library where books are filtered through the morality police, this is a public library where ideas are supposed to merge. If this happened to a Bible, I bet you would replace it immediately and run back the video cameras to find out who did it.”

She opened her mouth and gestured with her hand to say something, but I cut her off again. “Furthermore,*” I pretentiously said from my high-horse, “you can keep this fucking card because I won’t be coming back. And I will be encouraging my friends to trade books among each other and buy them from bookstores rather than coming to this pitiful fucking library.”

I turned around and headed toward the door when she said, “If your friends are anything like you, we don’t want them here, sir,” with a smug little smile that was begging–pleading–to be wiped off of her face. I stopped in mid-step, calculated what I was going to reply with, thought better of it and left the building.

Here’s a video I found of actress Catherine Dent reading Heather Has Two Mommies.

Right… so where’s the offensive line about scissoring? I didn’t hear anything offensive at all! This is perfectly library-acceptable.

* Yes, I actually said “furthermore”. I hate myself.

Posted in Gay Rights, Local Stuff

Reality rules! Superstition Drools!

Published

Karen

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

Or in the words of Adam of Daylight Atheism:

…the age of reason is also an age of wonder. The devotees of superstition and pseudoscience do not know what they are missing. In grasping after fool’s gold, they have missed the true vein. The universe is a grander, more majestic and more beautiful place than any human being has ever imagined, or can imagine. The unsubstantiated and anthrocentric claims and inventions of people can never compare to the true wonder and mystery held by reality as it truly is, and now that we truly have begun to understand how the cosmos works, we are at last getting a glimpse of that awe and wonder.

Consider what we witness when we peer into the cosmos with our telescopic eyes. We see light born billions of years ago in the crucible of dying stars, shining out across the cosmos and becoming ever more diffused, until at last our telescopes captured the lonely few photons that arrive bearing news of stupendous, ancient catastrophes. We see colliding galaxies, matter swirling into the abyss of black holes, and stars exploding with titanic force, sending out jets of energy visible across the known universe.

I simply insist that you leave my site and read the whole post over at Adam’s.

You lying sacks of shit

Published

nullifidian

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

Bullshit christian propaganda

Read about more bullshit christian propaganda here.

Take your loathsome hypocritical self-serving fictional misinformation, fold it until it’s all sharp corners and then shove it up your fetid arses, you misanthropic [British English] cunts [Note: if you're in the USA or other places where 'cunt' is considered misogynistic, please replace it with your own locale's strongest non-gender specific epithet].

/hattip Bligbi

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The Atheist/Agnostic War?

Published

Hemant Mehta

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

The headline on Reddit reads:

Hundreds dead after Atheist and Agnostic gangs clash in Nigeria

You can see where that story leads…

The question: Is that headline making a fair point?

Some people will argue that this is not simply a religious conflict; there are plenty of other factors that go into it.

But religion sure makes it easy to divide people up in an “Us vs. Them” mentality…

Gorgeous Photo Effect

Published

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

,
originally uploaded by Vicky ta.

I love this effect on photographs. From what I can see it is cross processing mixed with a heavy vignette. If any one has a better insight into this technique, please let me know.

Oh lawd is that some tinfoil hat?

Published

Evolved Rationalist

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

When you see an article titled "The Feminist Movement was a CIA project of social programming", you know it has to include microchips, journalists being controlled by a sinister organization, something ~~right out of a shitty Bond movie~~ called 'Operation Mockingbird', the 'infiltration of corporate media' by the ZOMG EVIL SPIES AT THE CIA OH NOES, yada yada. After reading something like that, you would also know that the intent of this whole sinister CIA plot was to indoctrinate children and break up families so that people would 'accept the government as the primary family'.

~~lolwut~~

ZOMG SERIOUS BUSINESS! PEOPLE, THE EVIL SPIES ARE CONTROLLING OUR MINDS IT'S GARY MOTHERFUCKING OAK!!11!!!ELEVENTYONE!!111!!!

