Mid-June Rehash: Dolphin/cephalopod copulation, divine search warrants, and criminalizing atheism!

I'm hopefully getting back in the swing of this blogging thing again.  This time I'm shooting for making mid-month rehashes of stories from around the internet a regular feature.  Let's do this.

Is that an octopus on your genitals, or are you just ha... wait, what?

So, in case any of you haven't seen it yet, this image started going viral yesterday:

Photo credit: Joan Gonzalvo

Best comment I've seen so far: "That's gotta suck."

(via Ed Yong)

Mid-month absurdity: Divine revelation is now probable cause?

Last year, a self-proclaimed psychic told the Sheriff's Office of Liberty County, Texas, that a local couple had 25 to 30 dismembered children buried on their property.  This prompted a raid on their home by deputies and put the couple in the media spotlight internationally (largely because the Sheriff's Office tipped off the media before executing the search warrant).

As it turns out, the couple weren't really serial killers and didn't even have one dismembered child buried in their yard, let alone 25 to 30 of them.  Now they're (rightfully) suing the Liberty County Sheriff's Office for defaming them and ransacking their home on the word of a charlatan.

The charlatan in question had this to say for herself:

“They up front asked me how I got the information, and I am a reverend. I am a prophet and I get my information from Jesus and the angels, and I told them that I had 32 angels with me and they were giving me the information and then it went from there,” she said.

Jesus and 32 angels told her about it? Must be legit.

(via Ken at Popehat)

Atheism gets you 2 1/2 years in prison in Indonesia

I hope by now that all of you who love freedom have heard of what's happening to Alexander Aan of Indonesia.  If not, go read up on it.

He's going to prison and will spend the next 2 and a half years locked up with dangerous criminals for asserting God's non-existence on an atheist group page on Facebook.  He also has to pay a fine of roughly $10,600 US.

Islamic extremists, however, seem to think that the sentence is too lenient; some of them feel that he's committed a capital crime.

“These atheists should be beheaded, that’s what they deserve,” wrote a man who identified himself as Putra Tama, a Muslim from neighboring Jambi province.

The Islamic Society Forum (FUI), an umbrella group for several hard-line groups, said that a five-year jail term for Aan would not suffice.

“He deserves the death penalty, even if he decides to repent. What he has done cannot be tolerated,” said Muhammad al-Khaththath, FUI’s secretary-general.

“It is important to prevent this group from spreading atheism in this country,” he added.

That doesn't bode well for him; how many Islamic extremists are going to be sharing a cell block with him?  It's morbid, but I wouldn't be surprised some righteous zealot sticks him with a shiv in the name of God.


At any rate, it isn't even legal to be an atheist in Indonesia.  You can choose from a laundry list of state-approved religions, but "none of the above" isn't an option.

Note to self: don't go to Indonesia.

If you're interested, the Atheist Alliance International is collecting donations for a legal fund to help Aan fight this ridiculous conviction.  If you want to contribute to that specific fund, make sure you tick the appropriate box before donating.

(via Friendly Atheist)

Atheism gets you jail time in the UK, too?

Indonesia doesn't exactly have the world's most permissive religious freedom laws, but surely nothing like that would happen in a bastion of liberty like a Western nation, right?

Yeah.  Wrong.

John Richards, an elderly man living in Boston (a small town on the eastern coast of England), has a sign hanging in his window proclaiming religion as fairy tales for adults.

Recently, the local police informed him that he could be arrested for it if it offends anybody and he refuses to take it down.

Unlike in Indonesia, I highly doubt an arrest in this case would result in any kind of conviction.  I hope.

(also via Friendly Atheist)

Recommended Reading: The Merely Real

I may have linked to her old blog as recommended reading last year, but Chana Messinger has a new blog that she updates frequently, writing about all sorts of interesting topics like feminism, skepticism, and occasionally food.  Go check it out.

