Onanism, or Masturbation, for you wankers out there.

The Roman Catholic Church (RC) has had a burr up its collective butt, for a long time on the issue of masturbation (heehee).  This goes back to the story of Onan, from which the old term for masturbation “Onanism” is derived.

In Genesis 38:1-10, we read that God didn’t much like Er (Judah’s first born) and so he did him in; killed him dead without any elaboration. So Judah says to Onan “Go into your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” Now Onan, not being a real deep thinker, decides that the offspring of a sexual union between his sister-in-law and himself would not be his, so he goes into her and just when things come to a head (so to speak) he wastes the semen “on the ground.” Consequently verse 10 tells us “And what he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death also.” Sucks to be one of Judah’s kids.

Now there is much more to this story, including the sister-in-law getting it on in the guise of a cult prostitute with Judah, and God not getting all pissed and putting him to death also for copulating with a prostitute who is really his daughter-in-law. That does not seem to bother the LORD. We are going to leave that for another time though and see if we can get a grasp of this Onanism/masturbation question. (heehee).

So the RC decides to act as though this story is real, as in, actually happened, rather than admitting it is a convoluted rough draft for a soap opera, and forbids Onanism as an affront to the LORD. Exactly why God was pissed is never explained in the story. Was he upset that Onan wasn’t following directions to get his sister-in-law preggers, or that he was spilling his seed on the ground? God doesn’t say, and Moses, who supposedly wrote this drivel, doesn’t let on either.

Now what if it was all about Onan refusing to knock-up his sister-in-law. Isn’t the RC risking God’s wrath by NOT letting demanding that brothers service the wife/wives of their deceased male siblings? I mean, what happens if God quits reading the paper and realizes that we have been neglecting our duties as brothers-in-law? BUT, and it’s a big BUT, it could have been that God was pissed about the whole spilling the seed thing, and masturbation’s wrong because it foiled the whole making babies bit that the RC is so fond of.

We may never know, but this brings up an important point. None of this has anything to do with the women. This is clearly all on the guys, and yet the RC has issues about women masturbating too.

No matter how you look at it, and trust me when I say that men have been looking at it for a long time, women masturbating does not…NOT…have anything to do with making babies. They can masturbate for days on end, and not one little egg will suffer. No seed hits the ground. There is no rational reason to forbid the gals from engaging in a little one-on-self time.

So maybe the bright lights in the RC should rethink (or perhaps just think period) the whole attitude they have against women masturbating, and while they’re at it, they should put the “Onanism” fixation on the back burner until such time as they get a memo from God clarifying the matter. Of course, given the silence from up there, that may be a while.

From Christian to Atheist: Part 6

In my last year of high school, I met Linda Glassman. Shy and quiet, I started talking with her in drama class one day, and haven’t stopped yet. I don’t remember when religion came up, but I was all about the supernatural at this point, and it wouldn’t have taken long. I just know that one day, we ended up on the subject and that’s when I discovered she didn’t believe in gods. I had never met anyone who didn’t believe in God. Didn’t even know they existed, and here I was getting sweet on someone who was raised in an atheist household.

From what I’ve seen over the years, I know that Linda and her siblings were never told they couldn’t believe in gods. If they asked questions, however, those questions were answered. When Linda and I started dating, I asked a lot of questions and made a lot of statements. I was going to convince her that UFOs, ESP, and other things that go bump in the night were real, and so we talked. And talked, and talked and talked.

Linda had two things going for her in this conversation. One was that she was not hesitant in asking questions and pointing out illogical issues and inconsistencies. Given the stuff I was pushing, she had ample opportunity to question away. Second was her secret weapon. Ned and Ginny, her father and mother, were always available to answer or ask questions that she brought to them or that might come up. And this went on for quite some time.

Linda and I kept dating through high school and married soon after she graduated. At the time we married, I still held belief in a god and afterlife, though not nearly as clear as it had once been, and not quite as central. Note that we married in a secular wedding. We specifically asked that there be no mention of gods in the service, and our music was all secular. And for two more years, thus it remained.

During all this time, I started reading books by atheists, Christians, bible scholars and skeptical writers, all the while trying to figure out what the truth was, or at least what was not the truth. The more I read, the more I realized that there was no evidence for the things I believed. I realized that when I read something, even things that I felt had solid arguments, I needed to weigh the evidence and the veracity of the writer. I couldn’t just accept what I read as the truth, because now, I knew that there were some really excellent reasons why I was wrong about a lot of the things I held onto.

When I became an atheist, I didn’t do so because it was trendy or cool, or because I wanted to do evil and unspeakable things, or because I was upset with gods/God. I was always willing to give gods the benefit of the doubt, and even today, I find that hard to put aside. About a year before Jessica was born (about 1977), I realized that I no longer believed in a deity. I demanded proof, and none was forthcoming. Faith wouldn’t hack it. I required proof for evolution, for medicine, for many other things, and gods would be so much bigger than any of those things, so they needed proof too. God had finally lost the battle, and I was an atheist.

