09.02.10
Oh, Right, We Don’t Do Those Things
Tell me again why so many religious people think they stand upon some “moral high ground” because of their faith…?
(via Atheist Cartoons)
Did the Discovery Channel Gunman Have Ties to Atheist Groups?
We had a “Parent Night” at my school last night, so I haven’t had too much time to read about the Discovery Channel Hostage Situation… but the short of it is that James Jay Lee went to Discovery Channel headquarters, took hostages, and was shot and killed by a police sniper after he appeared to take aim at a hostage. The hostages are safe and the crisis is thankfully over.
He had a list of strange demands for Discovery, and they’re now circulating the web.
Lee was also an atheist. I’m sure it won’t be long before certain groups latch onto that fact as if it’s his defining characteristic and what prompted him to act this way.
My friend Shelley Mountjoy works with a number of atheist groups based in Washington, D.C. and she had met Lee (albeit briefly) before.
In one of my first conversations with Lee, he informed me that he moved to the DC area to be involved in political activism… that this was where everything was supposed to be happening and he was disappointed that more was not going on. He certainly did not hide the fact that he thought he could save the world but he never made any statements about breaking the law or using violence to obtain his objectives.
In short, he said he was staying here until he ran out of money — probably this year. (He was not employed.) I was suspicious that he was planning to commit suicide when that time came.
…
… As I read the media reports now, many of the pieces are coming together and I’m now realizing that today’s events were Lee’s plan for quite some time. I also went back and searched my e-mail and I noticed he used the name “Mister Guerilla” on his account… I hadn’t paid any attention to this earlier.
Shelley will write more today, but I think she perfectly sums up my initial thoughts after hearing about this story:
Atheism is only a statement about one thing — a lack of belief in god. It says nothing about what else you may or may not believe or how you came to lack belief. Some people do not come to atheism through critical thinking and other times those who do, fail to apply critical thinking to aspects of their life outside of religion.
The atheists aren’t to blame. Lee alone is to blame. And good riddance now that he’s gone.
One of the main reasons many of our groups exist is to provide safe havens for atheists who have nowhere else to go. Even if Lee was loosely associated with these groups, there’s no reason to think that any of the members condone his actions.
Why Does Skepticism Matter?
Religion and superstition make people feel good… so why are we atheists and skeptics so set on ruining those things for everyone, even if we’re right?
Greta Christina has a fantastic response to that question.
… Good information about reality helps us make better decisions about how to act in that reality. It helps us understand which causes are likely to have which effects. And the reverse is true as well. Decisions based on bad information are no better than guessing. Worse, in some ways, since we’re more willing to let go of decisions we know were based on guessing. It’s like people in data processing say: Garbage in, garbage out.
…
Reality is a harsh mistress. She demands our honesty. She demands our work. She demands that we give up comforts, that we let ourselves feel pain, that we accept how small we are and how little control we have over our lives. And she demands that we make her our top priority.
But she is more beautiful, and more powerful, and more surprising, and more fascinating, and more endlessly rewarding, than anything we could ever make up about her.
And we can’t let her in unless we’re willing to let her be what she is.
The entire piece is here and, much like all of Greta’s writing about this subject, I’m guessing you’ll want to share it with everyone you know.
09.01.10
UGAtheists Celebrate “Stone a Heathen Day”
At the University of Georgia yesterday, the UGAtheists celebrated “Stone a Heathen Day,” using some Bible verses to generate some buzz about their group on campus.
The idea came from the Pastafarians at the University of South Carolina. As UGAtheists president Randall Bourquin said to me, “They dreamed it up, shared it with me, and will be executing their own day on Sept. 30th.”
Here are some pics from the awesome UGA event:
So, how exactly does one “stone” a heathen?
With water balloons. (Obviously.)
Bourquin and other atheist students encouraged people walking in Tate Plaza to stone them according to the Bible’s commands.
Leviticus 24:14, a command from God to Moses, reads: “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him.”