Rallying against the atheist bogeyman

Sometimes I think that certain other atheists are exaggerating when they claim that American society at large is out to get them.  This suspicion is usually proven wrong.  The past few weeks have been no exception.

It's official: "atheist" is a dirty word

It's a sad realization we've come to time and time again as godless Americans: to be an atheist is inherently offensive.  It's bad enough that we're labeled "angry" or "militant" for applying critical reasoning to people's deeply-held religious beliefs; now it's apparent that we can't even publicly announce our existence.

A group of atheists in Pennsylvania decided to steer away from the "your religion is a myth" theme of recent billboard campaigns and come up with the most innocuous message they could think of to advertise their group's existence:

This was apparently too controversial to appear on the side of a bus.  I'm shocked, but at the same time not as shocked as I probably should be.  Public displays of godlessness fit right into the worst fears of people who believe agents of Satan are lurking around every corner.

Seeking to lampoon the ridiculousness of it all, my fellow atheist blogger Astrid created an even less threatening image that's probably still too controversial to make the cut:

How abrasive, in-your-face, and militant is that?

When "reaching out" becomes "targeting"

This may come as news to some people: black atheists do exist.  There.  I hope that no one sustained any injuries when any stereotypes they held about atheists and/or black people came crashing down.

Now that we've established this fact, it should come as no surprise that said black atheists might want to reach out to other members of their racial demographic who are having doubts about religion.  And they've been doing exactly that, with the most innocuous advertising possible.  African Americans for Humanism launched a billboard campaign this month letting other nonbelievers know that they're not alone.

This, of course, makes some religious people very upset.  The headlines themselves are telling:

• "ATHEISTS’ ANTI-RELIGION BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN TARGETS AFRICAN AMERICANS"
• "Atheists Target Blacks During the Month of February"
• My personal favorite: "Atheist Billboard Targets African Americans: Satan Wants Black People In Hell and Not Believe In God"

Note the word choice here.  Atheists are targeting black people.  It's stated as though the two are non-overlapping circles, and that some godless outsiders are seeking to spread discord among the African American community.  The intention of the authors is clear: exploit racial tension to promote anti-atheist bigotry.  It's the exact opposite of what AAH's positive campaign seeks to accomplish.

(A big thanks to Dren Asselmeier for her many tweets on this topic!)

Santorum seeps into the church-state divide

In order to get elected, John F. Kennedy had to reassure the majority-Protestant electorate that he wasn't a Catholic theocratic mole who wanted to turn our country into a satellite state of the Vatican.  A half-century later, Rick Santorum is twisting JFK's words around to tell us how the concept of separation of church and state makes him nauseous:

He had said that he "almost threw up" after reading JFK's 1960 speech in which he declared his commitment to the separation of church and state.

Perhaps he'd also feel a little queasy if the Protestants he panders to called his Catholicism into question in the general election.  Secularism starts to look pretty good when you're the target of bigotry from the majority religion.

Isn't mocking the Prophet a crime in this country?

Last Halloween, a random Muslim man physically assaulted an atheist who marched in a parade dressed as a Zombie Muhammad.  Police were called and a court case ensued.  The perpetrator learned that you don't assault people for saying something you don't like, right?

Wrong.

It's bad enough that some Muslims take their religion seriously enough to get violent when someone satirizes it; worse yet is when our legal system decides that you were asking for it when you're the victim of such violence.

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.

Belated Weekly Recap: Strange Matter, evolution book ban, and honor killings in the UK?

I've been a bit busier than expected for the past week.  To tell the truth, I've mostly been out enjoying the fresh air with my wife and our dog, and just haven't had much time or energy left over to spend at the computer.  Blogging has consequently been on the back burner until now.

Posts going up within the week sometime in the near future (I swear upon Russell's Teapot):

You can't prove it's not there!

