I’ve never been able to fully appreciate the kind of fear mongering religions are well known for, mostly because I was never influenced by their terrifying dogma. It’s easy for many of us non-believers to scoff at the claims that devils casually walk the earth, looking for souls to devour. But for millions of impressionable children, these kinds of messages often creates fear and panic over the thought of being possessed or even destroyed by supernatural forces.

The Escapist has an interesting article about how a young man found the courage to face his fear of the Devil by playing Doom and Diablo II. Since his church filled his head with vague stories of demons waiting around every corner without shape or substance, he found that shooting their physical manifestations, even if they were in video game form, was therapeutic. For the first time in his life he was able to confront the imagery that had so terrified him:

Satan, as presented in my religious indoctrination, haunted me because I could never truly perceive him. He was an invisible being that could strike at any time and turn me into the head-spinning, bile spitting torture victim from The Exorcist.In Doom, supernatural evil had corporeal bodies, ones that I could puncture with a full arsenal of weaponry found lying around like discarded trash. They had the ability to return the hurt, sure, but that’s what picking up med kits and new suits of armor were for.

It kind of makes me wonder if that isn’t the best way to get young people to stop being so afraid of the “monsters under their beds”. Preachers are often notorious when it comes to drumming up fear to terrify their flock, but they can’t contend with the entertainment value of a good video game. And rather than being a passive observer, the player is an integral part of the story, leading the charge against demon hordes. Have video games helped more kids get over their fear of the supernatural? Maybe not, but would you stop playing them even if they didn’t?

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If you’re planning on renovating your home and wonder where to buy your lumber, I recommend that you might give Home Depot a try. Why? Well, the company has a very pro-gay attitude, so much so that the American Family Association has pledged to boycott them, “Homo-Depot”.

Never heard of these guys? Here’s a short description from their website:

The AFA is a non-profit organization that advocates traditional family values and the reform of American culture “to reflect Biblical truth on which it was founded.”

That’s a pretty nice way to describe them. I would argue that my description, however, is a little more accurate:

The AFA is a non-profit organization that advocates bigotry and close-mindedness, and the erosion of American values of democracy and equal rights in order to reflect their Bronze Age book of mythology.

What specifically is Home Depot doing that so outrages these douchebags? The AFA objects to the fact that the company insurance plan covers sex change operations and offers extended insurance to same-sex partners, thereby promoting the “lifestyle” of homosexuality, rather than making these human beings feel ashamed of being gay.

You could argue that the company is only trying to attract the immense purchasing power of gays (who tend to be well educated and middle class), but so what? In exchange for this pandering they are going above and beyond what other companies are doing, and that’s not something one should ignore. The AFA sure isn’t, and we shouldn’t either.

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It’s far easier to fight for principles than to live up to them

The imortal words of Adlai Stevenson still carry with them the poignant reminder that there is more to life than merely fighting for what you belive; you also have to live by those principles, even when it seems impossibly hard to do so.

You might recall a few months ago, cartoonist Molly Norris gained a great deal of media attention after declaring May 20th 2010 “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day“, her response to Comedy Central censoring an episode featuring the prophet. Although she was enthusiastic about the project at first,  it soon spiraled beyond her control and she suddenly found herself desperately trying to disassociate herself from the “holiday”. By then it was way too late, and the day came to have a life of its own.

Fast-forward to today, where Molly has been forced to go into hiding after she became the target of a fatwa by the Radical American-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki back in July.

A soul that is so debased, as to enjoy the ridicule of the Messenger of Allah, the mercy to mankind; a soul that is so ungrateful towards its lord that it defames the Prophet of the religion Allah has chosen for his creation does not deserve life, does not deserve to breathe the air.

Since the threat, Molly has changed her name and gone into hiding at the insistence of the FBI. Her life has forever been changed simply because she tried to fight for principles she believed in. The fear, anxiety and isolation she now feels is the direct consequence of those principles conflicting with the dogmatic and violent insistence from fellow humans who take their ridiculous books of mythology way too seriously. Just remember that when you’re fighting against irrationality and fear-mongering, living up to the principles of free speech can tax the resolve of even the noblest individual.

