Strictly speaking, as an Honorable Skeptic, I do not expect to have followers of my ethical philosophy. Nor am I a blind follower of anyone (because then I wouldn’t be a skeptic). No, not even Carl Sagan, though he was a idol of mine in childhood and he was one of my direct influences in the creation of my standard of ethics. But there is one person whose vision so closely mirrors my own, and even exceeds it in many ways, that I must pay tribute to him as a brother in arms against ignorance, superstition, and self-serving bigotry: Nick Karean.
He lives in a nation split between Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and Hindus, among other religious communities, yet he was a fundamentalist Christian early in his life, just as I was. Eventually, however, he learned to get away from that and developed critical thinking, becoming one of the strongest advocates for reason, science and objective truth I’ve ever known. So he and I have more in common than almost anyone else I know.
Christianity is well known for its emphasis on the expectation of the Return of Christ to set up the Kingdom of God on Earth. What’s not so well known is that Shia, a branch of Islam, has similar expectations regarding the Imam Mahdi, also known as the 12th Imam or the Hidden Imam. In reddit, a Muslim said the following:
I’ll just say one thing: When Imam Mahdi comes he will establish peace and justice once and for all. He will not change Islam and he will not bring a new religion.
_________________________
But that very assumption means that it is possible that as thousands of years continue to come and go, the Muslim population may gradually come to the conclusion that the expectation of Imam Mahdi to come is unrealistic and that Islam is not a true religion after all.
That seems to be an issue Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, was aware of.
The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it?
Could this loss of belief in God be a direct result of the prophecies of the return of Christ or of Imam Mahdi never coming to pass?
We can understand that there was an actual time limit for the return of Jesus:
Matthew 16:28King James Version (KJV)
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
So Jesus should have returned by about 100 AD or so. Maybe AD 150 at the very latest. He didn’t, so:
Deuteronomy 18:22 King James Version (KJV)
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
But the Quran clearly defines Jesus as a prophet of God. If Jesus failed to return in the time limit he himself gave, then according to Moses, he did not speak for God. If Jesus was false, so was Muhammad. If Muhammad was false, so were the Imams of Shia. So we shouldn’t expect the Imam Mahdi to ever return either. And since Baha’u’llah affirmed both Jesus and Muhammad as Prophets of God, he too is not one himself.
So where does that leave the Bab and Baha’u’llah? Well, the Bab claimed to be the Imam Mahdi, yet he was killed by a firing squad on July 9, 1850, thus failing to fulfil the promises of the Shias. And Baha’u’llah was said to be the return of Christ, but that seems illogical given the time limit Jesus gave. The Muslims, the Babis, and the Baha’is only seem to have credible faiths when you fail to remember that time limit for the return of Christ.
If you are ignorant of what Jesus REALLY taught (and failed to fulfil), you can be a sucker for anything. So to sum up:
Jesus will never return.
The Imam Mahdi will never return
There is no religion after Judaism that is true.
The desperate attempt by Baha’u’llah to stop the spread of atheism was pointless. Atheism is not a bad thing.
What if the mother and daughter in that video had been atheists and not Jehovah’s Witnesses? Let’s rename the children and retell the story.
Debbie: “Look, Mom! I drew our family in school today!”
Mom: “Oh, wow!”
Debbie: “I didn’t have time to finish James’ face.” (Mom chuckles.)
Debbie: “Carrie drew two mommies. She said they are married to each other. My teacher rejected her picture, saying Carrie’s mommies are living in sin. That made Carrie cry. What does that mean?”
Mom: “Your and Carrie’s teacher has a common view of gays and lesbians as sinners or even diseased because of their sexuality, but that is based mainly on religious bigotry. Thousands of years ago, when most of the world’s religions were being founded and spread, most people lived in tribal groups. Marriages were usually not just relationships between individuals, but also alliances between families or even nations. So fathers would often arrange for their children to marry members of other families and then those children would be expected to produce the next generation as adults. But the problem was that gays and lesbians couldn’t have children with each other, so they were useless for procreation. Because the founders of the great religions and the writers of the scriptures of these religions mistakenly believed that people could choose their sexuality, harsh punishments were often called for in an effort to force young people to avoid being gay or lesbian and try to be straight instead. Today, we understand how foolish and ignorant those people were and that’s why prejudice against LGBT people is fading away.”