Still, it was about five years before I also gave up on an afterlife. I didn’t want to “not exist”, and when I realized that, I knew it was not a good enough reason to ignore the science and keep this one last bit of faith.

I have to be always watchful of what evidence I accept, because I still have that believer lurking around inside my head.  He wants to latch onto anything that will allow him to make an argument for an afterlife, and I know this because, he doesn’t care at all about whether the argument supports a god or not. The only real concern is, can I believe in an afterlife? And before you ask, no, I will not accept a belief system that supports an afterlife, just in case there is a chance it’s real. Pascal’s Wager fails. Evidence wins out.

I have made my peace with the notion that one day, just like everyone else who has lived and who will come after me, I will die. I will cease to be. Period. This is actually more comforting that the idea that I will be singing hosannas to Jesus for eternity. Really think about it. What would you possibly find to do for eternity? Maybe a few hundred years; heck, I would even consider living a few thousand (with a new and healthy body), but I have to admit that even that would be a pushing it. What do you do for two thousand years? When I was born, I had only one certainty, one guarantee. One day I will die. Till then, I intend to enjoy the ride whenever I can. Ups and downs, it’s an E ticket ride.

From Christian to Atheist: Part 4

In high school, I was on a full roll with the whole ESP/UFO/Supernatural thing. I remember one of my teachers and I having a talk about it after class. Robert Pierle was my history/social studies teacher at Royal High School in Simi. I liked him. He managed to make history and social issues interesting, and to some extent repaired the damage a social studies teacher at Sinaloa managed to do. We were talking about the things I believed, in this case, ESP and telekinesis, and he wasn’t buying my arguments. The problem for me was, I still had no evidence for any of this stuff. I had bought many books on how to develop ESP and psychic powers, how to contact the dead, how to test for ESP (even managed to get a deck of Zener cards from Duke University) and still nothing. He told me that when I got my proof, or could demonstrate one of these abilities, to come back and show him. Then, and only then, would he accept it, because then I would have evidence.

Royal is where I was when I started losing my belief in Jesus. I still attended church, and still enjoyed Rev. Talberts sermons, but as I examined religion, and explored other areas of belief, I found it harder and harder to hold on to the basic beliefs of Christianity. Given how far out some of the other things were that I latched onto, it seems odd that an old staple like Jesus would crumble, but Jesus didn’t survive the conflict with evolution and the age of the earth. I had long ago accepted that evolution had occurred, and that there was no historical Adam and Eve; no Garden of Eden. It took me a while to put all that together and realize that without those two things, and without original sin, there was no real reason for Jesus or his alleged sacrifice.

One night, shortly after sundown, I went outside and stood in my back yard next to the juniper bushes on the patio, and while I was thinking about religion, Jesus, God and a few other things, I said, out loud, “I don’t believe Jesus is the Son of God”. It was the first time I admitted this aloud, and waited a beat for any special effects like lightning strikes, but none came. I was no longer a Christian. I still believed in a god, though he was morphing out of necessity. After all, I had just fired his son, and that kinda left me with the understanding that the Bible must have a few holes in it if it was wrong about Jesus (which is what the entire second act of the Bible was all about.) Of course I also had major issues about many of the events in the first act as well, so no surprise that it was all falling apart rather quickly.

During this time, I started picking up other ideas about gods, powerful beings and what happens after death. God started taking on a less defined form and became more an entity of power. There were people who were advanced spirits and such. All of this was still mashed up with ESP, UFOs and way too much other stuff to account for it all. If my beliefs had been on a map, they would have covered several counties, if not a few states.

My last year at Royal became an important one in all of this. I met my future wife Linda, and found myself feeling abandoned by my best friend, both of which played their part in my continued move toward atheism. I still attended church, and still, even with my belief system all over the place, was a believer, just not a Christian. A bit more to go before this story is done.

Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion

In the U.S. there is this balance between religion and free speech. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and other religious bodies are allowed a greater freedom than perhaps anywhere else in the world, even though they do tend to insert themselves into the political process and try to make their religious views into laws that the rest of us non-religious (or non-whatever-they-are) have to follow. The worst offender in the U.S. is, of course, Christianity (of which there are an annoyingly large number of varieties) due to the fact that they are the largest body of religious folk in the country. The Christians here even make a point of trying on occasion to harass other religions into silence and often present themselves as having a special right to dominate all other views.

Now I think our Founding Fathers were insightful about this process re: religion, and by making it clear that we didn’t have a national religion, and that there would be no involvement between the government and the “church”, they made it possible for a big bright shiny light to enlighten the occasional entanglement of the two. We are now, and always have been, a secular state. And I am just as much a defender of freedom of religion as most Americans (often more so, because I don’t think Christianity is any more special than any of the others). If religions want to sell their goods to the public, good on them, but there is a wrinkle in the ointment.

Freedom of speech.

I’m only one of millions of Americans that openly criticize religions, and point out how ridiculous they are. I have no problem saying that if Jesus existed, he was in no way like the several versions of him in Matthew’s, Mark’s, Luke’s, or John’s propaganda efforts of near 2000 years ago. The Jewish stories present a violent and extremely unlikeable god that, if it were real, and interacted with us in today’s world, would scare the crap out of people and likely incite a revolt. And Islam, currently the most violent and hateful religion would have fared better if it hadn’t had a war mongering pedophile as its founder.