• a retrospective post about ten years of September Elevenths and the War on Terror
• a statement of my political principles as a left-libertarian centrist (partly a response to The Heathen Republican)
• a fun post in which I make up completely absurd claims and conspiracy theories
• possibly a Skeptic Freethought post as well, if I think I've come up with something worthy

At least I'm only 24 hours late on my Weekly Recap.  Let's do this.

Weekly Recap: Tea Party vs. libertarians, atheist wedding vows, Little Kropotkin, and education fail!

I'm a bit late getting my posts completed this weekend; I've been doing a lot of running around and have not had as much computer time as usual. My obligatory 9/11 decennial post will be up tomorrow or Tuesday.

Tea Partiers are not libertarians

Skeptic libertarian author Michael Shermer tweeted a link to this video highlighting the very different views of the psuedo-libertarian Tea Party "Patriots" and actual members of the Libertarian Party.

It may get a bit strawman in some parts, but on the whole I'd say it's spot on. I'm certainly not happy about social conservatives commandeering the libertarian label (though I do not consider myself a true libertarian, I agree more with their views than I do with either major party) for their anti-liberty agenda, and I'm all for calling them out on it.

Godless Quote of the Week

Photo credit

"Each time I look to the stars while holding your hand, one fact runs through my mind. From the iron that courses through our veins, to the oxygen that fills our lungs, every piece of me, and every piece of you comes from those stars above us. How amazing it is to know that countless years ago the very atoms that make us both the individuals we are today were perhaps intertwined, interconnected, but most importantly... together."

This is an excerpt from an atheist redditor's wedding vows. I thought it was beautifully written, and I wish I'd been clever enough to pen something like this for my wedding. We had a Christian ceremony, but asked the minister to keep the preaching to a minimum and picked out cookie-cutter vows that didn't contain religious references.

Of course, the minister decided to troll me and insert the phrase "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" at the end of them; people who knew I was an agnostic at the time had a good laugh about that one.

(via Blonde Nonbeliever)

Sunday Subscription Site Suggestion

This week, I'd like my readers to take a look at The Humble Empiricist, a blog written by a Michigan atheist who goes by the name Kropotkin. It's mostly opinion articles, and she states her case in a straightforward, common sense manner. You can also see the video counterpart to her blog on her YouTube channel.

Weekly Absurdity: Buying iPads instead of hiring better teachers

The New York Times recently reported about the fact that the push for cutting-edge technology in classrooms hasn't improved students' learning in any measurable way. To make matters worse, school districts have been laying off teachers while simultaneously shelling out for this expensive technology.

It's not about how much you spend per pupil or what shiny new gadgets you have for your students to learn on. It's about the capable and driven person you have in front of the classroom leading them to skills and knowledge.

(via Secular Right)

Disingenuous fearmongering about the "gay agenda"

(Cross-posted on Skeptic Freethought)

I was recently alerted to this video's existence via a Facebook post by a conservative Christian associate of mine.  It was created by CitizenLink, a Focus on the Family affiliate.

It's more of the same message we often see from social conservative "pro-family" organizations: that "parents" (read: heterosexual Christian parents) should be "concerned" (read: alarmed) about "homosexual indoctrination" (read: teaching kids that they shouldn't regard gay people as horrible, immoral monsters) in schools.

For what it's worth, I know that there are at least a handful of gay activists out there who do have a disdain for heterosexuals and do want special treatment for their orientation.  With a little bit of dressing up, this fringe element serves as a handy strawman for anti-gay activists to reference in videos like this.  Don't be fooled.  The vast majority of homosexuals just want to be who they are without being treated like freaks.  That's your real "gay agenda".

If you don't want to sit through the whole thing, skip to 6:48 for the part that really made my blood boil.

". . . it is clear that these kids are struggling."

Around the 7-minute mark the show's host plays a clip from a "tolerance" video promoted by a gay advocacy group.  In the clip we see teenagers giving their candid perceptions of their own gender identities, followed by the host and her guest reacting with thinly veiled disgust.  They no doubt picked this clip thinking that it represents the worst of the gay indoctrination that students face, and I personally saw nothing wrong with what that clip depicted.  What exactly is wrong with boys not acting masculine?  Girls admitting that they're not 100% feminine?  More importantly, what evidence is there that these kids are "struggling" any more than any other teenager struggles with life?

