Posts tagged: Religion
Crazy Christian Campaign Comic
It would seem Oklahoma Commissioner Brent Rinehart is going all out in an attempt to get re-elected county commissioner. He’s even gone as far as mailing out his campaign manifesto in the form of a comic. Sounds like a great idea until you discover Rinehart is a fundamentalist bigot who wants to impose his Christian sense of morality on everyone else. He also seems to be wholly obsessed with the gay sex.
Rinehart says the comic strip took him two months to script out and is “more or less a story of my experiences of the last four years of being the county commissioner of District 2.” No one seems to have noted how long it took Shane Suiters to pen the 16 page masterpiece.
Keith Gaddie, a University of Oklahoma political science professor, called the book “one of the strangest things” he’d ever seen.
“I’ve never seen a comic book with the phrase ‘anal sodomy’ in it before. That was a new one for me.”
Regardless of my personal feelings about this ass-obsessed clown, I’m not knocking Rinehart’s comic book approach at all. Far from it, I think its a novel idea that can have excellent results when done politely and with an actual sense of humor, like Kansas pro-education, pro-science candidate Sean Tevis did for his campaign.
Download Brent Rinehart’s full campaign comic here.
Via: The Freethinker, Tulsa World
The Great Desecration Is Over
Well, PZ has finally done the deed. The Great Desecration of 2008 has ended and no one was struck down by almighty lightning.
If you haven’t kept up with the story, A parishioner in a Florida Catholic church accepted the holy Eucharist but did not ingest it. Apparently, he was planning to leave service with the holy Eucharist still in his possession. Some local church groups threw a big fit and the local news covered it. Then PZ Myers of Pharyngula noticed the story and posted a scathing rebuttal to the notion that everyone should hold these wafers sacred. This caught the attention of Bill Donohue who, as head of the Catholic league, organized mass efforts to get PZ fired from the University of Minnesota, Morris, as well as many other Christian crazies who began filling PZ’s inbox with various threats ranging from his job to his life.
So what was the horrid act of desecration? …A nail. A dull rusty nail. To keep it fair however, PZ ran the nail through the Eucharist as well as torn pages from the Qur’an and The God Delusion.
And then he threw it all into the garbage.
Nothing must be held sacred. Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet. You are all human beings who must make your way through your life by thinking and learning, and you have the job of advancing humanities’ knowledge by winnowing out the errors of past generations and finding deeper understanding of reality. You will not find wisdom in rituals and sacraments and dogma, which build only self-satisfied ignorance, but you can find truth by looking at your world with fresh eyes and a questioning mind.
Well said, PZ. Well said.
I’m Afraid Of Never Having Lived
PZ pointed me to an interesting essay about the craziness that was ‘World Youth Day’ in Sydney, Australia. One particular passage stuck out at me while I read.
It’s been a revelation to me a year since my “epiphany”. I feel as if I’m walking through life with the blinkers off. Suddenly all the religious mumbo-jumbo jumps out as so bonkers. Wearing certain things, eating certain things, mumbling certain things at certain times so some imaginary friend will let you into a club in the sky when you die. I want to do my living now, thanks. I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of never having lived.
A somewhat simple but acurate description of what it feels like to view the world anew without the blindfold of religion over your eyes or as Julia Sweeney put it in her show ‘Letting Go of God’, “Taking off the God glasses.” When you believe in religion, you have to live a double life. One where all your judgments are based on evidence and rational thought and another where you allow supernatural explanations to creep into existence and faith trumps evidence. Since faith is basically a lack of evidence - if you have ample evidence, you don’t need faith - this presents two conflicting world views coexisting within the same mind. It’s no wonder why religious people are always having to reaffirm their beliefs and attend prepared revivals. When every other aspect of your life is driven by evidence, reason and critical thinking, the challenge in reconciling irrational beliefs becomes that much harder.
Via: Pharyngula
D’Sousa Is Being Honest For A Change
In his new Townhall.com article, Dinesh D’Souza has done something very unusual… He’s told the truth for a change.
In my debate with atheist Christopher Hitchens in New York last October he raised a point that I did not know how to answer. So I employed an old debating strategy: I ignored it and answered other issues.
Now, to be truthful, Dinesh D’Souza is a very intelligent individual. His rhetoric is fantastic and the intensity he applies to his arguments bring a breath of life into the Creationist fold. However, at the core, his actual arguments generally fall short.