Debbie: “What can we do to help Carrie?”
Mom: “Her rights are being violated by the teacher. If they haven’t done so already, Carrie’s mothers need to consult a lawyer and try to take legal action against the school. Let me talk to Carrie and her mothers so they can know what to do.”
In an earlier blog entry, I spoke of the experience of people leaving their former religionand seeking personal freedom. I also referred to a song that seems to speak of that experience. Here is that song again:
And here are the lyrics:
The snow glows white on the mountain tonight Not a footprint to be seen A kingdom of isolation And it looks like I’m the queen
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I’ve tried Don’t let them in, don’t let them see Be the good girl you always have to be Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know Well, now they know
Let it go, let it go Can’t hold it back anymore Let it go, let it go Turn away and slam the door I don’t care what they’re going to say Let the storm rage on The cold never bothered me anyway
It’s funny how some distance makes everything seem small And the fears that once controlled me can’t get to me at all It’s time to see what I can do To test the limits and break through No right, no wrong, no rules for me I’m free
Let it go, let it go I am one with the wind and sky Let it go, let it go You’ll never see me cry Here I stand and here I stay Let the storm rage on
My power flurries through the air into the ground My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast I’m never going back, the past is in the past
Let it go, let it go When I’ll rise like the break of dawn Let it go, let it go That perfect girl is gone Here I stand in the light of day Let the storm rage on The cold never bothered me anyway
And here is my interpretation of those lyrics.
The snow glows white on the mountain tonight Not a footprint to be seen A kingdom of isolation And it looks like I’m the queen
When you realize that a religion you based your entire life around is not true, or at least not suitable for you, you don’t just lose that religion, you lose the COMMUNITY that religion creates, and thus you feel terrified about what may happen to you later. We humans are social animals, so this is indeed trauma on a grievous scale.
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I’ve tried Don’t let them in, don’t let them see Be the good girl you always have to be Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know Well, now they know
At first, you may try to pretend to still believe in and follow your former religion, but this is no long term solution if you value your integrity. And eventually, those in the faith closest to you may figure out you are just pretending and condemn you, rightfully, as a hypocrite. The sooner you come out with the truth about yourself, the better.
Let it go, let it go Can’t hold it back anymore Let it go, let it go Turn away and slam the door I don’t care what they’re going to say Let the storm rage on The cold never bothered me anyway
Once you turn that corner and admit openly you have abandoned your past faith, your fears will be replaced with inner peace, perhaps the same inner peace the religion itself was supposed to give you. Now you can face the others who still follow your old religion and refute their claims. The controversy (cold) wasn’t the issue; you were just on the wrong side of it!
It’s funny how some distance makes everything seem small And the fears that once controlled me can’t get to me at all It’s time to see what I can do To test the limits and break through No right, no wrong, no rules for me I’m free
People who reject all dogmatic religions do so because they realize the rules of those religions are not grounded in reality. The only rules and laws that should ever matter are those that serve real needs of real people in real time. Religions can’t do that!
Let it go, let it go I am one with the wind and sky Let it go, let it go You’ll never see me cry Here I stand and here I stay Let the storm rage on
So now you can prove that leaving a religion won’t destroy you as a person, but make your life better!
My power flurries through the air into the ground My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast I’m never going back, the past is in the past
Leaving an oppressive religion increases your creativity, allowing you to explore possibilities that you were fearful of before. And that justifies your leaving and makes you see there is no point in ever turning back.
Let it go, let it go When I’ll rise like the break of dawn Let it go, let it go That perfect girl is gone Here I stand in the light of day Let the storm rage on The cold never bothered me anyway
The religion you left promised you light, but it was a lie; you only became truly enlightened once you left it and found what was right for you. You stopped seeking moral perfection once you recognized it never existed. Instead, you make up your own standards and live by them. Just as I did in 2005:
In reddit, there are many subreddits that are made as support groups for people doubting or denying the religion they were raised in and wanting to leave it. This blog entry is for those people.
Here is a list of those ex(religious) subreddits.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Exittors/ (A general subreddit for various people leaving any religious group allowing them to compare notes and see how much alike they are.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjew/ (THIS is the subreddit for people who have rejected the Jewish religion, even if they are considered of Jewish ethnicity.)
