Apparently, atheists are driven by hate and anger

Religious folk reacted with the fury of Caps Lock when the University of Wisconsin's Secular Student Alliance affiliate sent a mass email inviting interested students to join.  Though many other student groups use the very same method to get the word out that they exist, some apparently found the existence of an atheist-agnostic-freethinker group offensive.

Then, this article turned up on my Google Sparks:

When natural man embraces atheism, you often end up with a ticking time bomb. The seething anger lies just beneath the surface for many atheists. Even for those “sophisticated atheists” who are able to put up a good front for the public, their “inner workings” are usually filled with rage against God and Christians.


In that sense, atheists unwittingly help to prove the truth of Christianity by their hatred for it. Jesus told his disciples, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” (John 15:18) Real Christians don’t hate atheists. Real Christians love atheists. That is the supernatural grace of God at work in the life of a believer. Real atheists, on the other hand, have an inner hatred for Christ that gets directed at believers. That is the natural result of man rejecting God as His Creator.

Another choice segment:

If everyone in the world was an atheist, the population would shrink drastically and violently. Human arrogance and anger doesn’t put up with too much before it goes ballistic and begins to wipe out the “enemy.”

And then there's this gem:

If you are an atheist, here are 11 words you won't say from your heart unless you choose to open your mind to be a "freethinker" for Christ: "Lord Jesus, forgive me for my hatred toward You and others." Wow! You would rather die than sincerely pray those words wouldn't you? That's because a hatred for Jesus fills your heart, as it would mine without Christ. You tell yourself it is just unbelief in Jesus. That is only the "fruit of it." The "root of it" is hatred towards God.

Here I thought that the old "atheists hate God" argument had been beaten to death and beyond, and yet it pops up again on a major Christian news site.  I have to wonder if the author, Dan Delzell, has ever met, read the writings of, or heard a speech by an atheist; his understanding of how atheists think seems to come exclusively from the Bible.

I could write a long-winded post about how wrong his assertions are, and why they're wrong; that would be a waste of my time, as this topic has been covered in depth by those who have tread before me.  So I'll keep it short and sweet.

First off: atheists do not believe that any god exists.  You can't hate what doesn't exist.  I would hope that this isn't a difficult concept.  Now let's move on.

Secondly: one look at the sheer vastness of the universe shows us how insignificant we are on the scale of the cosmos.  We aren't our own "gods" - we are ephemeral chemical reactions on the surface of a speck of space dust who have managed to develop intelligence.  Realizing this fact is the exact opposite of arrogance.  You know what would be arrogant?  Believing that all of this was created just for little old young us.

Lastly, I will concede you one point: a lot of atheists do have a great deal of antipathy toward religion, especially so in the West toward Christianity.  However: this isn't because we're angry at some long dead (and possibly legendary) cult leader named Yeshua; it's because we think that organized religion (and the political power it wields) is an absolute farce.

One final note on the 11-word prayer: you won't hear a sincere prayer out of me because it is not possible to sincerely lie.  This argument, like the rest of the column, does not make sense.

2011 Rapture Redux and skepticism of religion

The now-infamous Harold Camping's latest predicted date for the End of All Things is tomorrow.  I'm personally looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

When the Rapture failed to occur five months ago, Camping backpedaled and said that it was obviously just a "spiritual" Rapture; the real fulfillment of the Book of Revelation wasn't due until October 21st.

It seems like the skeptic community and mainstream media alike made a bigger deal about his May 21st Armageddon prediction - granted, this is because Camping himself made a bigger deal about it.  I haven't seen much advertising from Family Radio regarding tomorrow's apocalypse, but the Freedom From Religion Foundation is wasting no time in capitalizing on it:

 

 (via Friendly Atheist)

The aim of their new billboard campaign is rather straightforward: promote skepticism of religion by drawing attention to the sheer lunacy of doomsday predictions.  Is the truly absurd thing here that Camping picked a specific date?  Or is it that he uses a madman's ramblings as the basis for not only his life, but his eighty million dollar business?

To borrow an analogy from Greta Christina: suppose an old man tells you that his electric hairdryer confided in him that the world is going to end on October 21st.  Which is the more appropriate response?

• That's silly.  Nobody knows when the world is going to end!
• That's silly.  Hairdryers can't talk!

Perhaps as more doomsday prophecies propagate in the public consciousness and are summarily and mercilessly debunked for the world to see, more people will start to question the belief systems that generated these prophecies in the first place.

Technical difficulties

Apparently my Disqus widget stopped working as a result of recent renovations to my blog.  I wondered why I wasn't getting any comments lately (particularly from Ginx and John Myste, who seldom fail to drop their two cents in the bucket).

Comment functionality should be restored now.  A big thanks to Kate for pointing it out!

My response to Eugene Delgaudio's email

Yesterday I received an email from Eugene Delgaudio, President of anti-gay group Public Advocate.  Here's what I sent as a response:

I get email... from "family" "values" organizations!

As a birthday present from the blog fodder gods, I found this piece of rubbish in my inbox yesterday morning: an email from Public Advocate President Eugene Delgaudio.  At first I was confused as to why I received it, but then I remembered that I took a survey hosted by his organization that PZ Myers had selected for Pharyngulation.  Apparently my votes in favor of the so-called "gay agenda" constitute signing his petition.

I'll post the email in its entirety below the jump, along with some choice illustrations I've added in.  I'll post my response in a separate entry due to length.

Christian salvation as a protection racket

UK atheist blogger Rosa Rubicondior posted a humorous comparison between the sales pitches of religious proselytizers and mafia thugs.

I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind before - it's really the core argument behind Pascal's wager.  If you don't accept our offer, we can't guarantee that your kneecaps won't get broken with a baseball bat.  You wouldn't wanna take that chance, would ya?