NOTE: Here’s an interesting article written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali talking about the need to take a more serious stance against death threats. By doing what she suggests (seriously prosecuting individuals who issue them), do we erode the very idea of freedom of speech, or are we protecting it?

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The slander doesn’t seem to want to go away. If we aren’t being accused of dogmatically disbelieving, being mean or belligerent, and every other imaginable insult, all because we don’t share the notion that a magical sky-man made the world. Now it looks as though organizations that were traditionally on our side have started taking potshots at us. Check out this article written by Dr. John Shook, who is the Director of Education and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry. He claims that many atheists are ignorant of religion and should do more study before berating them (this, by the way, is his strategy for selling his new book).

I’ll ignore for a moment the fact that I see no reason why anyone should be an expert in nonsense in order to disbelieve (the burden of proof is on believers, not atheists). It seems that Dr. Shook is unaware that atheists on average seem to know just as much, if not more about religion that believers do. How about this little survey from the New York Times? Atheists scored the highest of all the demographics. And what about this survey that also found atheists were the most educated demographic when it came to religion? Is that not at least a partial clue that perhaps we aren’t all as ignorant as Shook thinks?

The “know-nothing” wing of the so-called New Atheism really lives up to that label. Nonbelievers reveling in their ignorance are an embarrassing betrayal of the free-thought legacy.

A large portion of atheists I’ve met over the years had formally been believers, and committed ones at that. They poured over the Bible hoping to find something compelling that could solidify their shaky belief, to no avail. The accusation that we’re ignorant of fantasy is a slap to the face of every earnest atheist who came to their disbelief through study, careful thought, and intellectual integrity. Sure, there are plenty of loud, ignorant people who refuse to acknowledge the intellectual traditions of religion, but so what? If there was a “Higher Criticism” of the Santa Clause myth, would you need to be an expert theologian to argue that the story is mere fantasy?

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I have to imagine that the confusion is caused by the mistaken idea that religion has anything to contribute to the conversation about our existence and our place in the Universe. They’ve been making the claim for so long that it’s considered “normal” to believe in God. They have it easy: they can make an infinite amount of baseless claims, and we’re seen as the bad guys for calling them on their bullshit. So when a group of individuals reject these claims as being entirely without merit, we’re the ones painted as dogmatic and close minded. “Science hasn’t yet found all the answers, and my God lives in the margins!”

How many pointless articles are going to be written about how “New Atheism” is dogmatic? I feel like the same old tired arguments are always being carelessly tossed around. “How can atheists claim with certainty that there is no God? It’s way more intellectually congruous to be an agnostic!”. Have any of these people actually bothered to think about what they’re saying before they say it?

It’s not just dumb religious people chiming in their two cents, accusing us non-believers of being dogmatic. Smart people can also be profoundly confused as to the nature of disbelief. Take this article written by David Eagleman. He seems to think that we’re being intellectually disingenuous, and he feels that being a “possibilian” (possibly the dumbest new word I’ve heard all year) is the better position. But I have to wonder what’s to be done with the millions of people who simply don’t find the argument for God compelling? Are they dogmatic for having never been convinced that something supernatural created the natural world? Should we all sit them down and berate them for being dogmatic?

So it seems we know too little to commit to strict atheism, and too much to commit to any religion. Given this, I am often surprised by the number of people who seem to possess total certainty about their position.

How many times do we have to clarify our position that the absence of evidence for God is our only real conviction? If there was suddenly compelling evidence to suggest that “He” was real (I still giggle at religionists giving their God a sex), do you think the majority of atheists would continue to be disbelievers? It demonstrates only a profound ignorance of the concept of atheism. We are all, to some degree, agnostics, and open to evidence about the supernatural. We’re just fucking sick and tired of people telling us atheists are the ones in the wrong. Last time I checked, the most “compelling” evidence for God was that we hadn’t found him yet. Wow, I’m totally convinced now! I’ll have to sell all my atheist related books and get on this whole “possibilian” bandwagon! Yeah, I’ll get right on that…

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