03.31.07
Posted in Friendly Atheist at 6:29 pm by Hemant Mehta
Pastor Robby Dawkins (no relation to Richard, I assume) used to weigh 425 lbs. back in 2003. And though he claims to have seen a lot of miracles, praying to God just wasn’t helping him lose weight. He did have Graves disease, a thyroid disorder that may have been a reason for the excess weight, but he wasn’t eating too healthy, either.
One day, the fluctuating hormones in his body (a product of Graves Disease) stopped fluctuating– the doctor didn’t know why this was the case, but to Dawkins, this was a sign from God.
On a personal note, there’s a lot of truth to the saying, “There are no miracles; only misdiagnoses.” Still, this “sign” gave Dawkins the impetus to seriously exercise and eat properly. He’s currently at 210 lbs. and still working on losing the weight.
While atheists could have given Dawkins the correct advice from the start, here are some memorable quotations from the article:
But the solution to Dawkins’ morbid obesity didn’t come from a command on high, although prayer helped keep him focused.
“I realized that God wasn’t going to do it,” Dawkins said. “This was a discipline issue that I needed to learn myself.”
…
“Morbidly obese people always believe they can’t help themselves,” Dawkins said. “And that’s not true. You can do it.”
But God’s not going to do it for you, he said. At least not all of it.
The article states that the weight loss was a “miracle.” This is an unfortunate word choice. Give credit to Pastor Dawkins for coming up with a weight loss plan and sticking to it! Don’t attribute it to anything supernatural. This wasn’t a miracle. To say it was takes away from his perseverance and determination.
VJack is more biting in his criticism of the article, and rightfully so:
What? Weight loss through diet and exercise is miraculous? In what way? Just because something is difficult does not make doing it any sort of miracle.
(via Atheist Revolution)
Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, Pastor, Robby Dawkins, God, Graves disease, thyroid, VJack, miracle, Atheist Revolution
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 1:14 pm by Hemant Mehta
Justin Trottier, the president of the Freethought Association of Canada, and his friend Peter Aruja were hanging posters on the night of March 27 promoting an upcoming lecture featuring Victor Stenger, author of God: The Failed Hypothesis at Ryerson University.
Flyering buildings is a typical way that campus groups get word out about their events.
Two men then approached Justin:
The men asked for a copy of the poster, mumbled under their breath and tossed it to the ground. Mr. Trottier said he yelled after them, “You could have recycled that.”
I should add that there’s no indication that the men were Christian. But I’ll let this article tell the next part:
Fifteen minutes later, when Mr. Trottier and his colleague were in a more secluded area of the university, he said the two men reappeared and started a verbal argument. One of the men hit him in the face twice, and butted him on his face, causing his nose to bleed, Mr. Trottier said.
Here is the story from Justin himself:
According to Mr. Trottier “The first individual smacked me in the face twice and said “watch your smart mouth.” I said “don’t touch me” at which point he head butted me hard in the face, causing my nose to bleed profusely.”
…
“I think I discovered the hard way the boundaries of freedom of speech… The fact that an atheist should fear for his well being while advertising for a university event that seeks to promote free inquiry is alarming, and though I feared for my life briefly, I’ve never felt as strong about my atheism. My colleagues and I have only strengthened our resolve to forge ahead with our agenda to push for secularism, science and freedom of thought.”
The university is not considering this a hate crime. A spokeswoman for the school said they are merely treating it as a “dispute that arose and led to an altercation.”
Toronto police added:
“We don’t have anything that suggests [a hate crime] as far as I’m aware of. I know [Mr. Trottier] was talking about that, but certainly from what I see it doesn’t look like it falls within what our policies and procedures define as a hate crime,” [Detective Dave] Alexander said. “But we’re still looking at that as well to cover all the bases.”
You can imagine if the situation was reversed, though…
What if an atheist beat up a Campus Crusade for Christ student as he advertised an event promoting Intelligent Design?
Or what if a student hit a member of the Muslim Student Alliance?
In any of the other situations, I imagine there would be a bigger uproar. Why isn’t that happening here?
Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, Justin Trottier, Peter Aruja, Freethought Association of Canada, Victor Stenger, God: The Failed Hypothesis, Ryerson University, Christian, Dave Alexander, Campus Crusade for Christ, Muslim Student Alliance, Intelligent Design
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 10:25 am by Hemant Mehta
The Victoria Philharmonic Choir in Canada is adding a twist to its version of Handel’s Samson.
The choir’s version of the classic story turns the Biblical tale on its head by portraying Samson as a suicide bomber in 1946 Jerusalem.
Simon Capet, the artistic director, says his goal is to “get people talking about music.” Though it looks like music will be one of the last things people will be talking about…
The shock value, however, might enlighten some people to the fact that religious fundmentalism is a problem, no matter what the religion is.
How does the choir actually pull off this story?
The biblical story tells of a man with superhuman strength, who is caught by his enemies in a moment of weakness over the woman Delilah.
He is chained in the temple by the Philistines and forced to witness a sacreligious act. He pulls down the temple, killing himself and thousands of others in the process.
Capet has moved the story to 1946 Palestine, when ultra-Zionist bombers were battling the British on land that would later become Israel.
In this version, Samson doesn’t pull down a temple, but does bomb the King David Hotel, an actual attack by militant Zionists that took place in 1946.
(Thanks to Becky at grrrl meets world for the link!)
Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, Victoria Philharmonic Choir, Canada, Handel, Samson, Bible, suicide bomber, Jerusalem, Simon Capet, Delilah, Philistines, Zionist, King David Hotel, grrrl meets world
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03.30.07
Posted in Friendly Atheist at 3:41 pm by Hemant Mehta
Saint Gasoline does a nice, quick job of arguing why atheist books should stay away from imitating the popular Christian I-always-smile-now-take-a-picture book covers:
I suppose that wouldn’t sell so many copies. But it’s still more appealing than Christopher Hitchens’ book cover.
I also enjoyed his commentary:
The last thing I need when buying [a] book for a good intellectual romp is for the checkout clerk to think I’m buying some sort of lame self-help book because I am self-conscious about my penis size. That’s exactly what those sorts of covers say to me. Book cover: “Hi, I’m a smiling, masculine professional, here to assure you that you shouldn’t have low self-worth. You are a great, wonderful human being, or else why would I be smiling? Don’t you trust my apparent sophistication and seemingly targeted judgments?” This sort of cover would be horrid, and I hope to never see anything like it again, for the rest of my days.
Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, Saint Gasoline, Christian, Christopher Hitchens
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 2:13 pm by Hemant Mehta
Harold Henderson at the Daily Harold summarizes a recent Pew Research Center survey:
It’s not easy being a traditionalist conservative. First, you assert that your views about gays and women are timeless truths. Then, you change them.
According to the report (PDF), conservative values are falling by the wayside.
Keeping in mind the value of good graphs and charts, here’s what the survey tells us:
Those who claim to be atheist, agnostic, or of no religion rose from 7% to 11% of the Democrats from 1987-2007. In that same span, the non-religious group nearly doubled for the Independents from 9% to 17%.
We are all becoming less conservative when it comes to issues like homosexuality and women’s rights, Republicans included. In fact, as Harold points out, “the average Republican is now more tolerant of gays and of women in what the pollsters call ‘non-traditional’ roles than the average Democrat was in 1987.”
And thankfully, each generation is less conservative than the previous one:
I love Generation Next.
There are also some good numbers on the decline of people who think AIDS is God’s punishment for immoral sexual behavior.
The full report is here (PDF).
Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, Harold Henderson, Pew Research Center, conservative, gay, agnostic, Democrat, Independent, homosexuality, women’s rights, Republican, Generation Next, AIDS, God
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 2:57 am by Hemant Mehta
If you’re in Chicago this Saturday night, come join me at the College of Complexes! I’ll be speaking about I Sold My Soul on eBay and positive atheism… I *might* even dance.
Here’s the information:
Where: Lincoln Restaurant (4008 N. Lincoln Avenue)
When: Saturday, March 31. 8:00 p.m.
Free parking is nearby!
The cost of admission is a whopping $3 for “tuition” plus $5 for food and drink.
Seeing me dance costs you an extra $1.50. And you have to ask nicely.
Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, College of Complexes, I Sold My Soul on eBay, Hemant Mehta, Lincoln Restaurant
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 12:47 am by Hemant Mehta
Jason Rosenhouse at EvolutionBlog has a great story to tell from his experience at a Discovery-Institute-sponsored Darwin vs. Design conference. He was standing in line at a Subway restaurant. A woman and three (unrelated) children were in front of him:
The woman was talking animatedly to the kids. “Did you see those people with the Happy Atheist shirts?” she said. “They were handing out leaflets.”
I perked up. Sadly, I had noticed no such people. If I had I would have gone over to lend them some moral support.
The woman continued. “I wish one of them were here. I can’t imagine how they can respond to all the evidence for design.” I won’t swear those were her exact words, but it was something very close to that.
How could I resist?
“Well, I’m an atheist,” I said. “Why don’t you ask me?”
Read the rest of Jason’s entertaining (thought ultimately very depressing) story here.
Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, Jason Rosenhouse, EvolutionBlog, Discovery Institute, Darwin vs. Design, Subway
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 12:37 am by Hemant Mehta
There’s now an college atheist group at North Dakota State University! The student newspaper on campus ran an article about the group here.
The new club is not looking to start any debates or cause trouble, [club founder Dacotah] Melicher said.
“The old atheist group had to deal with protesters and people who were close-minded, but if a group like Campus Crusaders [sic] for Christ (CRU) wants to have an exchange of speakers or a debate to talk about the difference, I think it would be a good idea,” Melicher said.
Tyson Muhs, a senior majoring in physical education, is a member of CRU and said he would attend a debate but not participate because he does not know enough about atheism.
“I respect them for the beliefs they have, but I don’t think it is right,” Muhs said. “If they want to form a group and talk about their issues, more power to them.”
On a side note, there are 9823243 spelling mistakes in the article. And the headline reads: “Lawmakers question $40 million in university system travel”… what’s going on in North Dakota’s journalism school?
Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, North Dakota State University, Dacotah Melicher, Campus Crusade for Christ, CRU, Tyson Muhs
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03.29.07
Posted in Friendly Atheist at 12:01 pm by Hemant Mehta
With the recent rise of atheist literature, it might be a good time to step back and look at some of the books that have been released.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Friendly Atheist at 1:17 am by Hemant Mehta
So I’m driving downtown today, stuck in traffic. I look at the car in front of me. There’s a bumper sticker on it:
No big deal, right? It doesn’t bother me. In any other case, I would just go back to singing in the car, hoping no one is looking at me.
But then I look below the sticker and read the license plate:
Anyone else see the irony…?
(By the way, I recreated the images above with software. There was no camera with me at the time. Curses!)
Technorati Tags: atheist, atheism, Jesus, GODDID, bumper sticker
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