Of course, that's a rhetorical question.  I know that the people who are alarmed by the blurring of boundaries between gendered behaviors feel that way because it demolishes two immutable categories that they've constructed in their minds.  "Men and women are fundamentally different, even without counting the genitals and physiological differences, and should always behave as such, and you'll never convince me otherwise!" says my social conservative strawman.

What's really damaging is the idea that there can't be middle ground in gender issues, that you're either a manly man, a womanly woman, a girly gay boy, or a butch lesbian.  No room for bisexuals, or even heterosexuals who exhibit personality traits of both genders, exists in this mindset (let alone trans- or intersexuals!).

An admonition for conservatives who aren't anti-gay

I understand that there are plenty of economic conservatives out there who don't have a problem with anyone's sexual orientation or gender identity so long as they're productive citizens. I understand your sentiment that gay advocacy is intruding on public school curriculum with programs like those described in the video, and likewise that lawsuits for the same cause are frivolous and that government intervention on it is excessive. I don't completely agree with that sentiment, but I understand where it comes from.

What secular conservatives should understand is that much of the left-wing sentiment backing this type of aggressive advocacy was forged by the backlash from social conservatives against those homosexuals who have "come out" over the past few decades. Gay rights activists built up this momentum while fighting a culture war for their right to exist in society. Tell the religious zealots who have hijacked the Republican Party to stop fighting culture wars and focus on the economy, and you won't have to listen to this senseless debate any longer.

Weekly Recap: An atheist asks for advice, The Brick Testament, and more billboard controversy!

I saw this in the local paper while at my parents' house.  It may be a cheesy advice column, but it's a good sign to see the atheist viewpoint getting more mainstream exposure.  I have to wonder if the article offended anyone like certain billboards did, however...

Bible stories, told with Legos!

I recently stumbled across The Brick Testament, a series of biblical illustrations creatively built from the versatile plastic blocks we remember from our childhood (or later in life, for that matter).

Nothing is held back.  No detail is too racy, too gory, too contradictory with other details to be acted out with little yellow people.  Go check it out.

Godless Quote of the Week

One attack I’ve heard theists make against atheists is, “So, you atheists think you know everything? You think you’re smart enough to know everything? You think science can figure out everything? There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt…” That quote is from my good friend Mr. Straw Man, but it’s an idea we hear all the time: atheists are arrogant and don’t think they need god, because they’ve got it all figured out. I think people who make that accusation are confusing style with content. I’m a loud, aggressive, strident, outspoken atheist, and I’m an asshole — but what I’m claiming is not in any way arrogant. It couldn’t be more humble. It’s just “I don’t know.”

- magician, skeptic, and crude humorist Penn Jillette, in the intro to his new book God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales.

Sunday Subscription Suggestion

This week I'd like to spotlight Science Sushi, a blog that serves real, raw science without the usual jargon or speculative sensationalism.  The author, Christie Wilcox, is a proud nerd with an affinity for marine life and a penchant for mythbusting.

She infamously ignited a flamewar with proponents of the "organic" agriculture movement by writing a post debunking myths about the "organic" label, and held her ground like a boss.

Weekly Absurdity: Why is this still controversial?

Atheist and secular humanist organizations around the country have been putting up all manner of billboards over the past several months.  Unlike the intentionally incendiary ads sponsored by American Atheists earlier this year, these billboards have all contained a positive message: you don't need to believe in a higher power in order to lead a good life.

One such billboard sponsored by the Center for Inquiry went up in Grand Rapids, Michigan earlier this week:

How offensive!