The UGAtheists laughed at their own self-condemnation.
“Jesus said, ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,’ but he said nothing about water balloons,” Bourquin said.
…
… Bourquin said one reason his group organized “Stone a Heathen Day” is because it is not easy to be an atheist in a community such as the one at the University.
“It’s pretty tough to extract sympathy from almost anyone,” he said. “It’s more or less socially unacceptable to come into a room and say, ‘I’m an atheist’ and get a pat on the back.”
What a great way to show some of the crazier stuff in the Bible. You shouldn’t take it seriously (or literally) here, so why should you take it any more seriously when it is used to justify bigotry and promote Creationism?
It clearly hit some nerves, too:
Butler Stoudenmire, a sophomore from Albany, watched Bourquin recite Bible verses and ask for the group’s punishment.
“They’re definitely poking fun at religion,” he said. “It doesn’t personally offend me, but they’re giving Christianity a bad name.”
Yes, it’s poking fun at religion. There’s nothing wrong with that. And if Christianity has a bad reputation, I’m pretty sure we can blame most of that on Christians themselves.
After one atheist student asked if Christian student James Wood would throw a water balloon at him, Wood declined.
“Behind that action I think is a sinful desire to get back at them,” said Wood, a senior from Marietta. “I don’t think Jesus would throw a balloon at them.”
Right. But Jesus would *totally* have banned gay marriage and voted for Sarah Palin.
One professor called out the atheists for using Old Testament cruelty:
Richard Elliott Friedman, professor of Jewish studies in the religion department, said any argument using the Bible — whether theist or atheist — requires extensive study.
“It’s not for amateurs to interpret the Bible,” he said.
Like that’s ever stopped anyone before. When Christians heed that lesson, I’m sure the atheists will follow suit 
By the way, there’s a great picture of group member Daniel Brettschneider getting “stoned” in the UGA student newspaper. Check that out.
And look at the featured video on the paper’s website!
I love the beginning of the school year. All these creative atheists groups are out in full force, getting their message out, shaking up theistic sensibilities, and making me smile in the process.
(Pics via Lisa Lansing on Facebook)
The President’s Religion
My latest column for the Washington Post On Faith blog deals with the question: “Does it matter what religion the president is?”
… The Constitution says that there can be no religious test for office and society needs to catch up to that idea.
But there is a point when religion should come into play.
Do you really want a president who could launch a nuclear attack… who also believes he/she will be in “God’s glorious presence” in the afterlife?
Do you really want a president who can appoint important positions in the field of science like the head of the National Institutes of Health… who also believes the Earth was created about 6,000 years ago and that evolution is a lie?
Do you really want a president who has the power to veto legislation regarding women’s health care… who also believes abortion is equivalent to murder and that life begins at conception?
I wouldn’t feel comfortable voting for those people. It has nothing to do with the labels they give themselves and everything to do with what they will do with those beliefs. I want a president who makes decisions after hearing from experts on the issue, not after hanging up on a conference call with a group of pastors.
If you like it or hate it, leave a comment there! (The comment system should be working this time around…)
Penn State Responds to Campus Preachers
The Penn State Atheist Agnostic Association decided to set up shop next to some campus preachers on Monday.
So while the Christians stood here…
… the atheists (and others) were just a short distance away (in the background of the pic below)…
… with Biblical references of their own…
… and other entertaining signs…
Looks like they blunted any damage the Christians would have done.
Clinton Leinbach, who traveled to campus from Selinsgrove, Pa., said he came to warn people about the dangers of not accepting Jesus.
…
Leinbach said he thought it was possible to convince the atheists — who were standing across from him in protest — to accept Jesus.
But Dan Farbowitz, a member of the Penn State Atheist Agnostic Association, didn’t seem to budge from his convictions.
He was cloaked in a brown, hooded robe — garb familiar to Jedi masters like Luke Skywalker and Yoda — and held a sign that read “Consider Jediism.”
