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Meditations on Death: Fear
2010-10-25 11:56:00
We do not do a good job of talking about death and dying in Western culture, especially here in the U.S. Perhaps this is part of why we have so many hang-ups on the subject. This series is designed to stimulate thought and discussion on the difficult subject of death. If atheists view death as an ending of the self, the termination of everything we call "I," does this mean it is something to be feared? For some of us, the idea of returning to nothingness does indeed provoke fear. Others find the idea of nothingness too abstract to elicit strong emotion. And still others, including me, lost our fear of nothingness somewhere along the path of life, even as we developed new and far more terrifying fears.I was recently asked on Formspring about my views of death and the degree to which I feared my own death. In composing my brief response, I was struck by just how much my views have changed over the course of my life. As a child and well into my teen years, the prospect of death terrif...
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Idiot of the Week: Christine O'Donnell (Again)
2010-10-23 13:52:00
Yes, I am in complete agreement with all the criticism I have seen about how much time the media is wasting on Christine O'Donnell. She is going to lose the Delaware race by a considerable margin, and it does make more sense to cover close races. And yes, all she is really doing at this point is following in Palin's footsteps, ensuring that she will be a well-paid symbol fir years to come. I highlight her again because her latest idiocy gives me the perfect excuse to make a point about the increasingly disturbing position of the Republican Tea Party on separation of church and state.As you may recall from the last time O'Donnell earned Idiot of the Week "honors," she has a long history of Christian extremism. Thus, we can't be surprised that she rejects evolution, thinks that imposing her religion on others would cure all social ills, or accepts an odd bit of revisionist history about the Constitution long pushed by Christian extremists. What I think should surprise and concern ...

We Should All Support Atheist Organizations
2010-10-21 12:17:00
Blair Scott (American Atheist s) recently posted an excellent reminder of why it is so important for atheists to join at least one of the fine atheist organizations that works to protect church state separation and advance atheist civil rights. He described the refusal of a city council in King County, NC to remove a Christian flag from a veteran's memorial. It did not bother the council one bit that displaying this flag was unconstitutional. It was only when they realized that it would cost them $300,000 to fight it in court that they backed down. As Blair said, it is a shame that we do not have any sort of Constitution police to enforce the provisions of a document about which we all claim to care so deeply. And this is precisely why we should all support at least one atheist organization of our choice - this has become the role they serve. The real story here is not that evil atheists are changing things for the worse in North Carolina but that American Christians sometimes act...
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Thoughts on the Rally to Restore Sanity
2010-10-19 12:08:00
I just read a thought-provoking post over at Cubik's Rube about Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity." For the record, I am a fan of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart even if I don't catch every episode. And yet, I have mixed feelings about his rally. To the degree that it is designed to mock Glenn Beck's Christian extremist rally, I'm for it. I also applaud the effort to bring some civility back to political discourse. But to the degree that Stewart's rally is designed to promote the false belief that the far right and far left are equally wrong, equally delusional, etc., not so much. I find this particular both-sides-are-equally-wrong approach dangerously misleading.To be clear, there is plenty of crazy on the left. One has to look no further than the obsession with homeopathy, all things holistic, and other New Age bullshit of the sort breathlessly promoted by Huffington Post to see what I mean. But this is hardly equivalent to what we find on the right. The left has some n...
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Red Mass is Another Example of Christian Privilege
2010-10-18 12:14:00
Imagine that high-ranking members of government, including the Vice President, were caught attending an exclusive invitation-only meeting of some religious group where he or she was warned of the threat Jews pose to the United States. The speaker described a battle between good and evil where Jews were on the side of evil and urged the audience to oppose them. The speaker referred to many contentious political subjects and instructed the Vice President and others in attendance how they should govern on these issues (i.e., with the "good" leaders of this particular religion and against the "evil" Jews). What do you suppose would take place if something like this actually happened and the media learned of it? Well, something much like it did happen. But instead of Jews being demonized, it was us. The event is called "Red Mass," the religion is Catholicism, and Vice President Biden and five of the nine Supreme Court justices were in attendance.[Archbishop J. Augustine] Di Noia later d...
