I can’t imagine the kind of terror I would experience if I was a woman and suddenly was faced with a complication in my pregnancy at a Catholic Hospital. The Church’s dogma concerning abortion is one that causes the mysery and death of countless women, all because they’re convinced that babies are all miracles of a male God, and conclude that that abortionists are worse than child molesters (you can’t rape what doesn’t exists, right?). Scientifically though, a pregnancy is similar to being invaded by a parasite, and there are often cases where the life of the mother is in immenent peril.

In 2009, St. Joseph hospital was faced with a rapidly dying pregnant woman, and they did the only thing they could do to save her: they aborted the 11 week-old fetus:

The woman who underwent the procedure is in her 20s and had a history of abnormally high blood pressure when she learned of her pregnancy. After she was admitted to the hospital with worsening symptoms, doctors determined her risk of death was nearly 100 percent.

As a consequence, they were striped of their “Catholic” status by their local Dungeon Master Bishop, and now the hospital is not allowed to celebrate Mass and other useless religious rituals.

That’s actually great news, since it means one more hospital that won’t be making any decisions based on some ancient, ridiculous dogma. The fact that there are even medical fascilities run by experts in nonsense is disturbing: a hospital is a place of science, not superstition. The fact that the staff was punished for doing what any other medical establishment would do is telling, isn’t it?

Spread the outrage

Oh wounded Christians, when will you stop your belly-aching and stop acting like you are the victims of atheist aggression? It seems like every other day I have to read some theist’s article about how atheists are either 1) way too mean, 2) clueless about religion, and 3) completely dogmatic about their non-belief. While I could accept the first (in my case, although I’m one of the few very vitriolic ones), the second and third seems to completely ignore the fact that a significant number of non-believers were, at one time or another, believers.

A fan of the site sent me a link to this article, entitled “atheists: can we get along or whatever”, a follow-up to another article he had written called “Dear Atheists: most of us don’t care what you think”. As you might have guessed, after writing the latter (a long diatribe about how faith is unshakable and immutable), he was inundated by comments from non-believers, and decided that more clarification was needed. He was, apparently, unaware that the internet is made up mostly of malcontents like you and me, and felt that we didn’t really understand his religion enough to critique it.

The thesis of my story was this: that debates between the religious and atheists are useless because most atheists do not understand religion, particularly the idea of religious faith.

I’m getting a little tired of the accusation that atheists simple don’t understand religion. It’s obvious from most surveys that we are, in fact, on average much more educated about faith than our religious counterparts. This is usually ignored. We may understand the minutia of faith, but to religionists, our lack of belief must mean that we don’t actually “get it”. Why else would we refuse to accept God into our lives?

But faith is different. It is private. It touches on a different reality that either you get or you do not. Faith is like love and how do you debate love? Faith has driven untold millions, billions, of people through history and cannot be dismissed so easily.

I’ve always hated this line of argument. You might as well just say that millions of people used to believe that the earth was flat as a debate tactic. Simply because tons of human beings choose to believe in absurd things, and feel motivated to do things because of such absurdities does not in fact condon these ideas. If anything, it shows the profound vulnerability of ignorant humans to invent answers and explination when there are no certainties. This is not something we should be especially proud of.

I have no doubt that “faith” is a lot more difficult to hold on to than I can imagine. Objective reality does not conform with religious instructions, which is why faith is so important to guys like Charles Lewis. And while religionists want to pat themselves on the back for believing in the absurd, the rest of us just shake our heads in disbelief, saying simply: it would be a lot easier on you if you just stopped trusting in the nonsense you’ve been fed your whole life, pal.

Faith is not up for debate. I do not care whether Christopher Hitchens or the guy who sits three rows away thinks I am living in a fantasy. Why would I care? If faith could be broken by mindless criticism then it would not be faith.

I agree, which is why we find faith so troubling. If you cannot debate something, than what value does it have? It’s further proof that those with faith are secretly afraid of revealing even their inner-most doubts, out of fear that they may inadvertantly stop believing once they finally begin to question their deeply held assumptions. Any individual who refuses to question even his/her most cherished beliefs is not only weak minded; they are also cowards. If you think it takes more bravery to believe in the absurd, then I honestly feel sorry for you.

Spread the outrage

A new study published in the American Sociological Review confirmed something most of us already know: it isn’t theology and spirituality that explains the positive relationship between religion and happiness; it’s the community element.

Our study offers compelling evidence that it is the social aspects of religion rather than theology or spirituality that leads to life satisfaction,” said Chaeyoon Lim, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led the study.

The benefits of religion (yes, there are some, admittedly) is largely due to the fact that human beings are social animals. There’s nothing revolutionary about that statement, and yet it seems to be largely ignored by everyone. Understandably, religionists want to believe that the benefits of religion is in the dogma and belief, since these serve as proof, in their eyes, that their religion is something special. In reality, the fact that humans are interacting with one another AFTER the pastor finishes his little speech plays a far more important role in the degree of satisfaction of everyone in attendance.

As atheists we’ve been forced to admit that we cannot hope to grow as a movement if we ignore the important fact that our species is entirely dependent on being social and having a sense of belonging. We were always too afraid of being labeled as a religion to seriously consider organizing ourselves the way religions do, but in so doing we ignore a fundamentally important aspect of ourselves. The good news is that no dogma or preaching is necessary. So long as people have a place to regularly meet and be social, the rest takes care of itself.