Warning: Do NOT go to a religious group of any kind and openly state you want to quit their religion. All that will do is start a fight you don’t need to be involved in. Examples:
Finally, here is a song for all those ex(religious) people in the world to celebrate their freedom from whatever cult or dogmatic bullshit they were once in:
When I rejected the Baha’i Faith in 2004, I also rejected theism itself, reasoning that if any God-centered religion could have been true, the Baha’i Faith was because it was the newest and most progressive in nature. So I could not revert to any older faith, not even the Christianity I had been raised in. They had already failed, and once I understood that the Baha’i Faith was also a failure, I couldn’t believe in God at all.
Most followers of the Abrahamic religions regard non-theists with contempt, and they are encouraged to have this bigoted attitude by the scriptures of their religions. Here are some noteworthy examples.
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. 3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the Lord. 5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. 6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
From the Quran we have this:
2: The Cow
6 As for the Disbelievers, Whether thou warn them or thou warn them not it is all one for them; they believe not. 7 Allah hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be an awful doom. 8 And of mankind are some who say: We believe in Allah and the Last Day, when they believe not. 9 They think to beguile Allah and those who believe, and they beguile none save themselves; but they perceive not. 10 In their hearts is a disease, and Allah increaseth their disease. A painful doom is theirs because they lie. 11 And when it is said unto them: Make not mischief in the earth, they say: We are peacemakers only. 12 Are not they indeed the mischief-makers ? But they perceive not. 13 And when it is said unto them: believe as the people believe, they say: shall we believe as the foolish believe ? are not they indeed the foolish ? But they know not.
Here’s another example from the Gleanings of the Writings of Baha’u’llah:
CXIV(that’s Roman numerals, it would be 114 in Arabic numerals)
Know thou for a certainty that whoso disbelieveth in God is neither trustworthy nor truthful. This, indeed, is the truth, the undoubted truth. He that acteth treacherously towards God will, also, act treacherously towards his king. Nothing whatever can deter such a man from evil, nothing can hinder him from betraying his neighbor, nothing can induce him to walk uprightly.
As a non-theist who has personally known many other honorable non-theists, these passages show the writers of these scriptures to be as ignorant as it gets when it comes to the true character of atheists and agnostics.
I have seen plenty of examples of treacherous and dishonest behavior from people who profess to believe in God.
Atheists do not reject theism because they are corrupt (though to be fair, some are). They cannot behave treacherously towards one they do not believe exists. To disbelieve in God is not evil, merely a different point of view. Saying otherwise is hate propaganda.
Ethical standards only make sense if they come from reality and are applied to reality. People are real. God(s) may not be. And if your only source of ethics is religion, what happens if a religious leader commands you to commit mass murder and rape?
This attitude of bigotry towards non-theists was used to justify the nonsense written by Hugh Ross, as recorded here:
With the election of 2020 finally over, I can focus more on being a skeptic and ethical philosopher again. And one of the best ways to express my convictions is to give crucial support to public enemies of Multi-Level-Marketing companies. I already focused on one such enemy, Blair aka, the iilluminatii.
I first heard of James Randi, who died on October 20, 2020, back around 1990 shortly after I deconverted from Christianity. He and his skeptical research on Christian “faith healers” like W. V. Grant and Peter Popoff wasn’t directly responsible for my rejecting Christianity, but reading his book “The Faith Healers” (which included a foreword by my childhood idol Carl Sagan) was enough to make me decide to NEVER be Christian again.
But while he could lead people to the truth about religious and paranormal claims being false, he couldn’t force people to give up their delusions.
Randi has been accused of actually using “psychic powers” to perform acts such as spoon bending. According to James Alcock, at a meeting where Randi was duplicating the performances of Uri Geller, a professor from the University at Buffalo shouted out that Randi was a fraud. Randi said: “Yes, indeed, I’m a trickster, I’m a cheat, I’m a charlatan, that’s what I do for a living. Everything I’ve done here was by trickery.” The professor shouted back: “That’s not what I mean. You’re a fraud because you’re pretending to do these things through trickery, but you’re actually using psychic powers and misleading us by not admitting it.”[37] A similar event involved Senator Claiborne Pell, a confirmed believer in psychic phenomena. When Randi personally demonstrated to Pell that he could reveal—by simple trickery—a concealed drawing that had been secretly made by the senator, Pell refused to believe that it was a trick, saying: “I think Randi may be a psychic and doesn’t realize it.” Randi consistently denied having any paranormal powers or abilities.[38]
Maybe some people who believe in such things really are insane. As for me, I will always go where the evidence leads me and not deny clear truth or accept falsehoods for the sake of my personal comfort, just as James Randi did not.