Still not convinced? Here is a snippet from the ~~nutjob kook~~ article:

I know all this sounds like “conspiracy nutjob central” stuff. It’s hard to accept. But Aaron Russo was no fool. He was an accomplished filmmaker and entertainment big shot. He was a true patriot. And the chip is coming. Do some research on the Real ID Act, which will require “chipped” identification cards for anyone who wants to enter federal buildings, use public transportation (flights, trains, busses, ships), have a bank account at a federally chartered bank, have an investment account with a registered investment firm, receive federal benefits (Social Security, Medicare, etc.). This is supposed to be in effect by May 2008. Several states have voted not to participate in the program. US passports are now being chipped. Several companies are requiring RFID chips for employees for “security” reasons. RFID chips are being touted on networks like CNBC as the wave of the future. There is a movement in the medical community to have people chipped so that medical records could be accessed in emergency situations. The movement is to have the chips implanted in people eventually. You can take one if you want to, but I’m not getting chipped like an animal.

Creationism: The New Cure for Suicide in Military

Published

Karen

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

There are times when I think I’m a bit too mean towards Christians. Then I find crap like this (you can read about it here):

And become convinced that none of us, including our so-called Christian allies, are mean enough.

Not before time

Published

Heather

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

Bin Laden’s driver may have helped bring about the Beginning of the end for Guantanemo, according to the BBC.

Well, this is a closure long overdue, to put it mildly. But the repercussions may take much longer to play themselves out. On the subject of the return of Yemeni citizens to their own countries,

..the US is concerned about Yemen’s ability to monitor and rehabilitate them.
Three of the seven men involved in an attack against the US embassy in Yemen in September were former Guantanamo detainees who had gone through the Yemeni rehabilitation programme. (from the BBC)

Hmm. The US government held these people, without trial, in torture conditions for years. I don’t think you can blame the Yemeni government for the ex-prisoners’ desire to harm the US.

This shows that Gitmo was effectively a terrorism training camp. At the very least, it will have massively boosted the will of former detainees to attack the USA. Beyond this, its very existence has boosted the ideological support for Islamic terrorism, in general

In the week of the horrific shootings in Mumbai, this seems a particularly stupid strategy.

escheresque self-portraits

Published

toomanytribbles

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

i got a thing for all things escher... so when i found a very large xmas decoration when i was shopping yesterday, i naturally thought of this experiment.

click either to enlarge at its source

these were fairly hard to get right, if you can even call them that. maybe i'll try it again if i think of an easier way. i think even escher re-did quite a few of his works, didn't he?

Voices of Disbelief (the book)

Published

kellym78

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

Voices of Disbelief will likely be available around August of 2009.

The contributors are as follows:

1. Peter Adegoke
2. Athena Andreadis
3. Julian Baggini
4. Gregory Benford
5. Ophelia Benson
6. Russell Blackford
7. Susan Blackmore
8. Damien Broderick
9. Lori Lipman Brown
10. Sean M. Carroll
11. Thomas W. Clark
12. Austin Dacey
13. Edgar Dahl
14. Jack Dann
15. Margaret Downey
16. Taner Edis
17. Greg Egan
18. Nick Everitt
19. Prabir Ghosh
20. A.C. Grayling
21. Joe Haldeman
22. John Harris
23. Marc Hauser
24. Philip Kitcher
25. Miguel Kottow
26. Stephen Law
27. Dale McGowan
28. Sheila A.M. McLean
29. Adèle Mercier
30. Maryam Namazie
31. Kelly O’Connor (yours truly)
32. Graham Oppy
33. Christine Overall
34. Sumitra Padmanabhan
35. Tamas Pataki
36. John P. Phelan
37. Laura Purdy
38. James Randi
39. Michael R. Rose
40. Julian Savulescu
41. J.L. Schellenberg
42. Udo Schuklenk
43. Michael Shermer
44. Peter Singer
45. J.J.C. Smart
46. Victor J. Stenger
47. Peter Tatchell
48. Emma Tom
49. Michael Tooley
50. Ross Upshur
51. Sean Williams
52. Frieder Otto Wolf

Pinhole Tutorial

Published

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

For people interested in recreating the sometimes stunning effects of pinhole cameras, there is a tutorial on the Ogum blog looking at how this can be done in photoshop.

Why is The Astrological Magazine Going Out of Business?

Published

Hemant Mehta

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

Apparently, The Astrological Magazine ceased production last year.

Why?

This screenshot may give you some indication:

Anyone else see the irony…?

(via Hindu Atheist)

Sunday Heroes - Lazarus

Published

PsychoAtheist

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

It's Sunday therefore it must be time for another Sunday Heroes from Lee and Herring. This time they give us their own unique take on the story of Lazarus. Enjoy:

Aaaaaah.

