A Spiritual Orphan’s Journey

• princessleia2: [Reflections] - Atheist in America
  (tags: atheist)
• BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | God. Who knows?
  (tags: religion agnostic God atheism)

               

• Christmas Counterpoint
  A great piece about how secular Christmas has become.
  (tags: Christmas holiday atheist christian)
• digg - What Christianity or ANY religion sounds like to an atheist
  (tags: atheist atheism)

               

This story literally made my jaw drop. Check out these news bits about the fundamentalist’s reaction to changes in the
8,000 rally in Pakistan against rape law changes

Strong feelings over Pakistan rape laws

If this doesn’t upset you, then you need to seriously examine your morals.

               

• Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history | csmonitor.com
  (tags: atheism religion christian_spin)
• Cup Of Joe Powell: Blame The Atheist?
  Well said Joe!
  (tags: atheist atheism christian)

               

• HOTSOUP.com
  (tags: atheism God theist)

               

I saw this posted on one of my favorite blogs (Agnostic Mom).  This is a really interested perspective on famous Atheists. Check out some other interesting video’s on the page too.

               

• Sam Harris Interview
  Sam Harris is really a brilliant man. As one of the reviewers of his latest book said, “It’s a shame that not everyone in this country will read Sam Harris’ marvelous little book. They won’t, but they should. ” The potentially negative impact of the various waring fundamentalist flavors presents a truly terrifying prospect for our entire planet.
  (tags: Sam Harris, religion, atheism, God, fundementalist)
• How does it feel to be an atheist? « Cathartic Relief
  This is one of my favorite blog posts on atheism; short sweet and to the point.
  (tags: atheism, leprechauns, God)
• Science Gives Christians Upper Hand Over Atheists | Christianpost.com- Christian News Online , Christian World News
  This is the piece I wrote about yesterday. It is truly worth the read as it demonstrates how fundamentalists use bad science to try to legitimize whacked-out theories like Intelligent Design. To anyone with at least an 8th grade education, I.D. should stand out as nothing more than fiction presented as fact. It’s just plain pseudo-science.
  (tags: bad_science atheist god science evolution)

               

It never ceases to amaze me how deists, especially Christians, will do just about anything to prove that the imaginary god they believe in exists. Apparently, according to a news piece on christianpost.com entitled Science Gives Christians Upper Hand Over Atheists, Christians are now “…living now at a time of tremendous intellectual renaissance of Christianity,” Really? Let’s take a look at how they define this intellectual renaissance:

“Over the last several decades, Christians have begun to emerge back into the intellectual public square. This is primarily occurring in the field of philosophy, New Testament studies with regard to the historical Jesus and the gospels, and it is now beginning to occur in the physical sciences as manifested in the Intelligent Design movement, Craig explained.”

Ok, philosophy is fine… I don’t particularly care if your worldview is based on flying-purple-people-eaters. If you want to base a philosophical argument on that, then so be it. I’m positive there are folks out there who will argue this point, but I’m not one of them. New Testament studies are a whole different area. This is actual science we’re talking about here… for example little fields like Textual Criticism and good old Archeology. More evidence has been mounted against the historical accuracy of the bible than for it. But that doesn’t seem to matter to the folks who write these types of articles and put on the type of conferences that the article describes. Despite all the advancements in fields like Textual Criticism, the deists refuse to adjust their worldviews in light of the evidence. A scientist changes his theory as new evidence it produced, but apparently a deist ignores the evidence unless it supports his claims. This fact leads right to the main problems with Intelligent Design, which in no way, shape or form should be considered scientific. I don’t have the time to get into what’s wrong with I.D. in this post, but suffice to say that calling it science is a gross over-statement.

“Biochemist Michael Behe demonstrated how bacterial flagellum are molecular machines that could only function with all its parts present simultaneously, much like a mouse trap. If one part is missing, it would not function and would thus have no reason to exist. Evolution would not preserve it.”