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Idiots of the Week: Those Thanking Gods for Rescued Miners
2010-10-16 15:20:00
We atheists are often depicted as being angry misanthropes, and I must confess that this is a fair characterization of at least some of us. But it glosses over the important question of why those of us who are angry feel that way. And in asking this question, religious people and non-religious people alike stand to learn a great deal.When I look at this cartoon and think about the near constant god-thanking we have seen since the first Chilean miner emerged from the ground, I understand anger quite well. And this is hardly the first time we've seen this with a mining disaster. Remember the Utah mine in 2007? Thanking a non-existent entity for something like this is more than mere idiocy; it is a slap in the face to the science and technology that permitted the rescue, the tireless efforts of the rescuers, and so on. It is morally repugnant, and the anger it produces is entirely understandable.If you want to thank gods for this sort of thing, why do you bother to seek medical treatm...
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Don't Forget the New Atheists
2010-10-15 13:46:00
As I have said repeatedly, there is nothing new about the so-called "new atheism," unless one means only that the mainstream media has decided to pay a little bit of attention to us. And that is not really new either. Frankly, I think that this mythical "new atheism" is something that atheists should avoid propagating because it detracts from the accomplishments of our predecessors and from the long and distinguished history of freethought. So what's with the title of this post? I am referring to people who are new to atheism, those who are just beginning to explore atheism. Those of us writing atheist blogs must remember that many new readers are finding us each day and that some of them are new to atheism.Perhaps it does sometimes feel like we are re-treading familiar ground on blogs like this. But that is a good thing, made necessary by the fact of our changing (and hopefully growing) audience. Of the many emails I receive each week, I'd estimate that at least half are from new...

We Don't Need The Huffington Post
2010-10-14 18:18:00
When a Christian extremist espouses bigotry and lies, we atheists are quick to call out moderate Christians for not speaking out in opposition. When a rabid Teabagger willfully distorts information and pushes propaganda, we progressives call out mainstream Republicans for not standing up to them. And yet, many of us continue to promote The Huffington Post with our links and tweets even though they are a notorious peddler of the pseudoscience and woo that most of us claim to oppose. The Huffington Post is no friend to the reality-based community, and we should not be promoting it. But don't take my word for it. See the following: The Huffington Post is not fond of atheism Huffington Post supports too much woo Make money The Huffington Post way with Sexism, Hypoerbole and Woo The Huffington Post delves deeper into the woo Huffington Post Medical Woo: Political Ideology vs. Science Redux Huffington Post Ignores Deepak Chopra's Bizarre Earthquake Claim The Huffington Post has a soft ...

Accommodationist Claims
2010-10-13 12:02:00
Why Evolution is True has a must-read post about the multi-component strategy accommodationists are using to discredit atheists (if you are unfamiliar with the term "accommodationists," see this article on the subject). It provides a useful lens through which to consider much of the anti-atheist work you are seeing these days. I'll paraphrase the main claims of the accommodationists below, but do yourself a favor and read the post. The primary claims we are seeing from the accommodationists again and again include: Science is one way of discovering the truth; religion is another. Relying solely on empiricism and rationalism is a mistake, and those who do this resemble fundamentalists in their close-mindedness. Science and religion can contribute to each other. The so-called "new atheists" are simply mean and are contributing nothing of value to the dialogue between religion and science. I don't know about you, but I have seen these claims more times than I can count. It seems tha...