As noted above from his own mouth, Dinesh likes to employ the “redefine the subject” tactic to debating. This tactic is to simply redefine and shift the point of the argument into something that he can argue against. Indeed, D’Souza does this on the larger scale as well, employing this method to generate new reincarnations of old arguments. Lately, D’Souza has taken a fancy to the classic “fine-tuned universe” argument which is nothing but the “Argument from Design” shifted from the biological to the cosmic scale. Basically, Since creationists can’t show that life forms on Earth are intelligently designed (indeed, they appear to be more un-intelligently than intelligently designed), they step back and say that it’s the universe itself that is intelligently designed. This makes one ask in exactly what other kind of universe would we be around to pose that question in the first place? We, as humans, apply numeric values to the ‘fine tuning’ variables of the universe. Who’s to say that these values aren’t the only way there is? Is it not possible that, like the speed of light, these values simply don’t have the luxury of fluctuating?
Back to the linked article above, D’Souza simply runs and hides behind the semantics of linguistics and redefinitions of the core argument yet again.
Via: Townhall.com
But That’s Not What I Believe
I’m listening to the radio discussion between PZ Myers and Father Loya on Catholic Radio International’s “Heart of the Matter” radio show and was really hoping for an enlightening discussion but am being treated to the same old religious apologies I’ve grown quite weary of.
The largest offender of these apologies is amazingly intellectual sounding, “but that’s not what I believe,” defense. Anytime someone paints an honest image of the rediculous nature of many religious beliefs the religious debater replies that there are probably people who believe the presented claims but that it’s not an acurate depiction of “their” belief or that people who believe so aren’t “true” Christians, Muslims, etc. Then they typically go into rantings of metaphysical word-salad of ill-defined words, theological “ways of knowing” and attempts to redefine the scientific method.
Father Loya’s “knowledge of the existence of love” argument was beautifully shot down by PZ as well as his attempts to redefine the “empircal” and “nature” during his opening argument. I’m trying to make it through the rest of the discussion about the cracker debacle but Father Loya just keeps avoiding the nature of the issues at hand.
Worth Mentioning This Week
Incredibly busy this week and loads of surprise complications, so blogging will continue to be slow for a bit. However, I’m leaving you with a few stories I’ve found interesting ove the last week.
- The LA times have an interesting article on the Jefferson Bible and our founding father’s views on religion.
- LOST executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have created the Lost Book Club to share books that have inspired, tie in with, or appear on the TV show.
- Richard Dawkins and John Lennox discuss the scientific evidence for God in an informal sit down.
- The British Board of Film Censors have approved Passio, a pornographic film featuring a homosexual Jesus.
- Some atheists want to battle the religious majority by raising money to buy bus ads.
And when you’re done reading those, watch this…
Religion Vs. Science In My Local Bookstore
Recently the Pharyngula blog posted about a small prank involving moving all the books from the single religion bookshelf in their local bookstore to other areas in the store. In the comments, many of the southern readers couldn’t believe there was only one bookshelf in the store dedicated to religion. So I decided to snap some photos of what my local Hastings store (the only local store that could be called a bookstore) looks like. Here in Tullahoma, Tennessee, we obviously have a greater demand for Christian and Christian study books than science. I apologize in advance for the crummy photography. The staff started looking at me strangely.
Brian Eno On Evangelical Atheism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2shEwFjhzA4
Obama Winning The Non-Religious Vote
An interesting article at the Washington Post reveals that Obama has so far successfully won over non-religious voters in almost every state.
… of the 30 states where I could find comparable data, Obama won the “no religion” crowd an astonishing 26 times!
The author makes a good point regarding Obama’s seeming success with the non-religious minority while increasing the amount of religious rhetoric at the same time.
The secularists I speak with usually mention three arguments for ignoring his faith-based exuberance. The first–and most dubious–is that Obama is just pandering to crucial voting blocks and will regain his senses upon moving into the White House.
More plausibly, others suggest that his background as a student and scholar of constitutional law insures that he will never violate the sanctity of The Wall. Last, it is often remarked that Obama is a true liberal. Secularists, so I have been told, have little to fear from a true liberal.
You can throw me into the ’sanctity of The Wall’ group. While I don’t believe he’s just pandering to a religious crowd, I’m not that concerned with the increase in religious talk. The man can add injections of religious tonality to his speeches all day long for all I care as long as he doesn’t try to make the same injections into our legislature. And I don’t think he will. Which is why I, apparently like so many other non-religious people, support Obama.
