Author Archive for Godless GirlPage 2 of 4

Religious Firing Decision Stands, and I Revamp My Resume

Published
by
Godless Girl
on October 3, 2011
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supreme court

Photo by Phil Roeder

The United States Supreme Court will not be hearing Sylvia Spencer et al v. World Vision, the controversial case of three World Vision employees who were fired for not believing in Jesus as God or the Trinity as required by World Vision’s company policies. World Vision won the appeal in 2010 in front of the Ninth Circuit, and that decision stands.

In the World Vision case, all sides agreed that the nature of the firings were religious, but the fired employees argued that World Vision was not truly religious since its work was humanitarian rather than religious, and not significantly different from groups like the Red Cross.

So what about jobs that do not involve religious work at all, such as a shipping worker or a web developer? The Court says [PDF],

The nature of the Employees’ duties is irrelevant to our analysis. If World Vision qualifies for the exemption, it is entitled to terminate employees for exclusively religious reasons, without respect to the nature of their duties.

What does this mean for people like me who are closet atheists in other Christian companies? It means I need to find a new job or risk being fired. I already knew this, but I think it’s getting to the point where I can’t put it off much longer. Despite the poor economy, I’ve got to get out of here.

According to the decision, firing someone based on religious beliefs is not limited to places of worship or schools.  As cited in the court’s decision (pages 7-8), here are nine factors considered in determining whether an entity qualifies for religious exemption.

  1. whether the entity operates for a profit,
  2. whether it produces a secular product,
  3. whether the entity’s articles of incorporation or other pertinent documents state a religious purpose,
  4. whether it is owned, affiliated with or financially supported by a formally religious entity such as a church or synagogue,
  5. whether a formally religious entity participates in the management, for instance by having representatives on the board of
    trustees,
  6. whether the entity holds itself out to the public as secular or sectarian,
  7. whether the entity regularly includes prayer or other forms of worship in its activities,
  8. whether it includes religious instruction in its curriculum, to the extent it is an educational institution, and
  9. whether its membership is made up by coreligionists.

You can read the Ninth Circuit’s Sylvia Spencer et al v. World Vision decision here [PDF].

 

New Short Film: an Atheist in a Religious Family

Published
by
Godless Girl
on September 26, 2011
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I think this film, Parrot, might reflect what a lot of us feel or experience as the only atheists in our deeply religious families:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do you think it has potential?

C.S. Lewis and Reality

Published
by
Godless Girl
on September 2, 2011
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“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
-- C.S. Lewis

Dear Mr. Lewis,

You could be an alien (what I would pay to see you discuss this with Dan Aykroyd), but most likely it means you need to learn to accept reality and not invent a fantasy land to avoid the fact that sometimes we don’t get what we want. If no experience in this world will satisfy you, then perhaps you:

  1. Have not experienced enough of the world to understand how fulfilled you can be as a part of it.
  2. Refuse to be content.
  3. Misunderstand your desires.
  4. Are deluded into thinking what we desire should be fulfilled.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy drinking vodka with Dan Aykroyd.

God Is a Man-Made Invention

Published
by
Godless Girl
on August 31, 2011
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adaptation of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling by Tom Blackwell

J. Anderson Thomson is a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia. In a recent LA Times opinion post he expounds on the biological reasons we humans created the idea of God in the first place, and what role that belief serves psychologically.

I find these reasons for faith fascinating, and I see how they have been present in my own life.

Like our physiological DNA, the psychological mechanisms behind faith evolved over the eons through natural selection. They helped our ancestors work effectively in small groups and survive and reproduce, traits developed long before recorded history, from foundations deep in our mammalian, primate and African hunter-gatherer past.

For example, we are born with a powerful need for attachment, identified as long ago as the 1940s by psychiatrist John Bowlby and expanded on by psychologist Mary Ainsworth. Individual survival was enhanced by protectors, beginning with our mothers. Attachment is reinforced physiologically through brain chemistry, and we evolved and retain neural networks completely dedicated to it. We easily expand that inborn need for protectors to authority figures of any sort, including religious leaders and, more saliently, gods. God becomes a super parent, able to protect us and care for us even when our more corporeal support systems disappear, through death or distance.