Lately, Islamic thugs have been using threats of violence and lies to shut down anyone who would say anything about their founder or religion, and the moderates are not standing up to them. We don’t hear from the moderates because the fundamentalists are more violent and willing to intimidate to shut them up. They are walking out of medical school classes because the schools teach evolution and it offends their poor religious feelings. They shut down a meeting at a London event by pushing and bullying their way in and using cameras to record those present, then threating to kill or harm anyone who said anything they didn’t like. This is what real fundamentalists look like.

In the U.S., extremist Christian groups use pressure to keep law makers in line, and to secure a spot at the table where they can try to force their agenda. It’s true that they do not, for the most part, partake in the level of violence exhibited by the Islamic nut cases. They prefer to shut the opposition up, and make heroic stands against 16 year old girls. When billboards go up that make simple and reasonable statements like, “Millions are good without God”, they ratchet up the rhetoric and lament the evil atheists and the collapse of American society. But the results of success by these Christian warriors would not do anything to strengthen this nation, and is constantly at odds with the Constitution.

And still, I think we would be worse off if we were to turn our back on the Constitution as well, and shut them up. We are better off knowing who these people really are, and holding up their actions for the moderate Christians to see and ask, why aren’t you saying more against these nut bags. Why aren’t you standing up and demanding that they stop claiming to represent all Christians? Why the bloody hell do you let them highjack Jesus?

It is pretty clear that I don’t think much of religion. The idea of gods was one of the single worst ideas man has come up with, and the foundation of organized religion has done more harm than good. And still, I think freedom of religion is the best way of going about things. Why? Because I also have the right of free speech, and can point out just how incredibly ridiculous gods, angles, demons, cherubs, heavens and hells are, while pointing  to the actions of the religious thugs (and the lack of actions by the liberal/moderate religious) . I can trumpet the fact that however slowly, the American public is losing its religious beliefs just like the majority of western European first world nations. Because of freedom of speech, I can point out (as can all the other atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, non-religious, and nones) the egregious efforts to put religious myths into the science class rooms of public schools by anti-science know nothings that also can’t wrap their heads around the dangers we face from manmade global climate change.

Now I also have quite a few relatives and friends that are believers of one type or another. Mostly Christian. Mostly conservative Christian. And for the most part, they are good people. I don’t think for a second that their beliefs in gods or Jesus, or whatever have anything to do with that. Take away the fairy tales that make up their peculiar religion and they wouldn’t suddenly run out and start raping and pillaging. They wouldn’t cease to love their children, and lose respect for those who have earned it. The vast majority of them wouldn’t suddenly lament a lack of an afterlife and lose all hope. They would go on living their lives and making sure that there was a future for their children.

I can say this because every day, men, woman and children become aware of just how silly it is to believe in this nonsense and stop being religious, and they don’t fall apart and go to the “dark side”, whatever that would be.  They may come to realize how important a good grounding in science is, or decide that religious objections to civil rights is wrong. But they would for the most part, continue their lives without a dramatic scene. It happens all the time. And that is the reason that free speech is important and why freedom of religion is too. If you force people to give up religion, they will resent it. If they see for themselves that it is hogwash, they will give it up and get on with life, and that is much more likely to stick.

Creationist Christians

Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort have made a video talking about the program they are promoting, where by they will give away 100,000 copies of “The Origin of Species”, by Charles Darwin. They will be doing this on collage campuses across the country on November 19 (Thursday) to “celebrate” the 150th anniversary of the publishing of Darwin's book.. To get out their Christian message of creationism Ray Comfort has put a 50 page forward in the book that tells the “truth” about Darwin and evolution.

I'm not going to address the nonsense in his forward in this post. There are more than a few blogs that have put the lie to Mr. Comforts fantasy attack on atheism, Darwin and evolution. I want to put some of the comments of his and Cameron's fellow Christians out there. But before doing that, I will point out that not all Christians are like Comfort or Cameron, or like the people whose comments I will address here. I understand that many Christians accept evolution, and are not like the right wing nuts that are in charge of the GOP.

Read the comment on TMZ, and please feel free to watch to Cameron's video.

Kate says:

“[Cameron is] saying he wants two perspectives given in the classroom. Why does that scare evolutionists so badly?...You may be wrong. Do you want to be wrong? I don't.”

The classroom Kate is referring to is the science classroom, where evolution is taught. Cameron and Comfort both want creationism taught side by side with real science, but creationism is not science. It's religion. Evolutionists are not scared, they are tired of the lies, misinformation and constant politicizing of science.

Scientists do get it wrong sometimes, maybe a lot more than they, as individuals would like, but that's what happens, when you have to test out your ideas in the real world. And just in case Kate is really talking about being wrong about gods, how typical that she is so sure she is betting on the right horse.