Two offers you can't refuse.

I'll hear Christians swear up and down that the god they believe in loves us all as his children, and yet believe that this same being created a devil to tempt us to sin and a hell to eternally torture us in if we do not submit to his will.  He offers us a "free gift" of salvation in his extended right hand, and the flame of infinite suffering in the left behind his back.

If this being existed, the rational, self-preserving choice would be to show him the utmost respect; the righteous and moral choice, however, would be to resist this tyrant in the face of his eternal wrath.

I'm wondering if the reason some professed Christians struggle to keep the faith is the same reason people in mafia-controlled neighborhoods don't talk to the police.

[Weekly Recap] Atheism in the news, Atheist Ethicist, exoplanets, more blasphemy cases, and trolling!

I'm probably not going to have a lot of time to devote to blogging until December, so posting will be sparse until then.  I have to remind myself that I write on here for fun, so I shouldn't feel like I have to balance it with my responsibilities IRL.  These Weekly Recap posts will be on hiatus for the time being, replaced by me posting whenever the heck I feel like it.  An exciting new development, to be sure.

Don't worry, loyal readers: I've still got a handful of posts in draft that will be going up as soon as they're presentable, and I'll still occasionally be struck by inspiration for a spontaneous rant about something or other.

I might still have a few nights like this. (comic from xkcd)

Without further ado, here's the last Weekly Recap you'll ever see until I decide to start doing them again.

Atheism in the news

Journalists are talking about atheists more and more as time goes on, and it isn't always about lawsuits anymore.  Christians are freaking out that godlessness is becoming so popular in America.  We're being blamed (or credited?) for the rise of polarizing Religious Right political candidates like Perry and Bachmann.  The Houston Chronicle spotlighted local atheists in the Texas city for the good they do in the community.

It gives me hope that American culture is approaching a tipping point, after which being an "out" atheist will no longer be anything new, exciting, or scary in this country.

Hipster Hubble: "I was detecting exoplanets before you even knew how to look for them."

"HR 8799 c, d, and b? You've probably never heard of them."

It appears that the Hubble Space Telescope took some shots in 1998 which, processed using modern techniques, revealed planets orbiting other stars.  Have a look at Phil Plait's post about it at Bad Astronomy.

Each new planet we detect is another chance of finding one in its star's "Goldilocks Zone" capable of supporting life as we know it.

Saturday Spotlight: Atheist Ethicist

I link to Alonzo Fyfe's posts often enough that he really deserves a mention in this section.  Theists and atheists alike might benefit from his perspectives on controversial issues, which he addresses using facts and logic rather than ideology and emotional appeals.  He'll sometimes spice it up with a bit of sarcasm.

If you're looking for convenient answers, you might be disappointed; more often, you're left with inconvenient questions that you should have been asking yourself all along

Go read his blog, Atheist Ethicist, and see why I've become a persistent lurker there.  You might learn something, or your head might explode.

Trolling for Billboards

The infamous Blonde Nonbeliever gave me a good laugh this evening.  Ever get tired of those "You're going to hell!" billboards on the sides of Midwestern highways?  Her friend decided to prank call the phone number on one such billboard spotted on a road trip.  Hilarity ensues.

Godless Quote of the Week

"Arguing about religion strips religion of its special privileged status as the one idea that can never be questioned. And that helps all the goals we're working towards -- ending anti-atheist bigotry, separation of church and state, [ending] special legal exemptions for religious organizations.  Arguing about religion helps re-frame religion as an idea rather than an identity -- which makes believers more open to listening to our ideas."

- Greta Christina, in her talk at the Secular Student Alliance conference earlier this year.

Weekly Absurdity: Blasphemous cartoonist arrested in Turkey

Turkish cartoonist Bahadir Baruter might spend a year in prison for drawing this:

The area circled in red apparently contains a hidden message, proclaiming something to the effect of "There is no God and religion is a sham."  It might offend people, sure.  But is it a crime?

In Turkey it is.  As I said last week, don't take freedom of speech for granted.

Nursing student has a problem with women

Via Jen at Blag Hag:

This winner, the now-infamous Ben Cochran, decided to submit a steaming pile of excrement as an op-ed column for his school paper.  He was at his campus student health center with a cold, and was horrified to see that some of the patients ahead of him were (gasp!) getting prescribed birth control pills.

As if that version wasn't bad enough, an employee of the newspaper decided to leak the rough draft to the public.  Some particularly putrid bits from the uncensored version of his diatribe:

Classic Manchild.

If you have a lung problem, you see a pulmonologist. If you have a heart problem, you see a cardiologist. If you have a cunt problem, you see a gynecologist.

...

First of all, not even porn stars need that much birth control. Second of all, do you mean to seriously tell me that I’ve been sitting here in misery for the last half an hour just so that this gaggle of preemie sluts could get a free pass on harlotry?

...

Go read your Redbook in the lobby of a specialist while you get a mani as you wait to get your hatchet wound inspected.

And finally,

Please take your gaping holes elsewhere for medical services, and leave the real health issues to those that actually belong on a college campus.

This wouldn't be remarkable if it was some run-of-the-mill, insecure-about-his-penis-size douchecopter who's mad at the women he fails to seduce; however, this particular douchecopter is a nursing student who ought to have some basic knowledge about how the female reproductive system works.

In the name of free speech and letting fools remove all doubts as to their foolishness, the school paper let him publish a follow up column.  Worded as a faux-apology, he continued what can only be self-aware trolling of the people he offended the first time around.

I would hope that people as willfully ignorant as he is get weeded out of East Carolina University's nursing program long before they're allowed near a live patient.