“One day, I’m gonna die. That’s all there is to it. Hey, it’s too bad, but I’ve got to make room. I’m using a lot of oxygen and such—I think it’s good use of oxygen myself, but of course, I’m a little prejudiced on the matter.”
Quoting such humorous wit is a good way to remember him.
One of the most ethical atheists in the world was Ed Brayton, whose blog Dispatches from the Culture Wars I used to read often. He and I did have a falling out over different views of feminism (we are both pro-feminist, he was just more radical than me) and I forgot about him for a long time. And now I have learned he is dead.
Some of you no doubt know this already, but I have decided to end my battle to the death with death. I’m entering hospice care and would like to slip into the eternal abyss in the next couple weeks. I reached the point where I simply have no fight left in me. I wish it were not so. But I have a few things to say first.
First, a profound thank you to those of you who turned this blog into a community. It has meant the world to me that it has become not merely a place for me to write, but a place where we shared ideas and values and helped fight the battles for equality, justice and liberty. Thank you all so much. Also to my fellow bloggers here. You have all added to my life immeasurably and I am forever grateful.
I’m also very grateful for an amazing group of friends and family who have gone way above and beyond to support me and love me. And to the doctors, nurses and aides who have taken care of me along the way. But it’s a time like this that makes one evaluate their life and most important beliefs. So, to that task.
I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid to die painfully and with suffering. My hope is that hospice will put me on a morphine or dilaudid drip and knock me out so I don’t feel anything, then I can just slip away. That’s essentially what happened with my dear friend Connie a few years ago. And I hope we can do it at home, as we did with her. I’d rather be with loved ones than in a facility. I’ll stay either with my best friend Rick or my parents.
Regrets? Mostly about the things I’ll never get to do now. I would love to have made Secular Quemanism a reality. Perhaps someone else can run with the idea now in my place (Mike Slomka? Bueller?) I still think it’s a great and important idea. I won’t be able to continue to advocate for humanism as an important philosophy. That sucks. I just have so much more to say and do.
My greatest hope is that after I’m gone the world continues to become more fair, just and equal. What else could we possibly hope for and work for? I urge you all to keep fighting the good fight for those core values. Who should you look to for leadership? I nominate Dale McGowan, the finest example of humanism I know, and Matt Dillahunty. They should be the public face and voice of this movement, not Dawkins or Krauss or Shermer.
Don’t be sad about this, be hopeful. I got to make the decision myself and spare others from that awful task. I did it while still of sound mind, if not body. That means the world to me. I maintained my self-determination until the end.
In closing, let me just say thank you again. You made my life better, richer and more fulfilled and who could ask for more? Goodbye, one and all. I will miss you as I hope you will miss me. Be good to each other along this incredible journey.
P Z Myers, who I was once also a fan of and later came to dislike, paid tribute to Brayton.
Ed Brayton and I had some contentious disagreements back in the day, but we managed to put all that behind us and set up the Freethoughtblogs network with a mutual understanding that we needed something beyond the atheist movement, some kind of organization that would support diversity and social justice and not just tearing down religion. He named the network — we agreed that we didn’t want “atheist” anywhere in our label, even if we were effectively an atheist group, because even then the word was getting tainted — and he and I together made the initial investment in the site. We owe a lot to Ed.
Unfortunately, he’s also suffered from serious health problems over the years, and left the network he built to run a blog on Patheos. This was an amicable decision with zero drama behind the scenes or in front of it — he just decided that he couldn’t cope with the day-to-day chores of management, and just wanted a space where he could write with no pressure.
His health has worsened. He’s been in and out of hospitals for a while. People have been asking me how he’s doing, since his postings have become intermittent, and I don’t know either! Unfortunately, he just posted this to Facebook:
I’m giving up and calling in hospice. I just can’t do this anymore. To those who know me in real life I love you and I’m sorry. I did my best.
He always has done his best, and he will be missed.
