1. An atheist would never claim that the disastrous floods experienced in the Mid-West recently are the work of God.
2. An atheist would never murder a young woman, cook parts of her, and then possibly eat her—certainly not because God supposedly told him to.
3. An atheist would never burn a cross onto his student’s arm, persist in talking about religion during a Science class he teaches, and refuse to remove a Bible from his desk in a public school classroom.
As for #1, as Pastor Erich Schumacher of Northbrook Baptist Church did preach that
“Through Adam’s rebellion, the earth was put under a curse so that basically the earth wouldn’t cooperate with our rule. Thorns and thistles would grow, and it would be painful work subduing the earth and having dominion.”
I’ve been meaning to try to encapsulate the recent development with Obama and his unsettling (for nonbelievers) position on continuing Bush’s faith-based programs. Perhaps the best way to present this is to just show how Keith Olbermann and Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church & State parse it…
Since I make the requisite effort to be cognizant of why we observe holidays, I set myself to wondering about why atheists might be thankful (pardon my mixing of holiday metaphors) for this country’s independence. An obvious reason presented itself: the separation of church and state. There was no such thing in England when those crazy white boys (Jefferson and Madison, pictured here, among others) who shaped this country’s political ideals eventually wrote the following 16 words in the Establishment Clause to the First Amendment of the Constitution:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion … or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Despite the lingering religiosity in much of this country, we atheists can take some solace in these words… especially in the first ten. Nonetheless, we can also take heart in the 1994 interpretation of the Establishment Clause by Justice Souter’s majority opinion, which stated:
You may have noticed that my column is a little late this week. I’m going to go ahead and claim that it’s because my topic this week is a late arrival to the Christian scene: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Mormons, who briefly held the national attention when one of their flock ran for the Republican nomination, are famous for ménage-a-plenties, sharing a state with the Rat Pack, and wearing magical underwear (on a comedy blog I used to run, a picture of them was one of the most commented-on items.) But the Mormons are about more than free love (for men,) free religion (for whites,) and free pizza (for me, please.) They boast one of the most bizarre and literally incredible religious histories of the 20th century. For a wonderful and hilarious primer, be sure to check out the south park episode “All About Mormons.”
For today’s reading I’ve chosen the brief chapter 8 in the Book of Nephi (not to be confused with Nehi, a popular southern soft drink.) If the Bible were an episode of the television show “Lost,” then the book of Mormon is an episode where they recap the events from a different character’s perspective: someone who was nowhere near the important stuff, is incredibly boring, and certainly never existed.
Joys of Atheism 9 posted by guest blogger Jason Torpy
It’s been said, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” It’s maybe the opposite of “joy,” but in order to be happy, we have to have a little perspective. It’s important that we, especially in NYC, not retreat into a bubble and forget that the world is certainly imperfect. We have a natural, undirected world to deal with and the only way to be truly happy is to participate in the continuous improvement of our world and our species.
That having been said, let’s parse some of the many major issues about which we might be outraged. Disenfranchisement by politicians and corporations of the will of the public; what are our choices in November, really? Corporate immunity for a variety of environmental and social atrocities, at home and abroad; I’m an MBA and a free marketeer, and even I can see that corporate officers get away with murder. Unchecked war throughout the world, including of course Iraq; whatever side you’re on, it’s a tragedy. Environmental deterioration; c’mon, is anyone denying this with a straight face these days? These are of common interest, not necessarily only for atheists.
As if we needed more to be outraged about, let’s focus these issues through the lens of Read the rest of this entry »
A Texas Supreme Court ruling is letting a North Texas Pentecostal Church off the hook in a case filed by Laura Schubert, a woman who claims that members of the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God Church held her down, “laid hands” on her, and tried to exorcise demons from her in 1996.
When Schubert’s case was finally heard in 2002, a lower court awarded her $300,000. That amount was later reduced to about $180,000. The most recent decision (6-3) by the Texas high court found in favor of the church. And the court did so based on an interpretation of how far religious freedoms extend within the First Amendment of the Constitution. According to Justice David Medina, holding the church guilty
“would have an unconstitutional ‘chilling effect’ by compelling the church to abandon core principles of its religious beliefs.”