(via)

Spread the outrage

I’m not going to argue that it’s impossible to be an atheist and a Buddhist. In the west, the aspects of the religion which have survived the trek here make it seem more like a philosophy than anything else, but it doesn’t change the fact that it still has plenty of dogma, and seems to insist that happiness is achieved once desire is eliminated from one’s life. It also emphasizes “clearing one’s mind”, a practice that I find literally abhorrent. A mind free of thought is one free of creativity, inspiration and ambition. Why not simply be an atheist, dude?

Spread the outrage

Someone posted this on Reddit/r/atheism (for those of you unaware of the existence of this site, go there immediately), and I thought I might take a few seconds to respond to his request:

I went to a catholic high school and kept the fact that I was atheist a secret most of the time because I wanted to avoid any religion debates. My closer friends knew and didn’t care but mentioned it once when we were eating lunch with some other of our class mates. The response I immediately received from one of the guys was basically “How stupid are you? You’re atheist? Why don’t you go home right now and kill yourself. You already have nothing to live for.” I did not know how to respond and I let him just ramble on. I never tried to defend myself and I regret not saying anything. I still don’t know how I’m supposed to respond to another “Go kill yourself” type statement. I’ve always struggled with depression and I honestly don’t know why I shouldn’t kill myself. Does anyone have a reasonable response to say to that kind of person if that were to ever happen again? This happened a few years ago, I’m in university now and probably wont ever encounter that kind of person again but it still makes me nervous thinking about it.

Whats a good way to respond to a religious person telling you to kill yourself because you are atheist.

My first instinct would have been to tell him to go fuck himself, but it seems as though you might be a bit more sensitive than me, so that probably wouldn’t have worked out.

I’m constantly surprised by how cold and callous Christians can be in regards to the wellbeing of others (despite their assertion that they are somehow morally superior). Sure, I’ve made fun of plenty of religious people in my day, but I certainly wouldn’t tell anyone to take their own lives for what they believed or didn’t believe. I would have lambasted this ignorant bastard for making light of what is still a huge problem with today’s teenagers. Suicide is no fucking joke. Too many talented, promising and sensitive young men (for it’s still mostly men) extricate themselves from this adventure we call life before they fully bloom.

I would have also asked him how his belief in fairy tales makes him an “expert” on the subject of “purpose”. No doubt he’s young, not terribly educated, and completely unaware of the world beyond his tiny purview. Has he even bothered to find out that the majority of the world does not believe what he does, or lives how he lives?

When you’re young and inexperienced, it’s easy to have tunnel vision. You feel depressed and admittedly have perhaps seriously contemplated suicide. That’s not unusual as the chemistry of your brain is undergoing some radical changes. Atheists don’t have any sanctions against taking one’s own life, but I think the realization that we only get one kick at the can should inspire all of us to live it to its fullest. Remember that life is about having new experiences, and sharing those with people that care about you, and because you don’t live in a world controlled by religious dogma, you really can explore it in any way you deem fitting.

Perhaps the real lesson here is there’s nothing you can really say to ignoramuses that will make them change their minds, but why would you want to? I feel sorry for anyone who thinks believing in magic is the best way to appreciate the beauty of this incredible Universe we live in.

Spread the outrage

Here’s another reason to love Sam Harris: he’s the founder of “Project Reason“, an organization dedicated to spreading scientific knowledge and challenging religious dogmas. As fun and exciting as that mandate is, they’ve done something even cooler: they recently released this infographic entitled “Bible Contradictions”; it’s a comprehensive list of all the parts of the Bible which (I’m sure you’ve guessed by now) contradict in some way. It’s the ultimate resource for anyone tired of having pointless arguments with Christians who don’t think they actually exists. Now, rather than waste your breath, you can simple send them this PDF and be done with it.

For those of you trying to brush up on your Bible critique, it doesn’t get sweeter than this. If you’ve got some skills and time to spare, why don’t you consider volunteering with them? They do good work!

Spread the outrage

Apparently, the fact that his offspring doesn’t believe in the same thing he does has made life pretty unbearable for everyone:

Q: How is your relationship with your family? From what I remember from his talk, you have many siblings.
A: Bad. And I do confidently blame religion for this. I certainly don’t think it always turns out this way, but my stubbornness in maintaining and voicing my beliefs conflicted with my parents’ policy of keeping the rest of my family shielded from alternate viewpoints. “Indoctrination”, unfortunately, is really the word that describes it best, and I do believe that my younger brothers (the members of my family I am closest to) are truly being hurt by this. So my parents and I are in perpetual disagreement. I have, for the most part, stopped talking to my parents, and I am not allowed to speak to my little brothers at all. I don’t want to complain, but this has been very painful for both them and I. Hoping to move out soon.

Wow, who would have guessed that failing to believe in the same dogma as everyone else would be alienating? I find it sad and telling that they refuse to have him speak to his other siblings. I guess Behe is worried that these secular ideas might just spread to the rest of his offspring; better to keep them isolated and sequestered from reality. Here’s a wacky idea: why don’t you let people think for themselves, Mike? After all, is it not the desire of every parent to raise their own children to be critical thinkers? I guess that goes out the fucking window when it comes to your invisible friend in the clouds…

Spread the outrage

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?

Spread the outrage

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?

Spread the outrage