Francie says:

“...Darwin's "theory" doesn't have an evolutionary leg to stand on. If subjected to today's modern scientific and biological knowledge his "theory" would be instantly debunked and revealed for what it is, some delusional attempt to discredit the Creator of the universe who has eternity in his hands. It's your choice where to spend it.”

Francie is funny. Ask 99.9% of modern biologists and other scientists and they will tell you that evolution theory is the basis of modern biology. Really, does she think that the last time anyone looked at the theory of evolution, was 150 years ago? Sheesh. Scientists will even point out that Darwin got a few things wrong. The truth is, that every time a new method of testing, and investigation comes along, like the study of DNA, biologists start testing evolution in hopes of being the first one to discover some new fact that supports or weakens some aspect of evolutionary theory. Talk about a carrier maker, being the one to shake Darwin out of the cat bird seat.

And once again, we have veiled threats about hell. Some Christians seem to want us to go to hell if we're wrong. I mean some of them really want it.

Debbidy says:

We Christians have no connection with Hitler.....If you remember your history...We, Christians, have been killed for our beliefs. Would you die for yours....

This reference is the result of the creationist claim (and that of Cameron and Comfort) that Hitler had an “undeniable connection"to Darwin and Evolution. An atheist commented that,

“Christianity has an "undeniable connection" with Hitler, racism has an "undeniable connection" to Christian Fundamentalists, and Krk [sic] Cameron has an "undeniable connection" to willful ignorance.

The uncomfortable truth for Christians is that Germany was a Christian country. Members of the Wehrmacht wore buckles that said, “Gott mit uns ” (God with us) and there is no evidence that Hitler ever stopped believing in God. There is also no evidence that Hitler ever thought about evolution, much less accepted that his superior race evolved from apes and blacks that were the first examples of humans on earth.

But let us, for a moment, accept all the misinformation presented about Hitler and Darwin. The truth is that not one thing would be changed in the evolutionary theory. It is still factual science. That it might have been badly used (were the claims true) is irrelevant. After all, Christianity has been used badly by despots and killers for centuries, and that is history. That Christians were occasionally killed (mostly early on) for their beliefs does not make them right. Only dead.

Kathy says:

“...In his own words: Darwin confessed, "To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree." Even Darwin thought his theory was faulty - and that's why it's just that - A theory and nothing more.”

I am going to give Katy the benefit of the doubt, and assume that she has never actually read Origin. If she had, she would know that Darwin follows that statement with several pages explaining just how the eye could have developed with evolution. Creationist leaders cherry pick Darwin's quotes the same way they often cherry pick quotes from the Bible. Out of context. Darwin did not think his theory was faulty,.

As to the ol' chestnut, “...and that's why it's just that - A theory and nothing more.”, Kathy continues to misunderstand science. A scientific theory is not “just” anything. The theory of evolution, has 150 years of science to back it up. Science from multiple disciplines and hundreds of thousands of tests and predictions. The mountain of evidence for evolutionary theory will not crumble to the likes of creationism. Theory in science is the best thing to be..

Wombat says:

Not even athiests [sic] believe what they babble about. They are just depressed disenchanted people who have to lash out at others because they do believe in a God. But you can't believe in a God can you? Because then you would'nt [sic] have anything to talk about. You'd be the totally uninteresting person at a party of people who all root for the Dodgers. Others believe in God, so you have to NOT believe in God. You are like a walking talking coffee table book, or a tattoo, or a cute dog on a leash you walk thru the park in hopes some girl will talk to you...constantly seeking something to make yourself interesting...because otherwise you are just a dimwitted angry person.

LOL...why do you think athiests [sic] run around babbling their nonsense and trying to get others to STOP believing? If an athiest [sic] really believed in what they say they do, they'd just stay quiet and laugh at us who do believe. Instead you have to fight about it with every breath you take.

Also, you might try realizing that being an athiest [sic] and showing some common courtesy and manners are not alien to each other. Maybe then you can post something one day which is not filled with hate, insults ...and a whole lot of clues to your immaturity.

Now...I will let you get back to scouring the internet for something to scream and rant about with your 5 year old mentality.

Wow. Just Wow. Now I will admit that Wombat was taunted by someone that called her/him a “F*cking hypocrite.”, wow. The turning the other cheek love just flows...not. Apparently, Wombat has trouble with the notion that an atheist can be an intelligent and thoughtful person. But for the record I'm not depressed or disenchanted; I'm did not become an atheist so I could be interesting; I am most definitely not a dimwitted angry person; and while I'm am vocal, there are several reasons and one of them speaks to why so many atheists are speaking out now. I know that Wombat and others would like for us to just stay quiet, but that isn't their choice. With folks trying to put creationism into the science classroom, and trying to make laws that reflect their Christian beliefs, rather than the broader social make up of the country, more and more atheists see the need to make sure that we are counted too.

And quite frankly, I'm tired of Christians telling me what I should think, do, or say as an atheist. As for “filled with hate, insults...”, etc... time to look in the mirror, Wombat.

Chris says:

“Kirk isn't shoving anything down anyone's throat, he is simply trying to give people a chance to decided for themselves what they believe. On college campuses across the U.S. and in public schools only one side is given to students.