Excellent
It’s not like the campus preachers had much of a strategy, anyway. They just came to preach the hate and then acted shocked when they realized it wasn’t working:
After preacher Shawn Holes told the crowd that being gay is a sin, counter-protesters held up rainbow flags — a symbol for gay rights.
But Holes said they had taken his message the wrong way.
“I love homosexuals,” Holes told the crowd.
Too many jokes forming with that last line…
An article in the school paper says that the barrage of signs just caused more confusion than anything — I’m fine with that. Whatever gets the focus off the preachers. It also helped that the atheists weren’t the only ones with amusing signs:
Causing even more confusion was a group of students holding up signs with nonsensical phrases like “Words on a sign” and “My arms are tired from holding this sign.”
Nate Johnson (sophomore-aerospace engineering) said the signs were created to poke fun at both sides of the protest and weren’t really targeting anyone at all.
I’m loving these recent stands against campus preachers. There’s no need to get angry. We just need to be clever. Ridicule them with their own Bibles. Say something equally as absurd as whatever they’re saying. Play Bingo. Worship a boot. Use them to raise money for charity. It’s all better than letting them speak unchallenged.
(Pictures via Matt Becker (on Facebook) and reader Emily)
08.31.10
I Picked a Winner and Wouldn’t You Know It…
Last week, I held an online fundraiser for the Secular Student Alliance with the grand prize being a special copy of I Sold My Soul on eBay with the signatures of several atheist leaders and celebrities within our movement.
Over the weekend, I randomly selected a winner. I emailed the person to congratulate him and let him know he had won.
He responded with this:
… I am very delighted to win, but I found Richard Wade’s comment too sensible, and would request that you put it up for direct auction with proceeds going to the SSA.
The winner also chose to remain anonymous, too. (How generous is that?! I <3 awesome atheists.)
But the book remains available and it needs a home.
So here's what we'll do.
The book is back up for grabs, but this time, it'll simply go to the highest bidder. (If you already donated money last week, that'll count toward your grand total.)
The current high bid is $250. (I’ll update that number as needed.) The bidding will end Sunday night!
And if you just want to give because the SSA is a great organization, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, either
In case you need a reminder about the book…
The signers include:
- Margaret Downey (former president of Atheist Alliance International)
- Nica Lalli (author of Nothing: Something to Believe in)
- Ellen Johnson (former president of American Atheists)
- Brian Sapient (Rational Response Squad)
- Kelly O’Conner (Rational Response Squad)
- Greydon Square (atheist rapper)
- Sam Harris (author of The End of Faith)
- Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion)
- Daniel Dennett (author of Breaking the Spell)
- Rob Boston (Americans United for Separation of Church and State)
- Pastor Deacon Fred (head pastor at Landover Baptist Church)
- Mynga Futrell (co-founder of The Brights)
- Paul Geisert (co-founder of The Brights)
- Mike Estes (African-American freethinkers educator)
- Julia Sweeney (former Saturday Night Live actress and creator of Letting Go of God)
- Matthew Chapman (Charles Darwin’s great-great grandson and author of 40 Days and 40 Nights)
- Christopher Hitchens (author of God is Not Great)
- Eugenie Scott (executive director of the National Center for Science Education)
- Jamie Raskin (Maryland State Senator and same-sex marriage advocate)
- Ellery Schempp (activist who helped end mandatory Bible readings in public schools)
- Matthew LaClair (student activist)
- Lou Appignani (Humanist philanthropist)
- Wendy Kaminer (lawyer and writer)
- Phillip Pullman (author of His Dark Materials Trilogy)
- Simon Singh (author of Big Bang and Fermat’s Enigma)
- Paul Kurtz (founder of the Center for Inquiry)
- Phil Plait (author of Death from the Skies!)
- DJ Grothe (president of the James Randi Educational Foundation)
- Adam Savage (co-host of Mythbusters)
- Michael Shermer (founder of Skeptic magazine)
- Paul Provenza (author of ¡Satiristas!)