If any of you would like to share a few words, write to me and I can send you a link. If you’d rather not make a direct appearance, show up and leave a comment in the chat — I’ll read some of them into the record.
Again, I had disagreements with both of them, but these were minor; I never considered either of them to be as treacherous and dangerous as someone likeThunderf00t, Wahid Azal, or others on my enemies list.
Rest in power, noble warrior for truth and justice. Those skeptics and progressive activists who live after you will continue the fight.
Today, I finally came up with a credible explanation for what happened. The timing of my leaving the mall must have meant that when the family became stranded, their minds became overwhelmed with stress because of the summer heat. They began broadcasting their emotions without realizing it, and my own mind in turn was close enough and sensitive enough to detect their feelings even without being aware of the exact source. Then I drove directly to the source of the broadcasting. It was a case of me having a strong sense of empathy, even without any reference to religion.
My experience wasn’t proof of God’s existence and certainly wasn’t proof that the Baha’i Faith was valid; I would have sensed the family’s need regardless of my religion, or lack thereof at the time.
Having figured that out, atheism now seems more acceptable to me personally than it was before. So I will now call myself atheist.
After receiving several harassing phone calls today from someone trying to get me to pay money for a package to be delivered to me that I didn’t even order, I have finally had ENOUGH of a dating site known as Mingle2!
I made an account there about eight years ago. Here are screenshots of my profile there:
The very first message I got on the site was an introduction to it.
Welcome to Mingle2 – Please read!
PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE MESSAGE. IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Mingle2.com is a free dating site. You can contact as many people as you like for free!
Our goal is to help you find relationships that matter in your life. Every day we work hard to make this happen.
To make the most of your experience here, please follow these simple guidelines.
Be safe. Everything you need to contact people is available on the site. Be suspicious of people that message you and want to talk to you offsite via phone, email or IM in their first contact with you. These people are sometimes scammers who try to convince you to give them money. As a rule, NEVER give anyone you meet on the site money.
Have fun. Start by uploading a good photo of yourself. People who upload a photo get 10X the activity of people without photos.
Invest a little time in your profile. This is your first impression, make it count.
Invite your friends. Dating doesn’t have to be lonely. Invite your friends and make it more fun. Get their advice or check out their friends.
Spend some time in the forums. It’s a great place to meet other people.
Use features like BLOCK USER on people you don’t like. It’s simple and effective
Just have fun. Everyone here is here for the same reason, so just be yourself and have a good time, the rest comes naturally.
INBOX MESSAGING & INSTANT MESSAGING RULES
If you are lewd, rude or crude in email messages to others, this can get you banned permanently. We store complaints and our system will ban you if you accrue too many complaints.
Do not send people unsolicited “sexual” messages or else you will get banned when they report you.
Do not spam or solicit funds from other users (duh!). You will be reported and banned.
Do people obey the rules of this site? Apparently not! I have made contact with a wide variety of women over the years, and it seems EVERY SINGLE ONE was a scammer! In most cases, women who were supposed to be in the Dallas/Fort Worth area would turn out to be in another state, like California, or even an African country! They and I would communicate for several weeks or months and inevitably, if they didn’t lose interest in me, they would demand I send them money or gift cards. After what happened to me in 2018, I would tolerate that crap no more! EIGHT YEARS IS LONG ENOUGH TO BE MADE OF FOOL OF!
A message from four years ago:
For your safety – Please read!
Because we are a free dating site, anyone can sign up – including scammers and other undesirable people. Since our inception, we’ve made user safety a top priority and we’ve built many systems to combat such undesirables. It mostly works and we are making improvements everyday. However, it is impossible to make a full-proof system.
So please be wary of anyone who asks you for money or who says he/she can make you money. Mingle2 is a dating site, not a financial service, right? You can also help us combat the problem by reporting that user.
If someone asks you to visit their “webcam” or go to another site that’s a “webcam” please ignore these scammers and report them to us. We are in no way affiliated with these scammers and work hard on banning them daily.
As always, we hope you enjoy the site and make some valuable relationships.
Sincerely, The Mingle2 Team
I don’t believe them anymore. I now think the website itself is a scam and that most of the accounts there are Mingle2 employees, not real women. I will shut down my account and move on.