The Conservative Party Will Help You Write a Letter to the Editor

Published

Larry Moran

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

If you go to the Conservative Party website at Harper Leadership 08 you can get help in writing a letter to the editor. If you enter some sort of name and address you will eventually end up on a page that gives you the latest Conservative version of framing spin. This is how Harper is going to avoid defeat when he faces the House of Commons. (Click on the image to see a larger version.) The

What The Bible Really Teaches About Hell

Published

Adrian Hayter

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

A theist member of an atheist forum I help run wrote an essay-like topic that I thought I should share with people who read this blog. He has cleared me to post it on my blog, so here it is:

The English Word Hell

The old English word hell comes from helan, and means to cover or conceal. Similar words coming from the same root have a similar meaning.

Hill for example is a mound of dirt or stone that covers the level surface of earth. Hull is the covering of a nut or the covered part of a ship. Heal is the covering of a wound. Hall is a building space which is used to cover people or goods. Hole is an uncovering. Shell.

In the early days to hell potatoes meant to cover them, as to store them in a cellar or underground. To hel a house meant to cover a portion of it with tile. The term heling a house is still used in the New England portions of the United States.

At first the use of hell had no pagan meaning to it. It was simply used as the common grave of man. To go to hell in the old English language meant simply that one was dead and buried. It was in Germany and England that the word began to evolve into the pagan unscriptural meaning of eternal punishment.

Poor Translation

The original meaning of the word hell is not so much a poor translation of the Hebrew sheohl (English Transliteration sheol) and the Greek Haides (English transliteration hades), however, as the word has evolved into a pagan meaning the modern day translation of hell is misleading.

The Catholic Douay Version translates sheohl as hell 64 times and once as death. The King James Version translates sheohl 31 times as hell, 31 times as grave and 3 times as pit.

This is common in older translations as well, such as is used by the English Revised Version (1885) where sheohl is transliterated in many cases but most of the occurrences were translated as grave, or pit. Hell being used 14 times. The American Standard Version (1901) transliterated sheohl in all 65 occurrences and haides in all ten of its occurrences, though the Greek word Geenna (English Gehenna) is translated hell.

The Hebrew Sheohl

The Hebrew word sheohl is the unseen resting place of the dead. It is not to be mistaken for the Hebrew words for individual burial place ( qever - Judges 16:31 ), grave ( qevurah - Genesis 35:20 ), or individual tomb ( gadhish - Job 21:32 ) but rather the common grave of all mankind whatever the form of burial might be.

The Greek teaching of the immortality of the human soul and hell began to infiltrate Jewish teachings probably around the time of Alexander The Great. The Bible itself, however, is in stark contrast to the teachings of pagan origin regarding the soul, which is not immortal ( Ezekiel 18:4 ) and therefore can’t suffer forever in hell. The Bible also teaches that there is no consciousness in hell. ( Ecclesiastes 9:4-10 ).

Sheol corresponds with the Greek Haides, both being the unseen resting place of the dead. It is not a place of fire, but of darkness ( Job 10:21 ) a place of silence ( Psalm 115:17 ) rather than a place filled with tortured screams.

The Greek Haides

The Greek word Haides corresponds to the Hebrew Sheohl as is indicated by the apostle Peter’s reference to Psalm 16:10 at Acts 2:27-31 where Jesus had fulfilled David’s prophecy that Jesus would not be left in hell. Likewise Jesus himself said that like Jonah, he would spend three days in hell. ( Jonah 1:17 - Jonah 2:2 / Matthew 12:40 )

The Greek word Haides occurs 10 times in the Christian Greek scriptures. ( Matthew 11:23 / Matthew 16:18 / Luke 10:15 / Luke 16:23 / Acts 2:27 / Acts 2:31 / Revelation 1:18 / Revelation 6:8 / Revelation 20:13 / Revelation 20:14 ).

It means the unseen place. In ten of the occurrences of haides it is in reference to death. It is not to be confused with the Greek word for grave ( taphos ), tomb ( mnema ) or memorial tomb ( mnemeion ), but is rather the common resting place of the dead. The place of death.

Jesus also uses haides at Matthew 11:23 and Luke 10:15 in a figurative way to indicate the debasement of Capernaum compared to heaven.

Also see The Rich Man And Lazarus below.