Among the psychological adaptations related to religion are our need for reciprocity, our tendency to attribute unknown events to human agency, our capacity for romantic love, our fierce “out-group” hatreds and just as fierce loyalties to the in groups of kin and allies. Religion hijacks these traits.

In addition to these adaptations, humans have developed the remarkable ability to think about what goes on in other people’s minds and create and rehearse complex interactions with an unseen other. In our minds we can de-couple cognition from time, place and circumstance. We consider what someone else might do in our place; we project future scenarios; we replay past events. It’s an easy jump to say, conversing with the dead or to conjuring gods and praying to them.

I know (quite acutely, in fact) that I have a great need for attachment and a sense of another authority; I also possess a tendency to be intuitive or over-analytical about what someone else is thinking and feeling. I have certainly assigned motives and reasons to events that have no human agent.

All of these factors only encompass what I know consciously about myself and how faith has played a role in my life in the past. The chemistry of my brain and the more subtle evolutionary reasons for belief--well, those cannot be controlled. I can only use my reasoning and understanding to choose a different reaction when confronted with the concepts of a great “Other” or supernatural events.

“God”  and faith are crafted to fulfill some of our needs and natural inclinations. They are presented to us as a catch-all solution to these inborn “problems.” Do you need love and someone to care for you? God will do it! Do you have a tendency to cling to a group and fear the “others?” Religion is perfect for you!  Do you get that tingly feeling that someone is in the room with you when you meditate? That’s a god!

This, of course, doesn’t mean gods are real, but it does illustrate that we have a desire to answer questions and fulfill needs that come naturally to us. When we supply imaginary beings as the answer to the human condition, we’re doing ourselves and our descendants a disservice. It’s much more difficult to see the world objectively and accept the fact that we’re on our own, but it’s empowering and spurs on positive change in society. Why take personal responsibility when it’s much more comforting to know someone else is in charge of the rules who wants us to succeed? Because we will be a better, more altruistic society if we take charge of our actions and how they affect others.

We can be better as a species if we recognize religion as a man-made construct. We owe it to ourselves to at least consider the real roots of religious belief, so we can deal with life as it is, taking advantage of perhaps our mind’s greatest adaptation: our ability to use reason.

I agree!

Manly Man Stuff for Guys and Dudes and Burly Blokes

Published
by
Godless Girl
on August 30, 2011
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For all you fans of Man Church, there’s another church joining in on the machismo craze. If you want to grunt and cheer and feel guilty about lusting after ladies or being a lazy dad, there’s a Christian “Men’s Conference” down in Texas you might be interested in!

The Men’s Conference is 24 hours of testosterone fueled MAN STUFF. Combining intensity, entertainment, teaching and worship; it’s the kind of weekend that will make you high five a total stranger!

Do you think they’d high five an atheist or just body slam him on the mat?

[Hat tip Friendly Atheist]

Godless Question of the Day

Published
by
Godless Girl
on August 15, 2011
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godless questions

What do you think is the secret to a good life?

I firmly believe that a “good life” is defined solely by each individual, so that’s what makes this questions so intriguing to me. I think it reveals what people want most out of life: is it romantic love and companionship? Do they want a legacy and people to remember them after they die? Do they want adventure and stories to tell? What about money and success? All of these “good lives” would provide different answers for the question, don’t you think?

What is “a good life” to you, and what’s the secret for having it?

The “Spiritual” Thrill of Science and Reason

Published
by
Godless Girl
on August 11, 2011
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While watching the Symphony of Science video series,  I feel the same inner physical thrill I used to experience when attending prayer meetings and discussing spiritual and theological topics with friends. What these scientists say is true: What is real and knowable is fascinating, arresting, and remarkable. We need not dream up anything else.

To devote our lives to understand this universe using science and reason is a profoundly high calling.

Make sure to view the rest of these wonderful videos here.

Bonus Quote:

‎”Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.” – Carl Sagan

Do you agree?

 

Help me Understand Atheist vs. Religious Grief

Published
by
Godless Girl
on August 10, 2011
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angel of grief

"Angel of Grief" Glenwood Cemetery, Houston, TX (photo by teejayfaust)

A former coworker of mine just lost his sister to cancer after years of riding the rollercoaster of hope and fear. His love for her inspired me, and it reminded me acutely of what it was like to watch a family member die from the disease.