- James Watson (Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA)
Good luck! And thanks to the anonymous donor for his generosity!
How Has the Internet Helped Humanism?
A website called Patheos seeks to “engage in the global dialogue about religion and spirituality and to explore and experience the world’s beliefs.” Yesterday, they released their “portal” on Humanism which includes essays from people like Ed Buckner (President of American Atheists), Ron Lindsay (CEO of the Center for Inquiry), David Silverman (National Communications Director of American Atheists), Roy Speckhardt (Executive director of the American Humanist Association), and some studly brown dude.
(No women, though? That’s disappointing.)
My article is on “How the Internet Is Reshaping Humanism“:
I became an atheist at the age of 14. That was back in 1997 — books about atheism were not on bestsellers’ lists and I felt alone in my thinking. I wanted confirmation that I was thinking rationally. I had so many unanswered questions about religion and no one to talk to about my thoughts. I didn’t want my religious family to learn about my new beliefs, and as far as I knew, none of my friends were atheists. My only option, it seemed, was to go online and search for atheist websites. I found only a couple worth visiting but I latched onto them quickly because I had so few resources at my disposal.
Thankfully, students in my position no longer have to resort to a handful of websites — or writers — to learn about life sans religion. The internet has revolutionized how people discover atheism, learn to live life without a god, and spread their non-belief.
The piece focuses on three ways in which the Internet is helping non-religious people:
- The impact of the “Blogosphere”
- Increased membership in and donations to atheist organizations
- Larger and more niche atheist communities
A little backstory on the piece: I wrote it about 14 months ago (though it was just put on the Patheos site yesterday) and hadn’t given it much thought since then. As I was re-reading it last night, I was surprised at how I probably would’ve made the same three points now. (Though I really should have mentioned the relevance of YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook in spreading our message.)
Do you think there are other ways our movement has flourished as a result of the Internet? Obviously, Christians and other religious groups have also benefitted from coming online, but at least they had churches and small groups well before the Internet sprang up.
I think we’re unique in the sense that so many of us first publicly expressed our non-beliefs online instead of in person — moreso (in my experience, anyway) than any religious group.
(via Center For Inquiry)
Another Atheist Billboard Vandalized
The Freedom From Religion Foundation placed this excellent sign in Watertown, Wisconsin a few weeks ago:
And what does it look like now?
What you see there is yellow paint that was splattered over the sign late last week:
The vandalized vinyl message was promptly removed by Adams Outdoor Co., on Friday. Adams Outdoor is replacing the message gratis and expects to have it back up around Labor Day to honor FFRF’s 6-week lease. The billboard went up on the first week of August.
An octogenarian Lifetime Foundation member who prefers not to be publicly named suggested the wording of the slogan as a legacy for his grandchildren.
The donor of the billboard is putting up $500 and the Foundation is matching that pledge for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandal(s). The donor expressed shock and revulsion that a vandal or vandals would deface his message to “enjoy life now.”
How awful our society is when a sign that promotes living for the moment instead of the afterlife is seen as a threat by some (presumably) religious person. But at least the billboard company is stepping up to replace it and FFRF is issuing a reward to anyone who can turn in the vandal(s).
Just keep in mind: the response in these cases should never be to retaliate in kind. We’re better than that. We’re the logical and sensible ones.
But we can always keep putting up more billboards…
Help a Pastor’s Son
I got a message from my friend Jon Weyer that someone he knows is going through a really rough time right now:
… my pastor’s son has Juvenile Myositis, a horrible autoimmune disease that causes him a great amount of pain and could kill him if it doesn’t go into remission. His name is Sam… Pepsi has a voting contest to get JM a $250,000 grant for scientific research.
If you have a minute to spare, consider clicking a few buttons and voting to make JM a memory. You can text in your vote, too.
It’s currently ranked first as I write this, but let’s help keep it there.