This message has proven too controversial for many Christians' sensibilities (take a look at some of the comments on the news articles!).  The same billboard was apparently banned in Tennessee for its "offensive" message.  It's interesting how even extremist Christian messages don't cause the same level of controversy.

This, however, is perfectly acceptable.

I know that I've written on this subject before, but it still confounds me.  As always, insecure believers seem to see happy, friendly nonbelievers as the greatest threat to their religion's existence.

(via Friendly Atheist and Skeptic Freethought)

Pastor Mike's "Atheist Registry" is apparently old news... or is it?

*** Update 9/1/11: Pastor Mike has now made his blog private.  It's a shame that we won't be able to read the good news from him anymore.  Also, apparently I am bad about checking dates.***

So it seems that we self-righteous atheist bloggers aren't so careful about checking dates when we respond to fundamentalists' rants.


Oh, wait.  We are!  Pastor Mike just made a little slip-up when he scheduled his post to publish a year later than he meant to.  Now he's wondering why his suggestion for a National Atheist Registry is just now getting attention - it's because it only appeared to the public this past Sunday!

Pastor Mike is also apparently upset that people have the audacity to comment on his public blog criticizing him for promoting harassing proselytization of atheists and boycotting atheist-owned businesses.  He apparently doesn't see the irony in this.  As he so eloquently points out in his latest rant,

"They'll hide behind the security blanket of their keyboards , boasting how "proud" they are of being atheists in their PUBLIC blogs , yet , let someone like me mention putting their names on a PUBLIC registry , and they whine like little school girls and begin having their juvenile emotional outbursts."

It goes both ways, Pastor Mike. When you post something on your public blog and make your email address public, don't be surprised when you get a large quantity of email from people who disagree with you.

Now, it's fun to snicker at the ignorance of people like Pastor Mike, but I don't support any trolling of his blog or harassing him by email.  That won't solve anything and will only serve to fulfill his confirmation bias and convince him and his followers that they're right to fear and despise us.  I know that scalawags like Ginx are just going to do it anyway, though, so maybe I shouldn't bother with the disclaimer.

Weeky Recap: We Are Atheism, Godless Quote of the Week, Sunday Subscription Suggestion, and the Thought Offender Registry?

I've decided to make these Weekly Recaps a regular feature on this blog.  If anything, it'll give you all something to read every Sunday if I happen to be out of material for a week.  It'll also motivate me to work past my writer's block in at least some way on a regular basis.

Each such post is going to feature the following:

• The Godless Quote of the Week: something profound and/or snarky uttered or written by a fellow atheist, with a link to the source for context.
• Sunday Subscription Suggestion: inspired by Twitter's Follow Friday meme, I will link to a blog or other site I've recently discovered and would recommend to my readers.  Not necessarily atheism-related.
• Weekly Absurdity: something absolutely ridiculous that I've discovered within the week.  It might be a facepalm, or it might be a LOL.
• Whatever the hell else I want to post.

That's it in a nutshell.  Buckle up.

We Are Atheism campaign launched!

The push for atheists to step out and assert their presence has yet another organized form of support.  With the tagline "Stand up.  Speak Out.  Be Counted.", We Are Atheism provides atheists with a platform to tell the world who they are and what they do believe in.

I plan on submitting a video myself in the near future.  Speaking of which, are there any readers in Central Ohio who own a decent video camera?

Godless Quote of the Week

(via Friendly Atheist)

"[T]hey said, 'So you think you’re the biggest, most important thing in the universe?'
On the contrary. I think I am among the smallest. Cosmically speaking, I barely exist."

This was said by author Marya Hornbacher, an atheist who writes about mental illness, addiction, and recovery without a higher power to call upon.

Sunday Subscription Suggestion

I'd like to spotlight the blog Fallen From Grace by Bruce Gerencser.  Bruce is a former evangelical pastor who spent half of his life as a church leader before coming to the conclusion that he's an atheist.