More bad science. Current genetic and evolutionary evidence and theory explain why and how things like bacterial flagellum evolved. They did not just magically appear as “scientists” such as Behe would have us believe. Behe’s arguments have been completely destroyed by his peers in the scientific community. Not out of malice for Behe, but simply because his theories are bad science. People, do your research and consult a true expert before believing crap like this!

” ‘Today, science is pointing more powerfully to a creator than any other time,” said Strobel. “The most logical and rational step is to put my faith in the Creator that science tells me exists.’ “

Ok, so I won’t even touch the low-hanging fruit presented by this idiotic statement. Let’s just suffice to say that science only ever points us to evidence that either supports or negates a given theory. So far, I haven’t seen any concrete evidence supporting the existence of a deity. By the way, when I say evidence, I mean evidence gathered through strict scientific method. That being said, let’s just play along and agree with Strobel. OK sir, let’s say I accept that science is pointing you towards a creator and that you’re going to put your faith in that creator. Which creator would that be? Why is it the creator that you want to believe in and not one of the thousands of other deities or creation myths? Why isn’t science telling you that the Greeks were right? Why isn’t science telling you that one of the Native American creation myths are right?

“Now, Christians can stand confidently within biblical truth knowing that it’s in line with astrophysics and cosmology, said Strobel, quoting a cosmology expert. ‘It is now the atheist who has to maintain by faith, despite all of the evidence to the contrary, that the universe did not have a beginning.’ “

Oh my, where to start with this gem. So let me get this straight, astrophysics and cosmology are completely supporting Christianity? Wait, what’s that sound?!?! It’s Einstein and Sagan spinning in their graves! What cosmology “expert” said this and what does the scientific community think of this person? Honestly, if these people want to legitimately link Christianity with science they’re going to have to do much better than this!

               

I found this little gem this morning: Christians have as much right to political views as anyone

Yes they do, just as Muslims, Jews and (yes) atheists do. The point to remember is that one’s religious beliefs (or lack thereof) have no place in the political process.

“Those who say there is no room for religion in politics are simply trying to silence and shame Christians from espousing their views. It’s a clever tactic that’s as old as dirt.”

Let’s make this perfectly clear: there is no room for religion in politics. This isn’t my idea, the credit for it goes to none other than the founding fathers of this great nation of ours. Despite what fundamentalist Christians would have you believe, the founding fathers of our great country were vehemently opposed to religion being any part of the democratic process. Christians, just like everyone else in our society, are certainly entitled to espouse your views in a public forum. The problem we’re running into is their intolerance for different world views and their desire to insert their world view into our democratic process. Don’t they realize that by doing that we would no longer be a democracy? Religion + Government = Theocracy.

“Human beings cannot separate their faith and worldview from politics, for what defines and motivates a person in all of their decisions if not their worldview?”

Oh I don’t know … how about education and a deep understanding and appreciation of other world views. Your faith in what you personally believe exists in a supernatural realm and what an Iron Age book says about morals and laws. Your belief can certainly color your political views, but you have to be TOLERANT! I’ve read much lately about Christians speaking out against tolerance of other world views. That’s so ridiculous that I’m not even sure how to respond. If Christian fundamentalists refuse to play well with others and get along, then it’s just further proof that organized religion is indeed bad for society and incompatible with a functioning democracy.

“we are not going to let you kick us out of this political sandbox. We have just as much right to be here as anyone.”

You’re absolutely right; you do. You have a right as a citizen and a participating member of our democracy… not as a fundamentalist trying to make everyone adhere to your particular flavor of an exclusive, dogmatic belief system. Here’s a shocker for you: most people in the country don’t believe EXACTLY what you (or I for that matter) believe… we all different! Heck, most Christians can’t agree what it means to be a true Christian.  In our little democratic experiment here we are free to believe (or not believe) whatever we’d like… no matter how much that angers you. It’s the price of freedom. If you need an example of theocracy just have a look at the Taliban. I don’t care if you believe in a god, leprechauns or pink unicorns in the sky…  none of those beliefs  excludes you from participation in the democratic process nor does it give you the right to  force me to believe in your particular supernatural entity . Don’t tread on me and I won’t tread on you.