Infomercials featuring techniques for “house-flipping” are often shown on TV late at night. I wonder if we should start protesting such crap. For my own view of “censorshit” on YouTube, see:
NOTE: That blog entry is now obsolete; YouTube no longer shuts down questionable videos due to copyright claims so quickly. Here’s hoping they won’t again.
Rebecca bashes another feminist for bullshitting:
Of course, opponents of feminism use such incidents to claim feminism itself is bullshit, so this fact checking is extremely important.
And can we PLEASE have fewer idiots and lunatics running for President of the United States? We already elected one such train wrecker in 2016!
Not to mention her condemnation of former friend Michael Shermer:
It’s no big secret that I absolutely despise Mike Adams, who calls himself the “Health Ranger” and his insane website titled Natural News. I previously dealt with that nutcase on these blog entries.
On October 20, 2018, I gave a talk about 50 minutes long at Westside Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Worth detailing my life and religious and political views and how they evolved over the course of my life. I spent the first half of the discussion merely speaking for myself in general, and the last half answering questions from the audience to focus more on specific topics.
For a short version of that story see:
The title of this blog entry refers to two people that I dearly loved last year. And both of them broke my heart, though not at the same time. But they ARE connected. Both professed to be Unitarian Universalists, like me. And I dealt with them both on Facebook. I will tell their stories through links and screenshots of my Facebook postings about them and those who commented on them. Continue reading →
Here is some advice to a person who has decided for whatever reason that he cannot believe in a god of any kind. This actually includes myself, so I may be biased here. Such a person may be called an atheist, an agnostic, or a secular humanist. For the sake of simplicity, I will lump all of them together under the Humanist label.
Do not assume that because you have rejected theism that most people who accept a theistic religion are stupid. They may indeed have a different spiritual orientation than you. Respect them anyway, just as you would want them to respect you.
One of the worst things you can do to damage your credibility is to only care about the rights and dignity of your fellow non-theists and ignore everyone else. Stand up and defend the rights and dignity of ALL religious people too, including Jews, Muslims, Christians, and others.
Just because you are non-theist does not mean that all other non-theists should be embraced. If a famous non-theist is known to be a racist, have committed acts of sexual abuse, or has committed theft or murder, reject him.
It is true that people of various religions have committed atrocities against outsiders. But so have non-theists who followed an extremist ideology, like Communism. It is DOGMA that kills people, not religion.
In short, don’t be like Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the founder of American Atheists. Or Ayn Rand, the founder of Objectivism. Those two arrogant, bigoted extremists brought disgrace to atheism in America that is still a problem to this day. I wish neither of them had ever existed.
I’ve used this blog to deal with all sorts of ridiculous claims, dogmas and political crap over the past decade or so. Now my attention turns to lunar landing denialists.
According to these lunatics, NASA faked the moon landings as part of a vast conspiracy. Why they would ever claim such a thing is a mystery to me, but I guess some people just take comfort in believing that humans are simply not capable of achieving such feats. They need to grow up.
For the latest manifestation of such insanity, read this story:
While she is hardly perfect (which makes her realistic and thus acceptable to most TV viewers), she seems to embody more than most the Honorable Skepticism I follow.
Her first appearance was in the TV show Beavis and Butthead (B&B). Surprizingly, she didn’t seem to hate the morons as much as others did and they in turn respected her more than one might have expected:
When Daria got her own show a few years later, she blazed a trail for cartoon characters few ever dared to go before, or since.
Yes, I was a lot like Daria when I was her age, except I was a born-again Christian. But otherwise I didn’t tend to follow the crowd, I was very into science, and I wore glasses. Today, I am even more like her, having dropped Christianity for agnosticism.
I heard some years ago they were considering bringing back B&B, with all new episodes. They really should do that with Daria, with her now being depicted as a college student. This video gives an idea of what that would look like:
Here’s another fan video depicting Daria’s possible future:
While B&B were hardly role models for teenage boys, Daria is a great one for teenage girls! We need MILLIONS more girls like her, rejecting the shallowness of modern culture and embracing rational thought.
Inspired by atheist YouTuber Steve Shives, here are five stupid things I have noticed about online scammers.
They use pictures of extremely attractive female models to misrepresent themselves, instead of real photos of their actual selves. A simple search with Google often is enough to expose the fraud.