I have only experienced fresh grief as a Christian. My father died in 2003, and I sought comfort and peace in the hope that he was “in a better place” and free from pain, experiencing the joy and bliss he always desired in life. He was a very passionate believer, and he would always tell me we’d “be together again” when my time was up. I found this to be very soothing and helpful, because I didn’t want to let him go. I wanted more time with him, and I desperately wanted him to be healthy again. I was so fearful of being separated forever. Magical solution? Heaven. Duh.

I’ve never lost a loved one as an atheist, so I honestly can’t speak to what it feels like to say goodbye to someone knowing we will never be together again. I imagine this could be a healthy, helpful way of letting someone go, processing the loss, and moving forward. Is that so?

What matters most to me now is understanding someone’s role in my life and how that helps me be a better person. That way, they live on in me, through me. My father is part of me down to my very DNA. He’s gone, but he has a legacy that affects me and every single person I encounter. I am very fortunate to have had such a great life with him while it lasted. Isn’t that what grief should be about?

What about you?

We can all can talk a good game about how great it is not to be oppressed by the burden of hell, yada yada… but only someone who has actually experienced a loss can talk about what grief is like.

Has anyone out there experienced intense grief as both a faithful religious person and as an atheist? How did your experiences differ on a personal level? Could you share with as much transparency as possible (as you feel comfortable)? Were both healthy experiences? Was one more comforting than another? When someone says “It doesn’t matter if so-and-so has faith in Heaven if it comforts them,” do you agree or disagree?

Evolution Semantics

Published
by
Godless Girl
on July 30, 2011
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Calamities of Nature comic - July 20, 2011. Click to enlarge.

[source]

Nothing like a comic to drill-down something complex into four (funny) panels.

Homophobiaaaaaaahhh!

Published
by
Godless Girl
on July 27, 2011
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Photo by Asterio Tecson

According to a long-term poll by the General Social Survey, those who support homosexuals and gay marriage are now in the majority of the American population for the first time!

The question they asked? “Are sexual relations between two adults of the same sex always, almost always, sometimes, or never wrong?” Only in the 2010 results did the numbers show a change from “always wrong” to “not wrong at all.”

May I just say it’s about damn time!

In a blog post detailing these findings, the comments got off to a glorious start. Here’s a response from “Barbara” who makes so many bigoted, homophobic statements I don’t even know where to start!

Chuck, you’re wrong if you think that everyone is going to come to accept your homosexuality and lifestyle as “normal”. It is not. If you really wanted to be accepted as normal, groups of you would do everything in your power to end the disgusting parades, but there is no call to end them, they are evidently loved by homosexuals. If you seriously want to act like the typical neighbor next door, aren’t you seriously embarrassed about them, or are you not allowed to speak the truth? If you think I would ever allow little children to watch them, you’re way off base. Sorry, but they show you as you are, and your “group” is not normal. The American Psychiatric Association calls depression and anxiety, which everyone has had at some time of their lives, labelled as mental illnesses. But your group has pressured them to accept as “normal” people who participate in parades naked or half-naked, men dressed as women, homosexuals acting out the sex act on a parade float in front of huge crowds, etc as “normal”, and do you really think that’s how the individual psychiatrists themselves think?

Everyone that I know does think that you should not be allowed to marry and definitely should not be allowed to adopt. Polls of Americans show that they do not agree with the states allowing homosexuals to marry, and if they’re asked if they should be allowed to adopt, they would hear a resounding NO. Just because your group is able to donate a lot of money and apply a lot of political pressure to get the laws passed that you want, does not mean that that the average American, and especially Christian Americans, agree with the law. Those laws would be undone in a minute if possible.