Why can't both sides be presented and then give each student the FREEDOM to decided what they believe and don't believe?...I say let him hand out his book, let both sides be presented and give American's the freedom to decided for themselves.”

What isn't being pointed out by Chris is that Cameron does want creationism shoved down the throats of students by putting it in science classes, where it doesn't belong, but in the science class we don't teach opinion. If you mix the right two chemicals together, you get a chemical reaction. That isn't opinion or a matter for letting the student decide for themselves. Science is not democratic. Gravity exists, and if you want to believe otherwise, fine, but that we should teach the “controversy”, where someone might differ is foolish. Notice that we do not teach holocaust denialism in history classes. The holocaust occurred, and while we can present the evidence for it, we also say clearly, that 6 million Jews were killed. Period.

Evolution is a fact. It is the basis of modern biology and in a properly taught science class, the facts are presented, experiments performed and children (including collage students) are taught the basics of how to do science, and why things are they way they are. Creationism does not make predictions, has no facts to support it, and performs no experiments, so it is not science. There is no controversy, and no alternative of a scientific type to evolution.

Josh said:

“The point of the Hitler remark, the racism remark is plain to see. Evolution gives supporting rationale to racism because it is assumed that people will evolve in different ways and at different rates. You cannot embrace a theory such as evolution and insist that all people are equal, it is impossible by definition. If we simply rose from pond scum, if we are simply carbon sacks of water with electricity, we have no intrinsic value other than what power we hold and those with power deem us to have; Survival of the Fittest.”

Evolution does not give support to racism, and does not assume that “people will evolve in different ways and at different rates.” This is a perfect example of someone who doesn't have a clue what evolution is. If we (humans) continue to evolve, and that is a real possibility, it will be as a species, not as single individuals. That is how evolution works. On populations, not one person at a time.

I personally don't think we are “simply” carbon sacks of water with electricity, with no intrinsic value. We are social animals that got where we are together as a species, and we either survive as a species or we don't. Survival of the fittest refers to the species that can adapt to it's environment and thus survive where others might not. If we, as humans, can't adapt to changes in the world around us, we could be replaced, and it wouldn't have to be an intelligent species that replaces us in the niche we now fill.

The above examples are why atheists and scientists are so tired of people who speak about things they don't understand. It has always baffled me that so many Christians think the person to talk to about evolution is a preacher, or an actor who hasn't a single degree in the sciences. Which is why I would be the first one to say, don't take my word for it. Go to some of many web sites or blogs maintained by biologists and read what they have to say. Read books written by evolutionists and work to understand what they are saying and why.

And as for us atheists, we live right along side you, and have the same rights to speak out as you do. I refuse to apologize or shut up just because what I say bothers you.

Makers of gods

I have been in arguments and discussions about religion since I was 13 years old. That's when I started the journey that led to my becoming an atheist. It was an 11 year journey, because I didn't decide that I was an atheist until the year before my daughter was born. I was 24.

Many different things led to making that decision. One of them is the realization that we (meaning humans) insist on answers to all our questions. If we don't have answers, we make them up. Here's how I think it might have gone, long ago in a quiet cave late one night when a few of the folks inside couldn't sleep.

Tuggi: It's dark out there.
Farg: Have you noticed that that big shiny thing doesn't stay up there?
Tuggi: Well, Duh!
Farg: What do you mean, Duh? I'm just saying, it doesn't stay up there?
Garph: Where does it go?
Tuggi: That way. (Tuggi points west)
Garph: But why?
Farg: Don't know, do we?
Tuggi: Speak for your self. I have it all figured out.
Garph: Really?
Farg: No not really. He's full of beans, he is.
Tuggi: Am not. There's two of them, you know.
Garph: Two of who.
Tuggi: Two of the great and powerful beings in the sky.
Farg: Oh come on.
Tuggi: The one only comes out at night, and he's not as strong as the day other.
Garph: How do you know?
Tuggi: During the day, you can't look at the bright one. He is that powerful. But during the night, you can look at the face of the other. And he changes.
Farg: He's making this up you know.
Garph: Shhh! I want to know more.
Tuggi: Not making it up. You have seen his change from whole, to partly whole, down to nothing.
Farg: And where does he go when he's nothing?
Tuggi: He goes and gets his light back. The bright one steals it.
Farg: Does not.
Garph: That makes sense. The bright one steals it and the other chases him across the sky.
Tuggi: Exactly.
Farg: Buggers. Your full of bean gas.
Garph: (Hits Farg on head with rock.)
Tuggi: Why'd you do that?
Garph: He doesn't see the truth in what you say. Had to bash him.
Tuggi: Ah. He'll listen better when he wakes up.
Garph: Truth.

So there you have it. The beginning of the gods. The names were changed to protect the innocent.

Now think about it. There are a bazillion gods. Everyone has one, they make new ones from old worn out gods, and have been known to construct them out of whole cloth. Gods explain good and bad weather. Good and bad luck. Victory and defeat. Heck. Gods even explain ugly babies. Gods are everywhere. In trees. Rocks. Holes in the ground. Really good weed. (So I've been told).