The Greek Gehenna

Unlike the Hebrew sheohl and the Greek haides, there is really no excuse for mistaking the Greek Geenna (Hebrew Geh Hinnom - English Transliteration Gehenna) with the notion of any hell, either the old English word meaning covered or the pagan hell of today’s Christianity.

The Christian Greek Gehenna is a literal place - a valley that lies South and South-West of ancient Jerusalem. It is the modern day Wadi er-Rababi ( Ge Ben Hinnom ), a deep, narrow valley.

Today it is a peaceful and pleasant valley, unlike the surrounding dry and rocky terrain, and most certainly unlike the pagan / apostate Christian hell.

In the days of unfaithful Kings Manasseh and Ahaz idolatrous worship of the pagan god Baal was conducted in the place which was then known as Geh Hinnom, ( the valley of Hinnom ) including human sacrifices to fire. It is ironic that the pagan custom burning in fire would have so clearly infiltrated the Christian teachings, considering that this practice was a detestable thing to Jehovah God, and his prophets spoke of a time when this place would be turned into a defiled and desolate place. ( 2 Chronicles 28:1-3 / 2 Chronicles 33:1-6 / Jeremiah 7:31-32 / Jeremiah 32:35 ).

The prophecy was fulfilled in the days of faithful King Josiah, who had the place, especially the area known as Topeth polluted into a refuse heap. ( 2 Kings 23:10 )

So it was that in the days of Jesus and the early Christian congregations, that the valley was known as a literal place where the carcasses of criminals and animals were thrown, having no hope for resurrection. The refuse there was kept burning with sulphur, which is abundant in the area. When Jesus used Gehenna as a figurative - a symbolic reference to the spiritually dead the people in the area knew what he was talking about.

The Greek Tartarus

The Greek word Tartarus is found only once in scripture, at 2 Peter 2:4. It is often mistranslated as hell. Tartarus in the Christian Greek scriptures refers to a condition of debasement, unlike the pre-Christian pagan tartarus ( Homer’s Iliad ) which is a mythological prison.

Peter refers to the angels who in the time of Noah foresook thier original positions and became men in order to have relations with the women of earth. The result was their offspring being giants, the Nephilim, who caused so much trouble God had to bring forth the flood. ( Genesis 6:1-4 / Ephesians 6:10-12 / Jude 1:6 ).

It is interesting that this verse is often mistranslated because when Jesus was resurrected from Sheol / Hades ( Hell in some translations ) on earth, he first went to tartarus - that is to say the disobedient angels whom had been lowered in position - who happened to be in heaven. This means that if you don’t understand the mistranslation you would see Jesus go to hell on earth and then hell in heaven.

The Pagan Hell

The Pagan teaching of hell was adopted by the apostate Christian church. Today’s thinking of hell comes more from Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost, but the teaching of hellfire is much older than the English word hell or Dante and Milton. It comes from Babylonian and Assyrian beliefs of a nether world. A place where gods and demons of great strength and fierceness presided over the damned.

Ancient Egyptian beliefs considered the Other World to be a place of pits of fire for the damned though they didn’t think this lasted forever.
Islamic teaching considers hell as a place of everlasting punishment. Hindus and Buddhists think of hell as a place of spiritual cleansing and final restoration.

Separation From God

Hell ( as is often translated from the Hebrew Sheohl ) can’t be a separation from God, since God is in effect there - it is in front of him. He watches sheol for the time when the dead shall be resurrected. ( Proverbs 15:11 / Psalm 139:7-8 / Amos 9:1-2 )

Lazarus And The Rich Man - Luke 16:19-31

Jesus often taught people in a way which was easy for them to grasp. One way of doing this is through parables, or illustration. They are stories, which are not meant to be taken as literal accounts. Such is the case with the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Notice that the Rich man is buried in hades. If this account is to be taken literally then the Bible would contradict itself with all of the information being given in this post, but lets not leave it up to what may be thought to be my own personal interpretation.

Let it also be known that if this account is to be taken literally then that would make Jesus a liar. How so? How could Lazarus be at the bosom of Abraham in heaven when Jesus had already said that no man had ascended to heaven other than himself? ( John 3:13 )

The Lake Of Fire

The lake of fire is sometimes referred to as hell. This isn’t even worth mentioning in my opinion because the lake of fire is obviously a symbolic reference to everlasting destruction. Since hell itself is cast into the lake of fire along with death and Satan, all of this ties up rather nicely in that Adam’s sin brought death. Had Adam not sinned therefore he wouldn’t have died. Jesus takes away sin so the meek shall inherit the earth and live forever upon it. Death will be no more. Sin will be no more. Hell ( the common grave of mankind ) will be no more and Satan will be no more.