His blog tells the tale of his journey "from Eternity to Here" and offers a unique perspective on life, religion, and apostasy.  He'll often point out the hypocrisy of those who once considered him their brother in Christ.

Weekly Absurdity: Thought Offender Registry?

(via Pharyngula)

Pastor Mike of the Living Water Church in southern Florida has a suggestion for keeping tabs on us nasty atheists.  He proposes a national registry of all those who publicly deny his god's existence, modeled after the Sex Offender Registry.  After all, don't good Christians have a right to know if there are any godless monsters living in their communities?  Think of the children!

He highlights some of the benefits of such a registry:

. . . we could begin to witness to them and warn them of the dangers of atheism . Or perhaps they are radical atheists , whose hearts are as hard as Pharaoh's , in that case , if they are business owners , we would encourage all our Christian friends , as well as the various churches and their congregations NOT to patronize them as we would only be "feeding" Satan.

Were I a business owner, I'd have mixed feelings on this.  I'd be happy to have fewer bigoted fundamentalists hanging around in my shop, but I'd sure miss taking their money. I'd also be quite perturbed that this Satan character was embezzling my profits, as I'd have a strict policy against hiring mythological beings.

It's all too tempting to scoff and snicker at this sort of nonsense, but as PZ correctly points out it poses a real threat of harassment and intimidation against outspoken atheists by self-righteous Christians with nothing better to do with their time.

Well, the only defense against something like this is threat dilution. I say that atheists start contacting Pastor Mike and ask where we can sign up!

Are Muslims and secular humanists allied to destroy America?

Of course not.  But apparently Brad Hughes over at American Thinker believes that they are.  He writes of a "worldview war":

"with secular humanism and Islam as co-belligerents on one side and Judeo-Christian America on the other." 

I'm curious as to how he came to this conclusion; let's read his article, shall we?

He opens up with a Bible passage as his first piece of evidence (Ephesians 6:12 - New International Version no less!  Doesn't he know that anything other than King James is blasphemy?), setting the stage for what can only be a well-researched exposition.

Satan wants YOU to care about the environment!

This afternoon, courtesy of Martin S. Pribble, my Google Reader feed was graced by this alarming little nugget of religious nutballery. I'd like to share:

So there you have it, folks. The global movement to reduce pollution and use our planet's resources more responsibly is really a master scheme by the Devil to establish his New World Order. And how dare those environmentalist scientists suggest that our planet can't accommodate an infinite number of humans!

I personally found it hilarious when they talked about children being targeted because they are susceptible to deception, and accused environmentalists of using bad science, exaggeration, myth, and outright lies to push their worldview. Hmm, who else does that sound like? 0=)

Mr. Pribble didn't want to have a live link to these loons' website giving them hits from his blog. I personally don't care if they track hits back to me. You're welcome, guys! I'll bet you won't link to any of your critics, because that would give your followers the opportunity to think for themselves.

In all seriousness, I will admit that I am skeptical of some environmentalists' claims. I think that some of them do exaggerate the gravity of problems such as global warming to drum up support for solutions (and I'll have to see remarkable evidence of imminent danger before I support anything as rash as geoengineering measures). That's not to say that I'm not even more skeptical (cynical?) of their opponents who pretend that our activities never negatively affect the biosphere.

Legitimate criticisms of the more extreme elements of the environmentalist movement are one thing; blind religious denial that we're doing anything wrong is another. The belief that an all-powerful father figure wants our species to consume the planet into ruin is going to encourage a lot of people to behave irresponsibly, and its spread among American Christians will further divorce the faith's adherents from reality. As if this country's Religious Right wasn't doing enough in its war on science...

No honor among thieves, no credulity among atheists?

Even setting aside the incessant hair-splitting between professed atheists and professed agnostics, nontheism is far from being anything close to a coherent ideology. To be united by unbelief is a fragile alliance at best, and many of us are as skeptical of one another as we are of religion.