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Coexisting is Fine, But Tolerance Has Limits
2010-10-11 11:52:00
I don't see too many of the coexist bumper stickers here in Mississippi. In my experience, the Southern Baptist majority here is far more interested in converting than coexisting. Some people regard these bumper stickers as little more than a naive utopian ideal with little basis in reality. They have a point. After all, religious believers do not have the best track record of living harmoniously with those of other faiths (or no faith at all). Is there anything positive communicated by this symbol?Symptom of the Universe explains his take on the coexist sentiment as follows:The main argument of this movement, or better still – sentiment – is that all religious groups should get along with each other and play nice. Just be tolerant of one and another and accept each other for who they are and everything will be alright – one gigantic bohemian love fest for the world community.I suspect that this is a fairly common reaction by atheists. As Symptom points out, religion tends to...
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Ignorance of One's Own Beliefs
2010-10-10 15:10:00
Few atheists were surprised by the recent Pew survey which found that atheists know more about religion than those who claim to be religious believers. David Silverman, president of American Atheists, summed up the general reaction as follows: I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people. Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That’s how you make atheists.I agree. However, I want to add one observation that I haven't seen being made nearly enough in the aftermath of this survey: atheists are not the ones claiming that religious beliefs are sacred, worthy of respect, an important part of one's life, etc. That is, one would expect that those who valued such things as much as they are constantly claiming to know a whole lot more about them. Otherwise, it sounds an awful lot like they really do not know what it is that they claim to believe so deeply. H/T to Library Grape Subscribe to ...
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Idiot of the Week: Christine O'Donnell
2010-10-09 16:20:00
So here I am perusing the overwhelming number of RSS feeds of many excellent atheist blogs to which I subscribe and not even thinking I'd write an idiot post today. I ran across a recent post by Austin Cline about the media's favorite idiot of the moment, Republican candidate for Senate in Delaware, Christine O'Donnell. Just when I think this Christian extremist can't top herself, she manages to do so. Idiot of the Week honors go to Christine O'Donnell for claiming that school shootings are caused by a lack of school prayer.I realize I'm cheating a bit with this one because the statements O'Donnell go back to 1998. But I'm just hearing about them now, so what the hell.From Raw Story:"We took the Bible and prayer out of public schools, and now we're having weekly shootings practically," O'Donnell, then a Christian activist, said in August 1998 during an appearance on ABC's "Politically Incorrect."She didn't cite any sources and defended her statement when host Bill Maher ...

New Media Resource on American Atheists
2010-10-09 13:31:00
Secular Leaders Praise New Journalists' Resource ReligionLink Offers New Source Guide on U.S.'s 30 Million Nonreligious For Immediate Release: October 7, 2010 Contact: Jesse Galef, Secular Student Alliance - 614-441-9588 / jesse@secularstudents.org Paul Fidalgo, Secular Coalition for America - 202-299-1091 / paul@secular.org Leaders from the secular movement are praising a new resource they say will help them be better understood in the media and in society. To help journalists cover secular American s, the news service ReligionLink has unveiled a comprehensive source guide focused on American nonbelievers titled "Freethinkers: A source guide to atheists, humanists and other nontheists." It is the first comprehensive resource for people interested in learning about nontheists in the country. The project was initiated by the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, an organization which provides strategic and financial assistance to the freethought movement. It officially marked i...
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Congress Has No Authority To Tell Americans When And How They Should Pray
2010-10-08 20:25:00
PRESS RELEASEAmericans United for Separation of Church and StateOctober 8, 2010Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked a federal appeals court to find the congressionally mandated National Day of Prayer unconstitutional.In a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Americans United urged the panel of judges to affirm a lower court decision that held the National Day of Prayer statute unconstitutional.In April, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that the federal law violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The Obama administration has appealed Crabb's decision to the 7th Circuit."Congress needs to get out of the prayer business," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. "Prayer is an inherently religious practice, and our Constitution makes it clear that promoting it is not part of the government's job.Read the full press release at www.au.o...