Reference

“Sheol was located somewhere ‘under’ the earth . . . . The state of the dead was one of neither pain nor pleasure. Neither reward for the righteous nor punishment for the wicked was associated with Sheol. The good and bad alike, tyrants and saints, kings and orphans, Israelites and gentiles - all slept together without awareness of one another.” - Encyclpædia Britannica (1971, Vol. 11, p. 276)

“Hades . . . it corresponds to ‘Sheol’ in the O.T. and N.T., it has been unhappily rendered ‘hell’ ” - Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981, Vol. 2 p. 187)

“First it (Hell) stands for the Hebrew Sheohl of the Old Testament and the Greek Hades of the Septuagint and New Testament . Since Sheohl in Old Testament times referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word ‘hell,’ as understood today, is not a happy translation.” - Collier’s Encyclopedia (1986, Vol. 12, p. 28)

“Much Confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew Sheohl and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this confusion and misconception.” - The Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. XIV, p. 81)

“The word ( sheol ) occurs often in the Psalms and in the book of Job to refer to the place to which all dead people go. It is represented as a dark place, in which there is no activity worthy of the name. There are no moral distinction there, so ‘hell’ ( KJV ) is not a suitable translation, since that suggests a contrast with ‘heaven’ as the dwelling-place of the righteous after death. In a sense, ‘the grave’ in a generic sense is a near equivalent, except that Sheol is more a mass grave in which all the dead dwell together . . . . The use of this particular imagery may have been considered suitable here [ in Jonah 2:2 ] in view of Jonah’s imprisonment in the interior of the fish.” - A Translators Handbook on the Book of Jonah, Brynmor F. Price and Eugene A. Nida, 1978, p 37

I’m not exactly sure what to make of it, seeing as I have hardly any experience with the study of history and linguistics. If there are any linguists that have studied the areas and wish to comment, please do so. The original forum thread can be found here.

Possibly Related Posts:

Is Superstition the Default Belief?

Published

Larry Moran

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

Are you getting tired of the modern mantra about religion—you know, the one that says it's wired into our genes and therefore probably correct or at least beneficial? I am. So, apparently, is A.C. Graying who writes in Friday's Guardian (UK) [Children of God]. Earlier this week I had occasion to debate – if the soundbite culture of radio news permits that description – with a member of Oxford

I’m not your damn scapegoat

Published

Kazim

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

I know, I know, I shouldn't even pay attention to what's going on at WorldNutDaily, but a listener forwarded this to us and it pisses me off.

A New York man is linking the suicide of his 22-year-old son, a military veteran who had bright prospects in college, to the anti-Christian book "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins after a college professor challenged the son to read it.

"Three people told us he had taken a biology class and was doing well in it, but other students and the professor were really challenging my son, his faith. They didn't like him as a Republican, as a Christian, and as a conservative who believed in intelligent design," the grief-stricken father, Keith Kilgore, told WND about his son, Jesse.

A few things about this story. First of all, no persuasive case has been made that his son killed himself because he read "The God Delusion." His dad says he did, sure, but as I once pointed out in a post titled "Anatomy of a propaganda attack," the fact of these stories tend to be extremely malleable and gradually change as more information is discovered. As far as I can tell, there hasn't even been a suicide note yet, and there are all kinds of things that could have contributed to the suicide, starting with the volatile dad.

Which is my other point -- second of all, there are a lot of ways one can "frame" this story, even if the stated motivation is true. NATURALLY the minister dad and the evangelical leaning WND want to make it sound like the horrible atheist book killed the good Christian son by killing his faith. On the other hand, I've been an atheist all my life and haven't killed myself. My son hasn't killed himself. Why not, instead, say that being raised in a fundamentalist household makes you especially prone to suicide when you are exposed to competing points of view?

I'm not trying to dogpile on the dad, who is obviously going through a great deal of pain and loss right now. I do, however, take exception to the dad using his legitimate pain as an excuse to lash out against a minority target that he probably presumes will not fight back. That crosses the line.

I don't know all the facts about the case at this point, so I can't say whether reading "The God Delusion" did or did not push Jesse Kilgore over the edge and drive him to suicide. I think the responsible thing would be to wait a bit and see if any more information comes out (so I'll probably put it on Google Alert). Regardless, the dad is acting like an opportunistic and bigoted ass.