I've been told that there is only one true god. Of course, I've been told this by people who define this one true god differently from the others who define him/it/her. Everyone is convinced that their explanation for this god, his history if you will, is the right one. And all the histories are different, too.

All these gods are there to explain things that we otherwise didn't (or don't) understand. Don't have an answer? God did it. And if you can make up answers for what gods did and didn't do, you can make up answers for other things you don't understand. Just ask the creationists. They make shit up all the time.

And all this wouldn't be so bad if people just kept it to themselves, but they don't. They want to teach it in the schools and pass laws.

Too thick to accept the fact that gays and lesbians are the way they are because they were born that way? No trouble, go to the Bible, Koran, or other book of ignorance and it will tell you they are bad. It may not say why, except that they are (insert something awful here) in the eyes of someone's god. Never mind that most of these rules were written by bronze age people who didn't have a clue about genetics, brain chemistry or development, or even the slightest understanding of what makes us tick.

Good god, these people thought a snake could convince a woman to eat an apple. They accepted stories of talking asses. Worse. They accepted stories from talking asses.

Really folks, it is time to put all these poor explanations for understanding away. We have science. We are getting more answers all the time, and these come with real evidence that supports them. Do we still have questions? Yes. What to do? Look for answers and not just say, god did it. In the mean time? Not a problem.

Just say, "I don't know".

More on Death

You know, once you touch on a topic, it can be hard to put it down altogether. I have two other thoughts on the subject. Both have a humorous element (to me anyway).

First is a recurring thought about T.V. shows and holiday breaks. Smallville is a good example here. One of my favorite shows that has gone on break till January 15th. It's at least a two parter, "to be continued" type. My thought was "Oh Great! What happens if I die before the conclusion? I'll never get to see the episode." Heh...

Because I live in the now, because I, like most people can't really get my mind around not having one (a mind that is), I feel like I will "miss" the show. Of course, I won't even miss me, much less missing the conclusion of a two parter, but there is still that little voice that has to have its way.

The second thought has to do with those who have died before us. In my extended family, my mother, father, several aunts and uncles as well as a cousin or two have all "gone on before" me. In short, they have died.

So what do we hear the believers say at important moments in their lives? "I wish my mother was hear to see this...", which is where I would stop but not the religious, "...but I know she is watching from heaven." At which point they look up and usually follow with, "This ones for you Mom."

Now I have several reactions to this kind of statement:

1. I can understand the feeling behind it. I reacted with a serious depression when my mother died 15 years ago next Friday, and I did miss her seeing my accomplishments big and small. I would have loved for her to live long enough to meet her great grandchild.

2. But let us assume for just a moment (before we stop assuming when done with this exercise) that mother is up in heaven right now. What in hell makes you think she has time, or the inclination to be looking down on you at this very moment. Wouldn't she have more important things to keep her busy without spending time looking in on what is going on elsewhere in reality? Doesn't God have Memorex? And time, not being an issue as far as the whole linear thing is concerned should allow one to view all those "important" moments in one sitting, don't you think?

3. And then there is this last issue. What if...what if it is really true that our mothers, fathers and other loved ones are sitting in heaven, (are they in the cheap seats, all the best ones taken by this time?) "watching down on us" all the freaking time? I mean really. I don't want to have to deal with the image of my mother watching me in the john, having sex or for that matter watching "Debbie does..." anyone. I would quickly cease being able to do the simplest damn thing in the toilet or the bedroom. Who in hell thought that up, and what makes them think that is an image anyone with half a mind would want.

I'm Just Saying...

Christian and Muslim

I read a number of blogs and articles on-line, and because I am an atheist, I often end up on an atheist, or atheist friendly site. If you are an atheist blogging, or writing, and make an effort to point out the silliness, absurdity, or downright lies and evil in the lives of many in the Christian church, you will find that sooner or later, someone is going to comment on your blog, respond to your article, or make their own podcast pointing out that you are a coward. And why are you a coward?

Because you are not attacking Islam. You are not pissing on Mohammad the way you are pissing on Jesus, or the way you are pissing on their crackers or ritual. You are not pointing out just how silly Islam is. And why are you not doing this? Because, say the Christians, you know that the Muslims will kill you. Then they dare you to prove how brave you are by challenging you to piss on Mohammad.

Now I can understand that when a Christian sees his beliefs attacked, he responds as poorly as anyone else would who is holding on to something that is baseless and tenuous. He responds like a kid in grade school.

"I bet you won't go in there."
"I bet you won't stick that in your mouth."
"I be you won't jump."

Knowing that there are factions of Islam that are totally unstable, and that there are indeed absolute nucking futs out there who would really kill you because you pissed on there version of the make believe world, the nut ball Christians, dare atheists to say the same mean things to even bigger nut balls.

P.Z. Myers in response to rabid Catholics who were threatening the life and education of a Florida college student placed a "cracker", or what is more commonly called a Eucharist, in his trash with a nail pierced through it, and photographed it. He was told the cracker was blessed, which means that if you are a Catholic, you likely believe that the cracker was the body of Jesus. See what I mean by nuts?