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I'm an Atheist, and I Vote Too
2010-10-07 11:55:00
I have to drive past a billboard for the American Family Association, a prominent Christian extremist group, every day as I go to and from work. It shows a large button that says "I vote" next to the slogan "Remember in November" and prominently features the URL to the group's website: www.afa.net. I bet some of you have seen these too.As disappointed as I am with Congressional Democrats and particularly with the blue dog Democrat who currently represents the district in which I reside, this billboard strengthens my resolve to vote. I need to do my part to keep even worse politicians from being elected. I often lose sight of this, but I am reminded every time I pass that billboard.The billboard also reminds me that we atheists are doing ourselves a great disservice by not investing more time and energy in politics. With our numbers, we could be a potent force for the goals on which the vast majority of us could probably agree:Protecting separation of church and statePromoting quali...
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Is the Atheist Movement Really Moving?
2010-10-05 12:12:00
I've been feeling increasingly burned out lately. It is mostly about work, but it cuts across the board. This is nothing new. I go through periods of feeling uninspired, and I suppose that is to be expected. They never last long, but it can be tough to write during them. I mention this because I'm writing this post off-the-top-of-my-head, and so I'm not even sure what it will be about. But I suspect it is coming more from my current mood than anything else. You've been warned.Activism is hard. I bet that any one of us could easily pick out 10 or more issues on which we would like to see real change. We might even work on a few of them from time-to-time. Progress feels too slow and can be tough to even detect at times. And I'd bet that most of us don't even see ourselves as activists, even when it comes to our shared interest in atheism.I have never been a patient person, and I recognize that this is one of my many personal faults. And yet, I can't help thinking that my growin...
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Hitler Was a Christian
2010-10-04 12:40:00
In light of recent statements made by Catholic League president Bill Donohue, it occurred to me that it would be useful to have a compendium of evidence pointing to the inescapable conclusion that Adolph Hitler was not an atheist but a Christian . I just started a new Squidoo lens called Hitler was a Christian for this purpose. I don't have much up there yet, and I could use your help. If you have written on the subject or found anything good others have written, please let me know and I'll link to it.Oh, and any royalties earned from traffic to this lens are set to go to the ASPCA automatically.Subscribe to Atheist RevolutionCopyright © 2010 Atheist Revolution. This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement.

Writer's Block for the Blogger
2010-10-03 16:10:00
One of the things I have always appreciated about blogging in this particular niche (i.e., writing an atheist-oriented blog) is that there is always something to write about. Of course, that doesn't mean that I never experience writer's block. I certainly do. I've decided that the primary cause, at least for me, has to do with information overload. I suspect this is a factor in writer's block regardless of what topic is under consideration. I have found at least one method that almost always helps me get through my writer's block, but I'd be interested to learn about what works for others too.When I sit down to write a post, I often start with an idea of what I want to write about and then look to see what other bloggers in my niche have been saying about the subject. This helps to shape my content, makes sure I give others' credit for their contributions to my process (promoting the niche as a whole), and makes sure that I am generating something new. There are plenty of oth...
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Idiot of the Week: Renee Ellmers
2010-10-02 12:44:00
I skipped the Idiot of the Week post last week. Frankly, the series has become far more time consuming than I thought it would be. There are so many idiots that I never know who to select! But just in time for this week, a reader sent a recommendation that was way too good to ignore: Renee Ellmers, a Republican Tea Party candidate for Congress in North Carolina. I hadn't heard of Ms. Ellmers before this, but her idiocy in this interview is startling. Kudos to Cooper for conducting the sort of interview everyone in the media should be able and willing to do when confronted with such a candidate. Seriously, this should serve as an example of how to conduct interviews.Subscribe to Atheist RevolutionCopyright © 2010 Atheist Revolution. This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement.

October is Finally Here
2010-10-01 21:57:00
I look forward to October each year for three reasons. First, it is usually the month that we get our first taste of less humidity here in Mississippi. Second, it is often a good month for horror films on cable and sales on horror DVDs. And third, I find the terror with which many Southern Baptists seem to regard Halloween as quite entertaining. Every day may be Halloween for Christians, but there is still plenty to enjoy about October.Copyright © 2010 Atheist Revolution. This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement.