They often claim that one or both of their parents died tragically, to make you feel more sympathy for them and to simplify their made up backstories. Gee, that’s a lot of orphans out there!
They usually contact men who live in a different state or country from them. If you are really interested in a relationship, why not someone local?
They demand money from their would-be victims even before meeting the target face to face. What hubris!
When their demand for money is refused, they turn hostile. Gee, that’s not likely to get the love you supposedly wanted, eh?
Now this once credible advocate for skepticism has thrown his credibility completely out the window for all to see. All to sell himself out to the forces of conservatism. Damn him!
One of the most powerful appeals of dogmatic God-centered religions like Christianity can be summed up perfectly in this song by Steven Curtis Chapman that was all over Christian radio back when I was a Christian. Even now, it is beautiful to me.
Sometimes His eyes were gentle And filled with laughter, And sometimes they cried; Sometimes there was a fire Of holy anger, In Jesus eyes. But the eyes that saw hope in the hopeless, That saw through the fault to the need, Are the same eyes that look down from heaven Into the deepest part of you and me.
CHORUS His eyes are always upon us; His eyes never close in sleep. And no matter where you go, You will always be in His eyes, in His eyes.
Sometimes His voice comes calling Like rolling thunder, Or like driving rain; And sometimes His voice is quiet, And we start to wonder If He knows our pain. But He who spoke peace to the water Cares more for our hearts than the waves, And the voice that once said “Youre forgiven”, Still says “Youre forgiven” today.
Sometimes I look above me when stars are shining And I feel so small; How could the God of heaven and all creation Know I’m here at all. But then in silence He whispers, “My child, I created you too And youre my most precious creation; I even gave my Son for you.”
CHORUS His eyes are always upon you; His eyes never close in sleep. And no matter where you go, You will always be in His eyes,
No matter where you go, You will always be in His eyes
Sometimes His eyes were gentle And filled with laughter,
Christians often say that we are called to be like God and Jesus, to be as loving towards lesser beings as possible. Meanwhile, when we look at how atheists often present themselves on the internet, we see very little compassion or respect for the downtrodden and broken. Instead, we see bigoted crap like this from the “Amazing Atheist”:
No, you bastard, you know nothing about the topic of triggering….
That video comes from the same sort of atheist who claims that religion itself is a scourge to society. I referred directly to such an atheist fanatic while commenting on a much earlier blog entry:
It wouldn’t matter if all religions behaved like the Society of Friends and the ELCA. It is still based on the premise that believing in things without evidence as a virtue. As long as it starts with that premise – and it always will, because if it didn’t it wouldn’t be religion -, it will always be evil. There’s just no getting around it – promoting irrationality as a virtue is bad for humanity. No matter how much you polish the turd, it will still be a turd.
Both the Unamazing Asshole and the “truthspeaker” can go fuk themselves. Denying something does not disprove it, in both cases. And ignoring the good that religious people often do in the name of their religions is, well…..IGNORANCE!
I will rewrite the song by Steven Curtis Chapman to reflect how I wish white male atheists would conduct themselves, instead of only thinking about themselves.
Sometimes our eyes are gentle And filled with laughter, And sometimes they cry; Sometimes there is a fire Of righteous anger, Deep in our eyes. But the eyes that see hope in the hopeless, That see through the fault to the need, Are the same eyes that look within ourselves To seek the best of what we can be.
Our eyes should always be looking; Our eyes never close in sleep. And no matter where we go, We will always see with open eyes
Sometimes our voice comes calling Like rolling thunder, Or like driving rain; And sometimes our voice is quiet, And they start to wonder If we know their pain. But if we speak peace to the world And care for their hearts anyway Then the voice that once says “You are loved”, Will say “You are loved” every day.
Sometimes we look above us when stars are shining And we feel so small; How can such tiny creatures on this one world Make a difference at all. But then in the silence remember, That we exist in vast numbers too And when we all work as one species There is so much good we can do
Our eyes should always be looking; Our eyes never close in sleep. And no matter where we go, We will always see with open eyes
Could that happen? Perhaps, but we would have to look to these:
Because it is HUMANISM we all need, not just atheism. If the progressive humanists among atheists can defeat and drown out the conservative bigots, and then provide all the charitable and emotional needs of people who need help and comfort, then they will cause the final downfall of dogmatic religion around the world. Let it be so.