P.Z., like so many other atheists was told that he was a coward because he only attacked Christianity. He was told this then, and is told that now, and yet if you look at the photograph, or even bother to read the caption, you will note that also pierced by that rusty old nail was a page from the Koran, and not to be out done, he included a page from atheist author Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion.

And all the above is almost beside the point. The point here is that it is clear that some of the people have Islam envy. They honestly seem to be upset because they don't get to shoot people who blaspheme, or who pick on them. They don't get to burn them alive, or beat and kick them, or behead them. They're impotent little wankers and it bothers them.

Now every day that goes by, I hear Christians make callus and downright nasty remarks about atheists or atheism, and you know what? That's O.K. I can live with that. If it bothers me, I will post here on my blog, or question the speaker, or write to the miscreant, but I won't harbor a desire to see them killed, maimed or injured. Telling me there is a god, doesn't hurt me. Telling me I'm going to hell just doesn't worry me. The only time I get bothered is when Christians try to make their beliefs into laws I am supposed to follow. Then we will have a problem.

Oh, and the reason we don't always say something about the Islamist nut jobs, is because we live in a country whose religious makeup has a majority of Christians. We focus on the bigger pest, thanks to the extremist right wing Christians, it's easy to know who that is.

Life after Death...

Do you want an exorcise that I found interesting and, admittedly, a little disconcerting? Here is the prelude to the exercise.

I am an atheist. If you ask me, I will tell you that I do not believe in a god. Any god. Your god. His god. Their god. None of them. In fact, I gave up the belief in gods before I gave up the belief in a continued existence beyond physical death. But that too, went away.

I don't believe that I (me, myself whatever that means) will continue beyond the point where my brain ceases to function. When your brain dies, you die. Period.

The reason for both of these decisions on my part to “not believe” is the same as my reason for not accepting the existence of alien visits from other planets. There is no evidence. None.

Now don't get me wrong. I would love to discover that some how, some way, there is an after life existence. I like the idea of sticking around this big ol' universe now that I'm here. Though I have to admit that the idea of an unending existence strikes me as unlikely and undesirable. I can truly get that after a few thousand years, things could get boring. Well maybe a few thousand thousand years.

I understand that there is no reason to believe that I existed prior to my birth in 1953. And I say prior to my birth because there is no reason to believe that there was any kind of identifiable “me” conciseness prior to my birth. While the brain has some pre-birth programming, there is no great awareness.

So when the time comes, there will be an end to this ride I'm on. However it happens, one day I will cease to be, just as I was before my birth. There will be no me. So this was the birth of this little exorcise.

One night I was thinking about all this, and I closed my eyes and put myself in that moment before death. (As best as I could being I haven't had to do that for real yet.) I put it in terms of an accident. Seeing that truck coming at me and then bam. Blackness. Only I would not be aware of the blackness. I wouldn't know that I was dead because there is no longer a me.

I would see that truck coming and then nothing. As there would no longer be a me, there would be no memory of the truck hitting me, or of the years before that moment. Just an end.

My honest reaction was one of being somewhat disturbed. I like existing. It's something of a comfortable rut that I've fallen into, and I'm in no rush to get off the ride. And frankly, it's hard to really put yourself into a place where you can even get a sense of what not existing would be like.

So I find it disturbing. Does this mean that I must now hope for something beyond this life? No.

Does my desire for continued existence warrant my believing in such because it is comforting? No.

Does it give any support to “Life after Death”? No.

It just means that I am human. This is my only guarantee of having a life, and I am not going to waste it going to church, believing in gods, or an “after life” or anything else that takes away from living in the now. Because then is done, and later only goes on so long.

Jay Spears: SMAK DEM CHRISTIANS DOWN

This is a fun video in a "not a Christian" kinda way. (NSFW)

The News and the Nuts

Ignorance and stupidity can kill. We've seen it on the highways where drunks stupidly get behind the wheel and kill thousands of people each year. After years of vaccines bringing deadly childhood diseases to near extinction, we have ignorant people telling mothers and fathers to not vaccinate their children because they are mistaken in their belief that vaccines cause autism. They don't, but the press gives these idiots a bigger voice than they deserve and that volume confuses people. We also see it with evolution. This is a scientific matter, not open to a vote or opinion. The evidence is bloody overwhelming, and yet nearly every time some ignorant creationist/I.D.iot decides to try introducing it into the school, the news (print, radio and T.V.) gives it "fair and balanced" treatment.

IF...Someone tried to get schools to teach that the earth was flat, or the center of the solar system the press would not bother with "fair and balanced", they would make it clear that scientists have a mountain of evidence to show it's spherical and orbits the sun, and there would be no nonsense. But with all the evidence that science has to support the theory of evolution, and the fact of evolution, the press plays the "teach the controversy" line like there was a controversy. There isn't. Not in science.