So, because part of the church’s dogma that allows for “the laying on of hands” for healing purposes (read in the modern day as “sexual abuse”), and because it still believes in ghosts and ghouls as its essential religious tenet, the court has determined that these principles are sacrosanct, and ought not to be legally questioned. And so absurdity is once again allowed to trump reason—apparently if we are going to have to the Constitution interpreted as Justice Medina sees it.
Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson saw the case quite differently and stated in the dissenting opinion that Read the rest of this entry »
Poor Neil Beagley is dead at 16 from a treatable urinary tract infection. According to Oregon medical examiner Dr. Clifford Nelson, Beagley likely had a congenital condition that had caused numerous blockages of his bladder and/or urethra over his short life. The last incident, which could have been averted by the simple insertion of a catheter, contributed to a build-up of urea in his kidneys and a subsequent poisoning, which in turn resulted in heart failure. Any urologist given the chance could have saved this young man.
Why, you might ask, did the young Beagley not receive medical treatment? He was part of the Followers of Christ Church, whose members believe in prayer and faith healing as remedies for illness and disease. This might all be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
As a matter of fact, Beagley’s own toddler cousin, Ava Worthington, died earlier this year from bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection, both also treatable conditions, but her parents (pictured below) refused to seek medical assistance for their daughter’s problems as well.
Judge Vincent Howard said that Dale and Leila Neumann, parents of daughter “Kara” [all three pictured] who died of treatable diabetes on Easter Sunday, will stand trial on charges of second-degree reckless homicide. There is, however, a Wisconsin law on the books that states
a parent cannot be accused of abuse or neglect of a child if in good faith they selected prayer as treatment for a disease.
But prosecuting attorney Jill Falstad’s analysis of the law is that it does not apply to homicide cases. Because of the religious nature of this case, it is possible and perhaps even likely that the case will eventually be heard by the state’s Supreme Court.
The fact that this law even exists is an indictment of this country’s far-reaching tolerance when it comes to religious “freedom.” Shouldn’t we able to collectively acknowledge that in the 21st century it’s pretty darned absurd to turn to prayer when it comes to treating diabetes—especially after the medical community has clearly demonstrated the palliative and remedial effects of insulin?
There is just such a never-ending list to be made of outlandish things done in the name of God or religion that I’d like to make this an ongoing theme here: things an atheist would just never do.
1. An atheist would never throw himself to the lions, literally, while shouting that God will save him.
2. An atheist would never eat another human being’s flesh because her religious cult wanted her to.
3. An atheist would never refuse to let someone get married just because that person is a paraplegic.
As for #1, a 45-year-old Azerbaijani man used a rope to lower himself into a lion’s exhibit at the Kiev Zoo. As he did this, in front of onlookers at the open zoo, the man shouted that God would protect him from the lions, if He did in fact exist (of which I’m sure this man was sure). According to the account, the unnamed man began acting aggressively around the four lions upon whose den he had just intruded. A lioness then seized him by the throat and the man died at the scene.
As for #2, Klara Mauerova and Barbora Skrlova of the Czech Republic stand accused of torturing Mauerova’s two young sons, skinning some of their flesh, and feeding it to their relatives. The two women named here have confessed to committing these abominable acts as part of the rituals of a 70-year-old religious cult called The Grail Movement.
As for #3, Bishop Lorenzo Chiarinelli was not permitted by Catholic Church doctrine to perform the marriage ceremony of a young man in Italy because the 26-year-old man had been physically compromised. Despite the fiancée’s desire to wed, the Church would not approve the union because impotency is potential grounds for an annulment of the nuptials.
I’m not trying to imply anything here, nor am I trying to conflate religious belief with serious mental impairment, I’m just pointing something out: there are some things you’d never catch an atheist doing.
News like this is not new and will likely come as no surprise (especially to anyone who’s ever attended an atheist-related meeting), but a new study from Ulster University in the UK shows a correlation between higher levels of intelligence and a lack of belief in God.
A leading psychology professor, Gordon Lynch, involved in the report claims that the downturn in religious belief over the past century has contributed to a general uptick in average intelligence.
When asked why a smaller percentage of university professors believe in God as compared with the general population, Lynch attributed it to the higher IQs of those in academia. He added that numerous other polls have already correlated greater intelligence with less faith in things divine.
Lynch also said that belief in God had declined in 137 nations around the world throughout the 20th century as people have simultaneously gotten smarter. He didn’t say what happened in the countries that have not Read the rest of this entry »
