The Good Atheist

Best part of the video: when he called Barack Obama “Super Jesus”.

It can’t be a normal day without some religious organization trying to censor the materials their flock is exposed to. Todays unreasonable ban comes from Hasidic Jews in Israel who want to ban or heavily restrict the internet for its congregation.

Although I’m not surprised that these religious idiots would be so scared by the Information super highway (remember when we all called it that?), I do find it telling that they apparently think their own members aren’t mature and disciplined enough to control their own consumption. Do they not trust their own fellow Jews NOT to visit licentious sites on the World Wide Web? I think it’s telling just how paranoid and distrustful the religious sect is of their own flock. Better in their view to outright ban anything that might open up their eyes to the wider world; it’s sad, really.

We’ve done a lot of podcasts on the subject of abortion in the last few months; with Tim Tebow’s Super bowl ad to the murder of Dr. George Tiller, the controversy surrounding abortion never goes away. Last show we did, a fan emailed me saying his girlfriend had been upset from listening to the casualness and callousness we displayed when talking about it. Apparently, not having a vagina means that you can’t properly share your opinion on the matter.

If that’s true, than I think everyone should read this article on the Friendly Atheist. Angie the Anti-Theist is in the process of going through the procedure, and she offers a candid look at what it’s like on her own website. Here’s a few passages:

I believe in a woman’s right to choose, in general for others and in this case for me. Abortion doesn’t have to be justified and it doesn’t have to fit your neighbor’s or coworker’s opinions of a “good enough reason.”

I think “I don’t want to be pregnant” is one of the best reasons there is for having an abortion (along with “I don’t want to be a parent” and “I’ll probably die”).

Why don’t we talk about this more? Well, because we’ve been taught not to. By the women (and men involved) before us who didn’t talk about their abortions, by the religious right who told us we were whores for wanting to enjoy sex without the punishment of pregnancy and childbirth, and by the left who hung their heads in sorrow that people “had to” get abortions.

Be sure to go read it!

It’s not often that I’m in agreement with believers regarding religious education, but I have to admit that I found myself partial to the arguments of one William Ingram. In this National Post article, Ingram argues that Biblical illiteracy is something to be combated. I agree; there’s no better way to be an atheist than by carefully studying the Bible. It’s also extremely necessarily to have Bible literacy, as Ingram points out, to understand the narratives fundamentalists subscribe to.

So much of our society is awash in biblical parables and metaphors that a proper scholarly pursuit of the Bible is highly desirable. The difference between Ingram and I, obviously, is that I approach this book the same way I do the Iliad, or the Koran. All of these texts are nothing more than mythological and allegorical, and many of their moral tales are antiquated even cruel by today’s standards. It does not mean, however, that they have no value. They are a window into a different world, and the very fact that the Bible still has so much sway in society is a testament (pun intended) to the reverence we place on traditions or anything that’s “really old”.

So if you haven’t yet read your Bible, but want to have a great analysis along the way, try reading the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible. It almost makes the job bearable…

Wow, now I know I’ve made the claim that religiosity doesn’t make you more moral (and often makes you more racist), but I barely qualify as edutainment, and absolutely no one should ever take me too seriously. How fucking crazy controversial is this study? Religious folks are going to lose their minds over this! Is it wrong that I’m secretly happy and feel vindicated for every time some religious douchebag tried to tell me I must be immoral simply because I don’t believe in their Bronze Age God?

(props to Atheist News for the find)

Man I hate the accusation that just because I don’t believe in a sky-deity that I suddenly don’t possess any morals whatsoever. Who decided that the only way to “be good” was by blindly accepting the moral edicts of a 6000 year old manuscript? Did everyone suddenly forget the fact that things were pretty fucked up back then? What parts of the Bible are still moral by today’s standards? How about selling your daughter into slavery, or murdering your family members if they didn’t believe in the same God as you? Talk about a great moral tome!