Via: Washington Post
I Didn’t Want Your Crummy Cars Anyway
A small Ford dealership in Mojave California has decided to appeal to their community’s Christian majority by telling everyone else to sit down & shut up. Keiffe and Sons Ford have been running to following ad on at least one local radio station:
But did you know that 86% of Americans say they believe in God? Since we all know that 86 out of every 100 of us are Christians, who believe in God, we at Keiffe & Sons Ford wonder why we don’t tell the other 14% to sit down and shut up. I guess maybe I just offended 14% of the people who are listening to this message. Well, if that is the case then I say that’s tough, this is America folks, it’s called free speech. None of us at Keiffe & Sons Ford are afraid to speak out. Keiffe & Sons Ford on Sierra Highway in Mojave and Rosamond, if we don’t see you today, by the grace of God, we’ll be here tomorrow.
Here’s a recording of the actual ad.
So far, Ford Motor Company doesn’t seem too concerned about their public image being tarnished. That might change if enough non-religious people call them (1-800-392-3673 between the hours of 8am and 5pm, local time, Monday through Friday. Hearing impaired callers with access to a TDD may contact us by calling 1-800-232-5952.) and express how this kind of advertising makes them feel. You could also call in to some of the local radio stations and express your concerns or build a little local news around it. Christians are very good at waving the ‘offended’ card in front of the news media’s face. Maybe we should try it.
Via: Pharyngula
More TN Bible Nonsense
Tennessee is on a roll this month. First we’ve got Bible Study in public schools and now we’ve got people wanting to build a Bible theme park in Rutherford County.
A developer wants to build what would be the country’s largest Bible-based theme park in Tennessee, depicting scenes such as the parting of the Red Sea. But the plan has created a deep divide among locals.
Some welcome the $200 million, 280-acre Bible Park USA project as a way to bring in much-needed revenue to Rutherford County, while others are concerned about making money off the Bible.
$200 million? Really? And they’re worried about making money off the Bible? You’ve got to be kidding me. Isn’t there somewhere that amount of money could be better applied? Like AIDS, cancer or disaster relief? I’m also quite sure the 280 acres could be better used for landfill.
Via: NPR
I’m A Six On The Dawkins Scale
In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins created a scale of points along the spectrum of humanity’s belief in God. The scale ranges from 1 (total belief in God) to 7 (total non-belief) with 4 being exactly 50/50.
I put myself in category 6 along with most of the atheists I know. I find it amusing how many people include themselves in category 1 with absolutely zero skepticism. They KNOW! Give me a break. It’s very difficult to know anything when it comes to really complex things. We can be 99% sure - like really, really positively sure about things, like gravity, but there’s always the chance we’ll discover something new. That’s the beauty of science. It’s assimilating new data as it comes in instead of relying on an ancient book written in the first century.
I liked Dawkins’ scale and wanted to do a little more than just write about it, so I created a set of 14 images (7 for light backgrounds and 7 for dark) that you can download and put on your blog to show where you stand on the scale. Some of the text on the images differs slightly from Dawkins’ but, I think, maintain the meaning. If you edit or improve the images, let me know in the comments and I may update the whole set.
On Omnipotence & Omniscience
Can omniscient God, who
Knows the future, find
The omnipotence to
Change His future mind? - Karen Owens
Bible Study In Tennessee Public Schools
What on Earth was Tennessee thinking this week?
SB4104, a bill authorizing the state board of education to approve a curriculum for an elective state-funded course of a nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible, passed the state senate on Thursday.
This mockery of legislature was introduced by Sen. Roy Herron (D) who has let his personal religion get in the way of his reason and understanding of our constitution and the separation of church and state. The whole thing is entirely unnecessary as the state already allows schools to teach the Bible and has a process for approving the curriculum local schools want to use.
The bill slipped past the Senate after three (3) amendments were made to include more ‘constitutional-friendly’ wording and is now on its way to the house as HB4089. If you life in Tennessee, you know what to do. Load up your email and send one off to your house representative telling them what a crock this bill is… Use nicer language though. I’ve already sent one to my representative, Judd Matheny (R). He’s a pretty cool guy. I have a good feeling he’ll do right on this one.
You can read the full bills in PDF: HB4089 | SB4104
Find your House Representative at the bottom of this page.
How To Evolve An Eye
As part of the series of educational videos to counter claims made in Ben Stein’s Expelled movie, the NCSE has made this video explaining how an eye evolves and how we see and study this in nature.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOtP7HEuDYA