Keith Kilgore weighed in on the Digg page about the story. Posting as chk555, Kilgore takes the opportunity to recite his extremely confused take on the book ("Also, Richard Dawkins admitted on DVD that he believes in intelligent design to Ben Stein in the movie Expelled. Instead of crediting the Creator, he credits 'space aliens.'" Uh?) The guy is clearly using his son's death to further a crusade that he had already been after all along. I'm sorry for his loss, but... seriously.

Kill Him, Kill Him Dead

Published

Larry Moran

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

These are interesting times in Canada. We recently re-elected the Conservative Party as the party with the most seats in Parliament—but not a majority. That means Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of a minority government. What this normally means is that the government has to craft legislation that will receive the support of a majority of the house. But that's not what Harper proposes to

Scientology Critic Blindsides Cultists During Stress Test

Published

Ron Brown

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

I couldn’t not post this truly epic video. In it, tenacious Cult of Scientology critic AngryGayPope - whom the cult has gone to some lengths to thwart - went into a major Hollywood Scientology centre without being recognized and received a free stress test. Unbeknownst to the Scientologists his videocam, which was around his neck, was recording. For the entirety of the test he plays dumb and simply goes along with the test. Once it is over, he is told that he has a lot of stress and should consider reading Dianetics. He then reveals to the Scientologist that he is gay, and so he is particularly concerned about self-help services’ views on homosexuality. So he thumbs through Dianetics and instantly finds the section on homosexuality where it calls the homosexual a sexual pervert who suffers from an illness, which he reads aloud. First the Scientologist tries to minimize the severity of the claims and then when AGP responds by inviting her to read the statements herself, she takes the book back! Then he goes into Xenu and she, predictably, had him leave the centre.

Outstanding.

Posted in Scientology Tagged: AngryGayPope, cult, Dianetics, Enturbulation, Homosexuality, Scientology, Stress Test

The Age of Wonder

Published

Ebonmuse

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

If you search the internet, it's not hard to find New Agers and others who think that the dawning of the age of reason was a mistake. They envision a more "holistic" approach, one that properly pays heed to the mystery and complexity of existence, and castigate science for being cold, unfeeling, heartless in its probing, reductionist scrutiny of the natural world. For example:

The reason things are advancing so slowly... is that science has neglected the (spiritual) indications necessary for its efficient performance - "with all your heart and all your soul...." -- indications that govern higher creativity and exist for the specific purpose of breaking the cosmic bank. The upshot is that science has become excessively expensive, bureaucratic and materialistic. The integration we need, external and internal, requires an incomparably more intense confrontation between the spirit of the researcher and the natural phenomena he is contemplating than what is currently practiced by even the most zealous of researchers.

And yet, the age of reason is also an age of wonder. The devotees of superstition and pseudoscience do not know what they are missing. In grasping after fool's gold, they have missed the true vein. The universe is a grander, more majestic and more beautiful place than any human being has ever imagined, or can imagine. The unsubstantiated and anthrocentric claims and inventions of people can never compare to the true wonder and mystery held by reality as it truly is, and now that we truly have begun to understand how the cosmos works, we are at last getting a glimpse of that awe and wonder.

Consider what we witness when we peer into the cosmos with our telescopic eyes. We see light born billions of years ago in the crucible of dying stars, shining out across the cosmos and becoming ever more diffused, until at last our telescopes captured the lonely few photons that arrive bearing news of stupendous, ancient catastrophes. We see colliding galaxies, matter swirling into the abyss of black holes, and stars exploding with titanic force, sending out jets of energy visible across the known universe.

Our astronomy bears witness to births as well as deaths. We sift invisible light and see the ripples in the faint microwave glow that bathes all of space, distant echoes of the incomprehensible cauldron of heat and density in which the universe itself was born. We see dense nebulae where new stars are being born, burning away the dusty cradles of their formation like sunrise through fog. We see young planets circling their parent stars, their gravity cutting clear swaths through the veils of gas surrounding them. Most of the planets we have detected are hot Jupiters, but perhaps in some of these systems lurk embryonic Earths, awaiting their chance to cool and condense and one day become cradles of life of their own.