For those pollsters who are brave enough to go against the violent vehemence of your crowd, the polls show that your “marriages” are nothing but a sham. The vast majority of them are “open” marriages, with no intention of staying true to each other. It is not a lie that, on the average, homosexuals have extremely high numbers of partners compared to heterosexual men. I really doubt that you and your friends are willing to be truthful about this. Sorry, but this country’s interstate highways are notorious for having homosexuals in the restrooms just waiting for other random homosexual men, not caring in the least if they even see their faces, not caring in the least if they know them, they just want their sex. We all know about the homosexual baths, etc, and that’s why AIDS spread so quickly among homosexuals. The percentage of AIDS among heterosexual men in the US never approached the rate of AIDS among homosexuals. You may try and cover it up and sugar coat it, but it is a sick perversion that GOD says is an abomination. If you think we will all cave in to political correctness and ignore the truth, you’re wrong. It’s a shame that most people don’t bother researching anything, they just go along with whatever is the popular thought of the day. But I will always stand with God’s Word. In addition, being happily accepted as “normal” couples is not merely all that homosexuals want. They already have California law requiring that gay history will be covered in the student’s textbooks. They may not be able to give you the name of the first President, but they’ll have to learn the history of a group of people who want acceptance of their sin. I’m not sorry for how I feel. God’s way is always the right way. It’s sad but true, that I’m willing to go to my death for my faith in my Lord, but you’re willing to go to eternal condemnation for what pleases you sexually. Your eternal life is much more important, I’m praying you will repent.

It doesn’t make any difference in the world if my opinion is someday in the minority. I will always do my best to follow the Lord. Don’t you call it an agenda when you’re not happy enough with laws protecting your jobs, you then want laws allowing you to marry, you have laws to adopt, the next step now being taken is to teach little 3 and 4 year olds the history of the gay movement? And then what will follow, allowing kids of all ages to express their sexuality, so that the homosexuals can be with young boys? When will it end? Sorry, but I hardly see the political action groups dissolving. It’s not surprising that I’ve yet to see homosexuals saying how much they love the Lord and how the Lord has made a difference in their lives.

Click for a screenshot.

Sigh.

This Messy Universe

Published
by
Godless Girl
on July 27, 2011
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Page 202 from the book, Feynman.

Like a blind man in a cluttered room, we’re bumbling around blindly knocking our shins into coffee tables in the dark trying to figure out how this universe works. But as we wander and experiment we continue to discover small pieces of it that we can understand, eventually building up our knowledge of the confusing space enough to avoid the tables and construct a map of how the space fits together.

Robert Krulwich of PBS writes about Richard Feynman and this messy universe:

We think great scientists know so much, but really, they know very little. “Science,” said the physicist Richard Feynman, “is the belief in the ignorance of experts.”

Feynman told his audiences, even though the subatomic world looks so messy, so unintelligible, bit by bit, we are learning some of its secrets. They don’t add up yet. The rules Feynman and others discovered don’t even work all of the time, the parts don’t coordinate, but scientists learn to stay humble, roll with new information, we will learn more.

The key, he says… is accept the universe as it is. We must instruct our minds to live with the facts we discover.

The facts don’t make sense at first. They may never make sense, but hey, this is our universe. We’re stuck with it. We don’t have another one, not yet. So the best we can do is try to fit our minds to universe we find.

Isn’t this what we skeptics joyfully espouse? There is a humility and wonder in science that allows us to both embrace the unknown and mold our minds to the discoveries made along the way that help us explain this amazing  reality. It may not be a perfect understanding—in fact, I’m sure it isn’t. But just because it all seems jumbled at first doesn’t mean the solution is to dream up a supernatural puzzle piece to fit in where science has yet to tread.We should not be afraid of  neither the mess nor the mystery.

Dimidium facti qui coepit habet: sapere aude (“He who has begun is half done: dare to know!”) -Horace

Vertical Smiles and Stereotypes

Published
by
Godless Girl
on July 26, 2011
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Hello from vagina land!
Summer’s Eve is trying to make your vagina cool with a new “hip” branding campaign called “Hail to the V.” But is it funky and new or sexist and racist? They’ve got a video for “white,” “black,” and “hispanic” ladies. Yeah, thanks for boxing us all up into nice little packages, Summer’s Eve.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wow. I just saw a pubic fro and a “sassy” black hand telling me about clubbing cleanliness. This is so appreciated.

Quick thoughts from my romp around their ads and site:

“If you treat a V right, she’ll return the favor…” Wink, wink, nudge, nudge! How sexual is that?! Ugh.

A vagina owner’s manual? Because … of course. It even teaches you to wipe front to back!

“Vertical smile.” No, really. They said it.

What do you think of this campaign? Does it “empower” women by helping them accept their vaginas? Or by selling a cleansing cloth and wash that are supposed to keep things fresh and “smelling nice” does it actually keep us from embracing the natural bits we were born with? Why are we considered “dirty”?And what about those racial and feminine stereotypes? What are women supposed to act like? Is this just insulting?