I need to get my hands on this book: Apparently a publishing company in India released a book with a picture of Jesus holding a beer and a cigarette in the state of Meghalaya in India. Government officials have been busy confiscating all the textbooks, and making sure everyone know just how offensive this is.

Personally I want to ask why they included this awesome image. Was this an accident, or a hilarious jab intended for Christians? Either way, I suddenly wish I had a few more fans in India so I could get my hands on it. They’ll probably destroy them all and punish the publisher for their blasphemy.

Now I know for a fact that few Christians have much of a sense of humor when it comes to their Messiah (probably also because their own religion suggests that blasphemy is a sin), but why would God punish you for having a good laugh? Lighten up, God!

Perhaps it can be said that at one particular time (although I’m unaware of exactly when), Religion offered a way for individuals to feel some degree of community with others that did not share any direct family lineage. Whatever advantage that religion conferred to our ancient ancestors, the inevitable tendency for religionists to favor only those with precisely the same belief as then has fostered some of the most genocidal racism and xenophobia. For proof of this, look no further than the Old Testament, which proudly boasts the genocide of the Canaanites and other small tribes unfortunate enough to live in the land of the “chosen” people.

A new study recently found that a person’s religiosity is often a very good indicator of their racism. Both conservatives and fundamentalists tend to share the same degree of prejudice, although the orthodox are usually far better at trying to mask it.

All this is nothing new for the rest of us rational enough to have long ago abandoned the divisive clutches of religion. The fact that this same study found that those with no religious affiliation tended to be less racist does not surprise us, for we know full well the acidic rhetoric of the faithful. How hollow is the accusation of the moral failure on the parts of atheists? Shallow and uninformed indeed!

When you think about the sexual revolution of the 60’s, what is the first thing that comes to mind? I usually picture a bunch of hippy chicks burning their bras and having crazy orgies, but that’s only because I watch way too much old school porn. Of course, not everyone associates the sexual liberation with the wonderful “imagery” of peace and love. Take Bishop Walter Mixa for example; he recently stated that the abuse of young boys and girls by Catholic priests is because of the sexual revolution of the 60’s.

The so-called sexual revolution, in which some especially progressive moral critics supported the legalisation of sexual contact between adults and children, is certainly not innocent,” he said, adding that the media was also at fault.

Yep, this jackass actually thinks that child molestation started when regular folks like you and me started having a healthier attitude about sex. He also blames the media, because who doesn’t love doing that nowadays?

Does he actually believe that abuses never happened before the 60’s? How exactly does he make the association between the sexual liberation of consenting adults with the villainous physical abuse of small children?

If his name sounds vaguely familiar to you, this is the same man who claimed that atheism had lead to the genocide of Jews and the rise of Nazism:

…the godless regimes of Nazism and Communism, with their penal camps, their secret police and their mass murder, proved in a terrible way the inhumanity of atheism in practice

Now because he’s a Bishop, I guess he figures it’s within his rights to just make shit up, including defending the Catholic Church from the harsh reality of history. Should we take this idiot seriously? Of course not, but try telling that to the thousands of people who believe in every word he utters out of his poisonous mouth. The world makes me want to weep sometimes…

Religionists are going to lose their shit when they read this: a new Pew poll conducted recently found that today’s younger generations aren’t as religious as their parents, and that a full 1/4 of those interviewed identified themselves as either atheist, agnostic, or simply “non-religious”.

I’m not entirely surprised by these results, although I did like how the CNN article tries to reassure readers by saying that people tend to become more religious with age. It kind of sends the message that “well, they’ll wise up eventually and embrace God”, but I think they underestimate just how non-religious we really are. The reality is that without religion being shoved down our throats, fewer and fewer individuals are subscribing to it. If it’s up to 25% now, what happens when these young people have kids? I’m not suggesting that it’ll mean the end of religion, but it’s interesting to consider just how fast people are jumping off the religious bandwagon.

Does that mean that within my lifetime a significant portion of the population will cease to believe in fairy tales? Probably not, but it’s good to know that we’re all getting a little bit wiser.