Turning closer to home, our emissaries have explored the solar system and brought back news of the other shores that await us. We have seen the shadows of the setting Sun creep across the mountains of the satellites of Jupiter, and we have seen the Earth rise in the night sky from the surface of the Moon. We have traveled the surface of Mars with our robot rovers, and sent landers parachuting down to the methane seas of Titan. Our age, for the first time ever in our planet's history, has sent ambassadors voyaging so far beyond our own shores that they could look back and see the Earth itself, our one and only home, as a pale blue point of light drifting in infinite dark.

Closer still, we have turned our gaze back upon ourselves, exploring our world in all its complexity. We have learned of the web of evolutionary kinship that connects all life on Earth. Everything - from human beings to redwood trees, from the lowliest cyanobacterium to the fluorescent tube worms on the ocean bottom - is a branch of the same family tree, every living creature a cousin, however distant, to every other.

We have delved down to the molecular roots of life itself, glimpsing the intricate choreography that turns inanimate molecules into living, growing cells, and the equally intricate assemblage that builds living cells into living beings. We have begun an effort to survey the tree of life, discerning the family relationships among countless species living and dead, and mapping the vast, frozen structure branching multidimensionally through those sections of design space that evolution has so far explored.

Traveling down into Earth's history, we have learned to read the record of the rocks and the chronicles they tell. We have retraced the multimillion-year drifting of the continents and learned of the planetary convulsions that wiped out whole branches of the tree of life and ushered in new ones in their place. We have glimpsed primordial eras long before humanity and envisioned the strange landscapes that once existed where we now place our feet.

All these findings far exceed the most fantastic imaginings of ancient mythology or modern pseudoscience, not least because they are true. In what other age of human history has anyone been able to look on a shooting star or a volcano and know what it really is? In what other age have we known the true age of the planet or understood the power source of the sun? These wonders and countless others, most of which are familiar and mundane to us, would have made people of past ages gasp in awe.

Out of the entire span of human history, these breathtaking discoveries have been made only in the last few hundred years, when we began to think and explore rationally. It was not crystals or prayer or Tarot cards that brought us these things. It was not superstition that was responsible, nor mysticism, nor credulous acceptance of extraordinary and unverified claims. It is the scientific method – institutionalized skepticism, rigorously and comprehensively applied – that has given rise to these wonders of understanding and accomplishment. As long as we human beings were willing to blindly accept the claims of others, to be meek and easily led, to believe without questioning, we remained frightened, brutish, short-lived and ignorant. There are some today who would gladly have us return to that state. Worse, there are some whose methods would inadvertently lead us back to that state, even as they hypocritically seek to take credit for the fruits and innovations of science while rejecting its rules.

But as for me, I remain a skeptic. I am proud to call myself a rationalist. And I will always fight against the proponents of darkness and unreason, because I believe that humanity has barely begun to tap its potential, and that if we continue the path of science, we may some day create wonders we currently lack the ability even to dream of.

Wearing White On Monday

Published

Adrian Hayter

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

I’ve been invited by some of my Hindu friends to a event on facebook, asking people to “wear a white shirt on monday” to show respect to the 150+ people who died in the Mumbai terrorist attacks that happened earlier this week. When perusing the event details, I came across an interesting section on t-shirt ideas.

Front: 150+ Dead in Mumbai…
Back: Why?

I guess the “Why?” is more a metaphysical question concerning why so many people could have died, but to me, the actual answer to the question seems quite obvious. Islam. The terrorists who slaughtered over 150 people did so because they were deluded by the idea that it was somehow the will of Allah. Reports have already confirmed that the terrorists went after American and British passport holders, letting a British man who claimed to be Italian live.

The event coordinators have already made it very clear they don’t want to answer the question themselves, even though deep down they know the answer.

****ANYTHING HATEFUL TARGETING ANY SPECIFIC PERSON, GROUP, RELIGION, ETCETERA WILL BE DELETED AND REPORTED.
this event is to not target and attack certain people/etc but to create UNITY & SUPPORT.

So you can create “unity and support” groups, keeping people happy by blaming the governments and police for the mistakes they made, without caring at all about the real problem. Groups like these simply push the problem under the rug, and instead of trying to stop the problem at the root, they work on the premise that these things are going to happen and that we should work on preventing them from ever reaching a climax.

That is a ridiculous view to take. Police do not work on the premise that racial attacks are bound to happen, they go around actively trying to promote harmony between people of different races. Instead of going after the terrorists before they strike, we should be working to stop people from joining terrorist organizations in the first place. Unfortunately, for as long as we have religious doctrine, we will have people who resort to killing in its name.