Edited to add: Oh my goodness, I just found Stephen Colbert’s take on the commercials. Priceless!

 

Smoking Hot Wives and Christian Prayer Clichés

Published
by
Godless Girl
on July 25, 2011
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What is it with the phrase “smoking hot wife” right now in protestant Christianity? Is this a fad I’ve missed out on since I’m:

  1.  Single?
  2. Atheist?

There are too many Christianese clichés to count, but this particular one catches me off-guard because it makes me picture two people rumpling the foreskin after church.

We get it folks; you want to show off how badass-naughty Christians can be. Obviously secular culture is just dirty and sinful in its sexuality and doesn’t have the firey burning love machine you have in your bed. Your smokin’ hot brides are giving you the best Jesus-blessing sex of your lives, right? Way to tease the singles though. Are you about to go home and get it on? Thanks for telling us about it. Jesus loves watching you make whoopie next to that cross on your wall.

Want to read a fabulous list of current Christian cliches even the believers hate? Check this out (and don’t miss the comments!). Here are some of my favorites:

love on, as in, “Let’s just love on these precious kids.”

Uhm… hi there.

just. This is a mild but pervasive example that peppers many prayers and is intended, I suppose, to express humility.

Christ-follower. A problematic trend in recent years is calling oneself this rather than a Christian. I understand the embarrassment the label Christian can cause when it aligns one with others who are not as smart, savvy, or theologically and politically progressive as oneself. (Yes, that was sarcasm, another language altogether).

Let us pray. “Dear Father God, we just come before you as Christ-followers. Just bless us today and just shower us with your cleansing rain and just forge us holy fire today, God. Oh Father God we just ask that your holy spirit just fills us up with your smokin’ hot love.”

Yeah, that probably happened at church yesterday.

Here’s one of the best prayers ever that uses a few of my favourite crazy Christianese phrases:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thank you for giving me a stomach ache of joy, NASCAR. Oh, and Jesus. And this guy’s smokin’ hot wife. And Talladega Nights. Buggity boogity boogity, AMEN!

 

Thank You, NASA, for the Space Shuttle Program

Published
by
Godless Girl
on July 21, 2011
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Today, July 21, 2011, an age of exploration and discovery came to an end.

Rarely does a simple youtube video re-invigorate my imagination and stir my emotions like this great compilation of the NASA Space Transportation System (STS) program by nature video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

From the summary:

The Space Shuttle fleet delivered the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station, and dozens of satellites, space probes, crew and supplies. Two Shuttles were lost: Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003. The touchdown of Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center marked the end of an era, after 135 missions. This video shows all of them in chronological order. http://www.nature.com/spaceshuttle

As the great astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson put it on July 8, the day of the final shuttle launch:

Many lament the shuttle era's end. But that's misplaced sentiment. Lament instead the absence of an era to replace it.

Where do we go from here as Americans? Where do our dreams lie, if not in the great universe around us? Russia and China continue while we stop. What’s next? What will the next generation dream about as children? Will space be a thing of science fiction or a reachable, accessible experience to them?  Will space travel be a product of business? I am completely ignorant of all that lies ahead.

Thank you, NASA, for the Shuttle program. It was grand.

Poll: Can anything really be “true?”

Published
by
Godless Girl
on July 7, 2011
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Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Let us know what you think in the comments!

The Nature of Existence – Now Streaming!

Published
by
Godless Girl
on July 1, 2011
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For those of you with Netflix Streaming, clear some time to watch The Nature of Existence, a fabulous documentary by Roger Nygard! I had the pleasure of attending a screening of The Nature of Existence here in Chicago.

Roger Nygard travels to the sources of the world’s major philosophies and talks to everyone from physicist Leonard Susskind to Ultimate Christian Wrestling founder Rob Adonis to answer the questions, Why are we here and what are we supposed to do? Spiritual leaders, scholars, scientists, artists, pizza chefs and the guy next door inform this humorously enlightening documentary about the nature and meaning of life.

The film raises many questions about the nature of life, religion, the universe, morality, and our relationships to one another. I especially loved seeing many cultures and perspectives represented in this snapshot of the diversity of ideas. What an adventure and privilege to interview such amazing people. Lucky Nygard; I’m jealous! You can watch a trailer and read more about this film here.

Check it out on Netflix!