Take a look at some of the other atheist blogs I link to on my sidebar - Pharyngula, Friendly Atheist, BlagHag, Secular Right, The Intersection - and you'll see that we're scattered widely across every layer of the ideological map excepting theology. We don't just differ on politics and economics, but also on how to relate to religious people and even how atheists ought to live their lives.

Those of us who feel inclined to blog tend to be opinionated and outspoken individuals. It comes as no surprise, then, that when one notorious atheist blogger makes a post disagreeing with other notorious atheist bloggers, my RSS feeds are flooded with diatribe and discord.  Here are a few examples from this year alone:

Our world will be erased/our kin will be immaculate ejaculate in space

I'm guessing that an absence of reports from the eastern hemisphere of Christians spontaneously ascending into the sky or vanishing outright means that Harold Camping's prediction of the Rapture failed.  It's possible that we just might not have noticed because there are so few True Believers in the world.  We can't truly say they were wrong until the world doesn't end in October.

It's not like this is the first time, after all.

Of course, the mainstream Christians out there are rolling their eyes and quoting Chapter 24, Line 36 of my biblical namesake.  Obviously we'll never know when Christians are going to spontaneously ascend into the sky or vanish outright until the day it happens.  It definitely wasn't supposed to have happened already (hint: don't read the two lines immediately preceding line 36), which means it's going to happen any day now.

This should be an interesting week...

It's been an eventful Monday.

• Trump dropped out of the 2012 Presidential running, ending a joke that stopped being funny a while ago;
  
• Facebook has been peppered with reports that scientists have "cured" cancer, which would be awesome except that they didn't;
  
• Pakistan is no doubt preparing to block major social networking sites in anticipation of "Everyone Draw Muhammad Day" (post about that subject coming later this week);

• Stephen Hawking dismissed the afterlife like a boss;
• Harold Camping and his acolytes are counting down the hours until Jesus comes back nothing happens on Saturday;
  
• apparently a cult of Russian women believe that Vladimir Putin is a reincarnated apostle.

That's all for now.

Facepalm of the Month: "To Kill A Mockingbird" Censored

2011 has been an interesting year for cases of idiotic censorship.


In a classic episode of missing the point, a school superintendent in our great state has banned a stage production of To Kill A Mockingbird, adapted from Harper Lee's famous novel.  The reason?  It's not because of the violence or the fact that the crux of the plot is a rape trial.  No, the play was cancelled because, true to its profound indictment of the irrationality of racism, it features characters who utter racial slurs, and that's not school appropriate.

Seriously.  We might as well ban George Orwell's 1984 because Ingsoc's propaganda could be seen as pro-Communist.  Oh, wait, that's been done.

I suppose this is to be expected in an age when a prominent scholar censors the same slur out of the dialogue of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (The late Mr. Clemens would be bashing his head on his keyboard in Hell right now if there were an afterlife).  Apparently we can depict black slaves being savagely beaten, treated like subhuman beasts, and deprived of every opportunity in life, and that's perfectly fine - but if we candidly depict their tormentors calling them "niggers" it makes too many people uncomfortable.


Censoring the ugliness of our past hinders future generations from learning from their ancestors' stupidity and from preventing history from repeating itself.  When we take the sting out of human cruelty by censoring the nasty words, we're left with only statistics about death and disenfranchisement.  We're left without a moral lesson to derive from the way humans have used language to dehumanize one another, and without such poignant depictions in literature, we're left without a way to empathize with the victims of injustice.

Disgusting.

Hemant Mehta over at Friendly Atheist posted about this gem of a pastor from South Africa.

“Did you donate your biscuit to men?”

I really am at a loss for words about this.  I would think that even the most credulous religious Americans, even those who donate their life savings to con-artist televangelists, would kick their pastor's teeth in if they witnessed him doing this to a member of the congregation.