Here is a better idea for a t-shirt:

Front: 150+ Dead in Mumbai.

Back: Why? Islam. Religion Kills.

People will probably call it hate speech, but I don’t care. It’s the truth, and that should be all that matters.

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New Website tries to Unite Religions through Compassion

Published

Joe Brummer

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

A new website titled the Charter for Compassion states that compassion is at the center of all religions and could be used to unite people. The site’s homepage says:

“By recognizing that the Golden Rule is fundamental to all world religions, the Charter for Compassion can inspire people to think differently about religion. This Charter is being created in a collaborative project by people from all over the world. It will be completed in 2009. Use this site to offer language you’d like to see included. Or inspire others by sharing your own story of compassion.”

I love this idea, but I also have some doubts that it will unite anyone when it comes to religions. Those that need a new outlook on those with differing religions are not likely candidates to buy into this idea. Fundamentalist Muslims and Fundamentalist Evangelical Christians hold conversion to their faith in much higher regard than they do compassion or peace. I suspect those are not the type of people to embrace the idea of uniting people in the world. Many see the differences in the religions of the world as a challenge that must be won like it is a mission from god, a “holy war” not a moral and just effort for humanity. Many such believers are willing to fight to be right rather than be compassionate for the sake of peace.

I do still feel inspired by anything that brings us remotely closer to a world without violence and war. I support and applaud the efforts that ask us to stop and live in new ways. I just can’t help feeling disaapointed that those who need this are not the ones who will embrace it.

All else Pales in the Face of Palin

Published

The Barefoot Bum

on November 30, 2008

. Closed

Reader Kelly Kilpatrick contributes the following analysis of Sarah Palin and the Republican Party.

It’s an American election like no other – first we had the undignified spats between senators Obama and Clinton. And now that Obama has emerged the clear winner (but not by too much of a distance) of that race, the focus has shifted to the three-ring circus run by McCain where Sarah Palin is the star attraction. From virtual nobodies, the Republicans have pulled out of nowhere to take centre stage in the media circus that was dominated by the Democrats throughout the primaries.

For now, the spotlight is on Palin and her remarkable (and frightening) similarity to George W Bush, mostly in the way they both seem to spout incomprehensible inanities and end up with their foot in their mouth so often that you’d think they would have gotten tired of the taste of old leather and sweaty socks. It’s like the nation has forgotten that it’s Senator McCain who’s running for president, and that Palin is just his running mate. Probably what the Republican think tank was looking for in the first place – to divert all the attention to their camp after Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama stole it during the primaries by virtue of being the first woman and black respectively to vie for the highest office in the country.

There’s no such thing as bad publicity, and so Palin was sprung on an unsuspecting nation. With her “folksy” appeal and supposedly down-to-earth hockey mom attitude, she was supposed to charm a nation of working class people and have them eating out of her hands, something that McCain could not do even if he were to stand upside down for hours. Much has been said about her expensive makeover, her dictatorial attitude towards those who oppose her or those close to her, her regressive outlook, and, well, the list could go on and on.

Republicans who support her stand against abortion would elevate her to sainthood if they could, for her “moral” decision to give birth to a child she knew had Down’s Syndrome. Yes, Palin is a saint – who else would be so adamantly against sex education in schools even though her teenage daughter is pregnant by her equally teenage boyfriend? It’s all well and good for Palin to take strong stands on such issues – she’s not as unlucky as the single mother who has to give up her sole means of making a living to stay at home and raise a baby with a lifelong disability; her daughter’s not as unfortunate as the teen who has to quit school to raise a baby that she didn’t want in the first place; and her child and grandchild are not as unlucky as the babies that are born to parents who have neither the inclination nor the wherewithal to care for them.

Yes, under the circumstances, Sarah Palin is definitely a saint, one that this country needs as much as it needs another George W Bush. But aren’t we the folks who wanted another four years of the man even though the first four were markedly torturous? So who knows? Maybe we’re masochistic enough to wish this woman and her ilk on us for the next four years, and the four after too. God save America!

This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of a masters program for criminal justice. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com

[Note: the article was written before the November 4 election. I think it still has relevance both as a commentary on the election and concerning Palin's interest in the 2012 election. -- Ed.]

Radio reminder

Published

Pharyngula