And now, the press has again done what it can to stir up fear where none need exist. The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) in Europe, went on line today. Protons were kicked up to near the speed of light (99.99999898% or 299,792,454.9 meters per second). Scientists have made it clear that they are not playing with the fate of the earth. No black holes will destroy our world, in fact, they can't even form.

So where is the harm in the "news" outlets making such a big deal. After all, they just want to sell papers. Tell that to Chayya, a 16 year old (and likely unstable) girl who was so sure that the world was going to end that she drank pesticide to beat the rush. Now so far as I know, this poor girl is the only one to do this, and that's a good thing, and also when you take into account the shear number of people who live on the planet, well, it clearly could be worse. But there is more.

People all over the world are afraid that very soon there will be no world to be all over. The press has played to the ignorant folk who insist that there is a danger, and people are running off to whatever works as a church for them, praying that their version of a god will protect the world. Seriously people, we need to tell these nuts, ignorant and stupid people to get an education and some understanding of science so we can see less of this crap.

Living in a world without gods

I started having discussions about atheism, religion, philosophy and such over 36 years ago, in high school. While watching the movie Contact (1997), I heard Matthew McConaughey's character make the comment that he would not want to live in a world without god in it. I have heard that same comment made by my best friend in high school, people at work, at parties and in many other situations. My take on this comment is:

Too bad. You don't get to vote.

In this universe, either there are/is gods/god or there are no gods. Period. We don't get to vote, the universe is not a democracy/republic/monarchy. We don't get a vote, we can't push through an initiative, and we can't overthrow the king/dictator/ruler. So it doesn't really matter to the universe whether or not you want to live in it if there is no god. As a matter of fact, if there is no god pulling the strings (quantum or otherwise) then you have been living just fine without one. That's the funny part.

Imagine hearing someone, a child for instance, saying, "I don't want to live in a world without a Santa Claus". This kid is in for a rude awakening somewhere down the line. And all the belief in the world will not make Santa real. There is no Santa. Million's of believers in Santa, will not make him any more real. Building institutions meant to pass on his rules for life would only make money for the institutions, and likely silly rules to live by.

Given the number of efforts to prove a god exists, and the level of success, we can be relatively sure that there is no god. And here you are with all these folks needing to decide whether or not to stay in this world.

It is a silly statement. You are living in this world. Gods abound in our imaginations by the thousands, but only in our imaginations, and no amount of wanting will make them any more real. I'm just saying.

What If!

One of the things that you will run into sooner or later if you go out at all is the hand out given to you by someone who wants to convince you that they have the real goods on some subject. One that I have seen on-line, handed out at a 4^th of July fireworks event is called, “What If...”. It asks several questions in a “what if” manner, and then answers them as though the only possible answer is the one they provide. In this case, the “they” I speak of are Christians. Each question is followed by their chosen answer and selected Bible verse.

While I don't have all day to address each and every “what if”, I will touch on a few.

What if there really is a Creator-God? What implications does that make for me, His Creation?

• Well, there are so many possibilities here. First of all, why assume this god is a He? Gender is a product of biological necessity which evolved in many species, and would have very little function in what most people think of as a god. Does he have female gods to share his time with? Are there little baby gods out there like Trelane of Star Trek's “The Squire of Gothos” episode? Without knowing what kind of god he is, there is absolutely no way of ascertaining what, if any implications there are for me. Actually, I can't see any that would matter. The “fact” that he is a creator-god, does not mean he created me.
  

What if that Creator will hold man, His Creation, accountable in a day of judgment?

• Well, now we have a problem. I know that the Christians handing out this pamphlet think this creator/god is “their” god, but there is no guarantee, now is there? There are as many religions out there as there are fleas on a dog, if not more. So we don't really know what he would hold us accountable for. It is possible that he doesn't like people who push their beliefs on others. Now what implications would that make for the bloody Christians?
  

What if the Creator-God really loves man, His Creation?

• Boy they really want to pound home that “His Creation”, thing don't they? Well, if he really loves me, then no problem. Just as I love my daughter and wife, and would go to all kinds of trouble to see to it that they ended up all right, I am sure that this god would want to do the same for me. IF...he really loves me.
  

What if the Creator-God has a son named Jesus?

• Well then, assuming this is the Jesus of the Bible, and that the current right wing fundamentalist view of him is correct, then I'm screwed aren't I? But ..., there is the problem that Jesus is such a sketchy historical character, and that there are so many possible ways of interpreting the New Testament (just look at all the different Christian denominations and individual beliefs about him), that I really don't feel that there is much chance of Jesus being a problem for me. And “what if” the Gospels got it all wrong (very likely), and Jesus really isn't about sending anyone to hell because we didn't buy into a 2000 year old fairy tale?
  

This is where I'll stop for now. Playing “what if” can be fun, especially if you can turn it around.

What if there is no god.

What if we are what we appear to be, an evolved species on a small planet near the edge of a medium sized galaxy amongst billions of galaxies in a nearly 14 billion year old universe?

What if all these religious trappings are man made madness that distract us from so many other important things in life?

What if, while wasting time praying, proselytizing, and pushing gods, the opportunity to enjoy life is passing you by?

Now that's sad!