Free Speech and Defamation of Islam

Andrew Stuttaford's recent post over at Secular Right has brought it to my attention that the infamous Pastor Terry Jones is under arrest in Michigan for planning to protest outside a mosque.  Apparently the notion of a "stern talking to" about his bigotry toward Muslims isn't enough for the authorities in Dearborn; they're willing to throw the Constitution down the sewer if it means keeping him from saying something offensive.


There are a few issues on which I have strong opinions, but none that I hold nearly as staunchly as I do my stance against censorship.  Jones is a despicable cur for his Muslim-baiting antics, but he has every legal right to do what he's doing, whether he's burning a book or protesting in front of a building.  We as a free society have no moral authority to stop him.  We can and should criticize him and his message, but he's free to speak his mind.


To be fair, the city does have to concern itself with the practical matter of preventing riots.  Dearborn has a large population of Muslims, both immigrants and natural-born Americans, and a brazen anti-Islam display such as Pastor Jones' usual fare could trigger a violent response among the less sophisticated members of the Muslim community.  I understand their desire to dissuade him from disturbing the peace, just as I might not want someone prodding a wasp nest with a stick if I happened to be standing next to it.


Then again, wasps can't help themselves but to sting anything near them when provoked; humans, regardless of what crazy delusions they believe, are sentient beings capable of rational thought.  We should expect better of the people of Dearborn, as they should be smart enough to know that the best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them.  Let Pastor Jones and his toadies be the lunatics standing on the sidewalk shouting drivel; if he doesn't get the response he's looking for, he might well pack up and go home, just like Fred Phelps has done when some of his recent protests turned out to be duds.


Here's hoping that he's promptly cleared of whatever bogus criminal case the local prosecutor is making against him, and that no one gets violent in response to the venom he spews.

Rapture party, heyyyooo

I told myself I'd stay away from the "Let's snicker at religious people for believing something silly" sort of posts that spice up many an atheist blog. I find myself recanting that vow now, at least for one particular issue.

Photo credit: not me.

Last week I witnessed the caravan of "Judgment Day - May 21, 2011" mobile billboard trucks rolling about Columbus. I passed them stopped in traffic on I-270 on my way home from work. I wish I'd taken a picture, but I didn't really want to take the risks associated with fumbling with a camera phone while driving.  Of course, with these things cruising all over the country, someone was bound to photograph one and post it on the internet.






I'm a bit perturbed by the amount of time and resources that Family Radio is spending promoting this campaign. They haven't stopped with advertising in the continental US - they've got paid advertising for their doomsday prediction as far away as Thailand.  These people are devoting everything they have to warning the world about an apocalypse they're certain is going to come this year.


I've considered three possible outcomes of their efforts, in increasing order of gravity (though decreasing order of likelihood):

1. They all wait around to be raptured on May 21st and nothing happens.  Some of them, disillusioned, abandon the cult and try to put their lives back together.  Others go on to form their own cults, as happened after the Great Disappointment of October 22, 1844.  The rest of the world laughs it off.
2. They turn out to be a suicide cult like Jim Jones' "People's Temple" and all end up dead on May 21st, spending their last moments believing they're being raptured and not giving much thought to the odd aftertaste the Kool-Aid seems to have.
3. They turn out to be a terroristic cult like Aum Shinrikyo and carry out some sort of horrifying WMD attack loosely based on some verses from the Book of Revelation.

 Oh, and mustn't forget:  4.  They were right all along; Jesus comes back, whisks the True Believers up to Heaven, and then our unconditionally loving God proceeds to torture the rest of us for five months before finally throwing us into a lake of fire to forget about us for the rest of eternity.  See a dramatization of the events to unfold in this video (not produced by Family Radio, mind you, but a truly epic film indeed).

If you can make it through the whole thing, then you are truly dedicated to fully investigating the claims of the religious wasting 44 minutes of your time.

And now I see that the who's-who of today's atheists are throwing a Rapture Party!  If it weren't in California, I'd at least consider going, but I'm going to just stay here in Ohio.  Anyone want to join me for a beer on May 21st?