Years ago, I discovered a blog which contained some criticism of the Baha’i Faith and I eagerly copied a blog entry from it to support my own case against the Baha’i Faith, only to discover that the author was a hard-core Christian who was not nearly as critical of his own religion as he was of other faiths, a clear sign of dishonesty and bigotry. This was confirmed today when I found the new version of his blog and read its About page. I will post parts from that page here in green and italics and my responses in blue and bold.
A few months ago, in response to a rumor that Ophelia Benson, an atheist and feminist activist, was also a transphobe (a bigot against transgendered people), she was targeted by a massive witch hunt similar to the one on tumblr stirred up against Lacy Green years earlier. As a result, Benson left Freethought Blogs (FTB) in disgust and founded her own personal blog elsewhere, badly damaging the credibility of FTB, so much so that one of its founding members, Ed Brayton, also took down his blog there and moved to another network.
Now Benson has been attacked again, in reference to Richard Dawkins suffering a mild stroke recently. Around the same time, he was disinvited to a skeptics conference and then just as quickly reinvited to it. The battle between them produced the exchange of the following statements between them and one of Dawkins’ fanatical followers. Continue reading →
On the blog Why Evolution is True, we find this entry that seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with evolution, biology, or even science at all. Instead, it is all about hypocrisy in religion:
Imagine being forced to go to work every day and, as part of the job, profess something that you absolutely don’t believe. More than that: at least once a week you have to publicly profess it, and also counsel other people on the explicit premise that you share the beliefs you reject. In other words, you’re forced to live a lie.
No one is forced to do anything like that. The issue is that you have a job that makes you money and enables you to influence others. That sounds like a strong motivation to keep doing it, but there are alternatives.
Why do these preachers stay in the faith and on the job? Three reasons, mostly. One is financial: what else could they do with their training if they left the ministry? Often they have neither equity (living in church-owned houses) nor pensions.
Another, and perhaps more important, reason is that an admission of unbelief would shock and disappoint their friends and family. This is a very powerful motive, for facing the truth would rip asunder your network of social and family support.
Where is the unconditional love that Christians are supposed to have for people? And wouldn’t being open and honest about unbelief be just as likely to cause others to defect as well?
Finally, many of these preachers like their work, especially the part of the job that involves helping troubled people……..There’s absolutely no doubt that faith, and religious institutions, have provided important help for those in need or in trouble. Some religions do this more than others.
There is no reason why they cannot do work like counseling or doing charity work, even if they are atheists.
But isn’t it a shame that there aren’t secular communities where those with altruistic instincts can “minister” without hypocrisy or fear?
That last remark irritates me. The UUA may not be “secular”, but it provides exactly the sort of framework needed by those former Christian ministers. And then there are these many groups:
I guess it was only a matter of time before that degenerate fraud calling himself the “Health Ranger”, Mike Adams, would jump on the ebola bandwagon to continue to promote the delusional views he professes about the health care professions. For a background of why I despise that man, look at these earlier entries on my blog:
Dinesh D’Souza was just convicted of a crime and he is also a conservative and Christian bigot and a supposed leader of skepticism is DEFENDING him by calling him honest and fair?! What next, Michael Shermer claiming the Earth is really flat and at the center of the universe?! D’Souza’s lawyer can defend him, so he does not need Shermer. And Shermer did not need to do this and make himself look like a backstabber of most of his fellow skeptics, including ME!!!
Once again, I find myself dealing with the tiresome issue of the competing definitions of Atheism. See my previous blog entries on this subject for references:
Now I learn that Aron-Ra, a fellow Texan and activist against promoting Creationist bigotry and lies in public schools, has not only accepted the “contemporary” definition of atheism, he asserts that the “classical” definition of it was a lie all along! Really??? Continue reading →
Jen McCreight, author of the blog Blag Hag, now finds herself having to confront the ugly issue of racism among her fellow atheists after she and other women dealt so much and for so long with sexism among them. I will provide links to her blog entries in question along with excerpts from them.
My favorite thing to wake up to in the morning is white straight cis men insisting they get to decide who your allies are and that you should not ever get angry, but rather calmly explain basic topics to hostile questions from every person that wanders across your path as if it were your personal duty on this earth.Continue reading →
Dale Husband's Intellectual Rants 