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Atheist America
2010-09-29 13:23:00
In the relatively brief span of time that there has been a United States, this country has been one of the more religious nations in the world. While religiosity has ebbed and flowed over the years, it has done so within a fairly small range. America ns have never experienced a period where a majority of their neighbors doubted the existence of gods, angels, and demons. This is a frequent cause of disappointment in the short-term, but when considered in a global context, it might also be a source of long-term optimism.The odds that any of us living in 2010 will live to see a United States relatively free from the clutches of religion are miniscule. Christianity is not going away any time soon, and while it sometimes appears that we are in the midst of a decline of religious influence, much of this progress will be obscured by the next period of religious "awakening" to sweep our nation. I know that sounds pessimistic, but it is based on the fluctuations of religious influence we hav...
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Before You Support the Center for Inquiry
2010-09-28 12:24:00
There are many excellent groups working to promote atheism, defend science, support skepticism, and the like. I have repeatedly encouraged my American readers to support groups such as Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation because I have been tremendously impressed with their work and believe that it is vital for us to have better representation. But I also realize that the number of worthy groups means that most of us will have to be selective about who we support. It is for this reason that I'd like to bring something to your attention about a group you may want to avoid: The Center for Inquiry. I have supported the Center for Inquiry (CFI) in the past, but this was before they decided to make a habit of atheist-bashing. I think CFI has done some good work and probably continues to do so. However, I can find little reason to support a group with such hostility toward atheists. Subscribe to Atheist RevolutionCopyright © 201...
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Alternative Realities and Mega-Churches
2010-09-27 12:31:00
Craig James (The Religion Virus) wrote a good post recently about the Republican Tea Party and how they inhabit an alternate reality made possible by right-wing media. He suggests that the Internet, cable news, and conservative radio have allowed the Teabaggers to construct sort a of parallel reality. He's right, but he's missing one important component of this alternate reality: church.James credits the technological advances we describe as "the information age" with allowing people to inhabit bubbles from which they can essentially cut themselves off from reality.But in a weird twist of irony, the information age has spawned a new new cultural phenomenon: deliberate ignorance. Instead of two or three TV stations and one newspaper, now we can select from hundreds of sources for our information. Why is that bad? Because we can listen only to what we want to hear. We can choose to be ignorant of other views. We can find a news station, a web site, and an online group of friends who...
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Meditations on Death: Prelude
2010-09-26 15:09:00
I don't write very many posts without knowing whether I'll actually put them up on the blog. This is one of them. I wrote this after hearing about Mojoey's (Deep Thoughts) recent loss of his father. I found myself thinking that death is one of those things that really needs more attention in Western culture. We don't like to think about it, and as a result, rarely discuss it. I cannot help thinking that this reluctance has many adverse effects.I'm every bit as guilty as anyone in not wanting to think about death. I know I'll die, and I know everyone close to me will die. But I tend to sweep thoughts like that aside. No point dwelling on something so unpleasant, I tell myself. I've got too much living to do, and I don't want to get bogged down with such thoughts. But in the back of my mind, there is an awareness that I am not doing myself any favors by pushing thoughts of death away. It means I'll be less prepared when I inevitably lose more people close to me. It will likel...
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First Impressions of the Kindle 3
2010-09-25 15:09:00
My Kindle 3 arrived this week, and while I haven't had as much time to use it as I'd like, I thought I'd share my initial impressions now and then follow up with a more thorough review at a later date. Surprisingly, I've already noticed that some of my initial impressions upon opening the box were quite wrong.I bought a Kindle because I like to read, have accumulated way too many books over the years, and would like to reduce clutter by buying most (but not all) my books electronically. I've tried reading on the Kindle application on my desktop computer and on my Android phone, but I was not satisfied by either. The phone screen was too small, and I like to read in bed, which ruled out the desktop.On unboxing the Kindle, my biggest surprise was how thin and light the device was. It seemed like the perfect size, but the thinness, combined with the marginal fit and finish of the face, made it feel cheap. I decided I was going to have to be quite careful with this device.After som...
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Coming Soon: Iraq War Blogswarm
2008-02-15 12:46:00
Delta over at Freethought Weekly brought this one to my attention. March 19th will be the 5 year anniversary of Bush's unjust war against Iraq . In anticipation that this may not receive the attention it deserves in the media, there will be a blogswarm against the war on this date.Tags: Iraq war, Iraq, Bush
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Atheist Identity
2008-02-14 13:00:00
A recent post at the Bad Idea Blog titled "What’s Best for Atheism Isn’t What’s Best" and featured at the last Carnival of the Godless really got me thinking. Is atheism the inevitable outcome of the application of reason? If so, what good is an atheist movement? Might such a movement actually distract from more important priorities (e.g., critical thinking, reason, science, etc.) and contribute to confusion?According to "Bad,"What I care about is rationalism. Skepticism. Science. And while these values do, in fact, feed into why I don’t share the beliefs of theists, they aren’t necessary for me to be an atheist (I could imagine not believing even without them). Nor do I think that sharing similar values would make it necessary for someone else to become an atheist. But I care about these values, and there’s a big ole’ period at the end of that sentence.From this standpoint, atheism can be viewed as an incidental outcome. If one applies reason, skepticism, science, and...
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Crazed Christian Assaults Atheist in Coffee Shop
2008-02-13 12:38:00
Kristine at Amused Muse has a disturbing post in which she describes a scary encounter with a crazed Christian . Fortunately, this particular assault was of the verbal variety, but Kristine's tears tell me that it had quite an impact. Her description of the incident reminds us all that this sort of thing happens more than many of us would like to admit.Kristine's post begins with the following:I can't imagine a mentality more degraded than someone marching up to us in a coffee shop and saying, essentially, "You'll be sorry that you're atheists!" and asking a person why they exist.I wholeheartedly agree. What sort of individual would decide that it was acceptable to antagonize a complete stranger in this manner? As I have said before, I think part of the answer lies in the notion that the very existence of atheists is problematic for many Christians. They may be willing to consider us a theoretical possibility living in some distant city but not as their neighbors.Kristine's pos...
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America's Evolution Denial
2008-02-12 12:47:00
If you have ever used a computer, talked on a cell phone, visited a physician, or operated a motor vehicle, you have benefited from science. Much of the food you eat, the medicines you use, and so many other things you may take for granted have been influenced by the biological sciences in particular. In addition to being the foundation of the modern biological sciences, evolutionary theory has been more rigorously evaluated and received more empirical support than any other theory from any branch of science. And yet, more Americans endorse creationist explanations for human origins than evolutionary ones (2001 Gallup poll).The Importance of America's Evolution Denial America has a long history of religious fundamentalism, and Americans' distaste for evolution is not exactly a new phenomenon. Despite widespread rejection of evolution in the general population, American science has continued to advance to the benefit of all citizens. Why then should this be a pressing concern now?It...

Scientists Colluding with Ignorance on Evolution Weekend
2008-02-11 12:43:00
An odd article appeared in the Battle Creek Enquirer (Michigan) reporting on an Evolution Weekend event held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church. According to the article, a panel of "experts" came to the conclusion that science and religion can agree on the origins of the universe. And no, I still haven't told you the really odd part.The panel of 7 "experts" appeared to consist of at least a few scientists: professors of physics, geology, neurobiology. Don't ask me what any of these fields have to do with evolution or why nobody would think to invite a biologist or two. The rest of the "experts" were clergy. Somehow, being a rector or deacon makes one an expert on evolution too.The truly odd part came at the end of the panel presentations when audience members were offered the opportunity to ask questions.Fred Betz, 63, of Galesburg told the panelists he took the words of the Bible at face value, and his understanding of scripture disproved evolution."What's wrong with my simplistic ...
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