Atheisms

"I'm wondering why you didn't mention non-religious people in your speech yesterday, number one, and also what you meant by 'freedom requires religion'?" asked a reporter.

An important point--but Romney deflected. "I'm paraphrasing something that's been said both by John Adams and George Washington," he said. "Which is that, in their view, for a nation like ours to be great and to thrive... that our Constitution was written for a people of faith and religion. It's a very extraordinary element and foundation for our nation. I believe that's the case."

Unsatisfied, another reporter pounced. "Do you think an atheist or non-believer or non-spiritual person can't therefore be a free person?" he asked.

"Of course not," Romney responded. "That's not what I said."

"But you said 'freedom requires religion'?"

"I'm talking about the nation," Romney snapped.

- Newsweek

Lots of people tell me that religion isn't the crazy thing I make it out to be ... that the vast majority of people in the world don't take religion as seriously as the few militants out there, and that I get worked up for nothing. So, here's a little sampler of what it was like to be an atheist recently. Almost all these news stories were from the past week (click for full size):

Lest you think this is all from the Middle East, here are the some of the articles referred to:

• Ayaan Hirsi Ali discusses her life under a fatwa (Netherlands)
• Clinton, Democrats court evangelicals (USA)
• 14-year-old boy refuses transfusion on religious grounds, faith taught him it would make him "unclean." Dies soon after (Seattle)
• Creationism museum proves to be incredibly popular (Kentucky)
• Pope attacks atheists as "cruel" and "unjust" in his message of hope (Europe)
• Survey: Religion vital to voters (USA)
• Mormons and Catholics demand boycotts of "atheist" movie "The Golden Compass" (USA)
• The Economist writes of "The New Wars of Religion - Faith Will Unsettle Politics Everywhere this Century" (USA)

Dinesh D'Souza, a Fellow at Stanford University, has a recent post on AOL News entitled "Where is Atheism When Bad Things Happen?"

He tells us, "to no one's surprise, [Richard] Dawkins has not been invited to speak to the grieving Virginia Tech community. What this tells me is that if it's difficult to know where God is when bad things happen, it is even more difficult for atheism to deal with the problem of evil."

You're 1% right: I'm not surprised that Richard Dawkins wasn't invited to speak to the VA Tech community ... because he's a (1) biologist, not a psychologist, who (2) lives in England, and (3) has too much class to try to use a tragedy like this for political gain (something that Mr. D'Souza obviously isn't above).

From the post:

Notice something interesting about the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings? Atheists are nowhere to be found. Every time there is a public gathering there is talk of God and divine mercy and spiritual healing. Even secular people like the poet Nikki Giovanni use language that is heavily drenched with religious symbolism and meaning.

I do wonder how he knows that "atheists are nowhere to be found," as statistically, one in ten people in those crowds will be an atheist.

I had planned to say more, but people like D'Souza, who take a four-day-old tragedy like these shootings and tries to use it to show that atheists are somehow completely immoral, just disgust me. How he can possibly be a Fellow at Stanford boggles my mind.

An atheist recorded a conversation he had with his mother, when he told her he no longer believed in God. Her response? "Then you are getting NOTHING for Christmas!"

I love the idea that you can change a philosophical stance with bribes of presents.

Listen here.

The NY Times has an article that covers the excavations of the Red Sea. Egypt's Chief Archaeologist, Dr. Zahi Hawass, led reporters through the area on the eve of Passover. Asked if the Biblical account of Exodus was accurate, Hawass responded, "Really, it's a myth ... if [religious believers] get upset, I don't care. This is my career as an archaeologist. I should tell them the truth. If the people are upset, that's not my problem. Sometimes as archaeologists we have to say that never happened because there is no historical evidence."

(Click here to read more)

In a Newsweek interview with evangelist Rick Warren:

Warren: One of the great evidences of God is answered prayer. I have a friend, a Canadian friend, who has an immigration issue. He's an intern at this church, and so I said, "God, I need you to help me with this," as I went out for my evening walk. As I was walking I met a woman. She said, "I'm an immigration attorney; I'd be happy to take this case." Now, if that happened once in my life I'd say, "That is a coincidence." If it happened tens of thousands of times, that is not a coincidence.

Interviewer: There must have been times in your ministry when you've prayed for someone to be delivered from disease who is not—say, a little girl with cancer.

Warren: Oh, absolutely.

Interviewer: So, parse that. God gave you an immigration attorney, but God killed a little girl.

For those of you who don't follow video game news, Jack Thompson is a Florida lawyer who gets his jollies by suing video game companies in an attempt to keep their violent, society-destroying products off the shelves. Regardless of the fact that the vast majority of people who play video games do not go out and pillage, murder, and steal, he seems hell-bent on taking down the entire industry.

Recently, Thompson threatened to sue Take Two Interactive to keep two of their new releases out of the stores. This time, Take Two decided to swat the fly, and filed their own preemptive suit alleging that Jack Thompson has violated nuisance laws. Thompson responded to Ars Technica:

Dear Gamers and Gamer Publications on the Internet and Elsewhere:

I have been praying, literally, that Take-Two and its lawyers would do something so stupid, so arrogant, so dumb, even dumber than what they have to date done, that such a misstep would enable me to destroy Take-Two. With the filing of this SLAPP lawsuit last week, my prayers are finally answered.

This lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is, without a doubt, the single dumbest thing I have ever seen any lawyers do in my thirty years of practicing law--while in continuous good standing to do so with The Florida Bar, I might add, the shock radio and video game industry's efforts notwithstanding.

I encourage folks to read Psalm 35, a Psalm of David, which is brilliant in its entirety (since God Himself wrote it), but for those who don't own a Bible or who think their hands will catch on fire if they touch one, here is the salient portion that applies to this lawsuit:

7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit,
which without cause they have digged for my soul.

8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares;
and let his net that he hath hid catch himself:
into that very destruction let him fall.

9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD:
it shall rejoice in his salvation.

The pit Take-Two has dug for itself will be patently clear next week when I strike back. Oh, and by the way, the entire Take-Two management and board will be gone on March 23, so this pit-digging comes at a very bad time indeed.

Amen, and Praise be to God Almighty, maker of Heaven, Earth, and yes, the maker even video games. [sic] Jack Thompson

Didn't know Thompson was a Bible-thumper ... not surprised. Probably would have known if I had paid more attention to him, but in all honesty, I don't care that much :) Just goes to show how anyone can quote scripture for their purpose. It's easy when the book can be used to justify anything.

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good ... They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
- Psalm 14

Reposted from the Secular Coalition for America:

On Monday, March 12, the Secular Coalition for America will make history by announcing the name of the first openly nontheistic member of Congress.

Elected officials who do not hold a god-belief are a rarity and only a few nontheist politicians have been open about their beliefs. Perhaps the best-known was Robert G. Ingersoll, called the Great Agnostic. He was a famous orator and gave the nomination speech at the 1884 Republican Presidential Convention for James G. Blaine. Influential Illinois Republicans wanted Ingersoll to run for Governor, but on the condition that he conceal his agnosticism. Ingersoll refused, and he never held elected office.

As put forward in law by the U.S. Constitution, "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." However, in practice politicians are compelled to expound on their religiosity, forcing nontheists to keep quiet about their beliefs or opt out of pursuing public office.

With next Monday's historic announcement, the Secular Coalition for America hopes additional elected officials will self-identify as nontheists and establish that a god-belief is not a necessary prerequisite for public service.

According to some recent studies, the United States is becoming less religious and more humanist. The trends in America seem to be paralleling those that Europe saw 30 to 40 years ago; today, in only once European country (Italy) do a majority of the people believe in God. In all the rest the nonbelievers are in the majority.

The religious are still in the majority in America, with 73% declaring a belief in "any kind of god or supreme being." Compare that to France, where 73% of people are atheists (Viva la France!). Even in the US, 20% of people 18-25 declared themselves to be atheists or agnostics, nearly double the number from 1986 (11%).

Other results of the studies include:

• One-in-five members of "Generation Next" say they have no religious affiliation or are atheist or agnostic, nearly double the proportion of young people who said that in the late 1980s.
• Nexters are among the least likely to attend church regularly: 32 percent attend at least once a week compared with 40 percent of those over age 25.
• Nearly two-thirds of Nexters (63 percent) believe humans and other living things evolved over time. By contrast, Americans over the age of 40 favor Creationist accounts over evolutionary theory.
• Nexters are the most tolerant of any generation on social issues such as immigration, race and homosexuality.
• Nexters are among the most likely to say the will of the American people, not the Bible, should be a more important influence on U.S. laws.
• And just 4 percent of Gen Nexters say people in their generation view becoming more spiritual as their most important goal in life.

An analysis of studies done previously seems to indicate that secularism in society does not come about as a result of people changing their beliefs: rather, it seems that new generations grow up less religious, and as they age they change the overall attitudes of the society.

Atheists like the Richard Dawkins of this world are just as fundamentalist as the people setting off bombs on the tube, the hardline settlers on the West Bank and the anti-gay bigots of the Church of England.

- Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark

Really, Mr. Slee? Richard Dawkins, preeminent biologist, is a fundamentalist because he's studied evolution and science, taken it to its logical conclusion, and then told other people about it?

Dawkins does have some strong beliefs. But here's the big difference between Dawkins and a fundamentalist of any kind: prove Dawkins wrong, and he'll change his views. Guaranteed. A fundamentalist won't, because a fundamentalist can redefine truth more effectively than even Big Brother.

I suppose Dawkins is a fundamentalist in the same sense that most people are "fundamentalist" in their belief that the Earth is round, or that gravity keeps us tethered to it. If we're going to marginalize the term fundamentalist that much, then no one who believes a fact can escape the moniker.

The fundamentalists you cited, Mr. Slee, blow up trains. Richard Dawkins writes books. The fundamentalists you cited turn to violence and hatred. Dawkins turns to reason and book tours.

You will never see Richard Dawkins, assault rifle in hand, dancing in the streets if some kid blew himself up and took Dawkins' enemies with him. I guarantee he'd condemn the use of violence, even in the name of his "religion," reason.

There's where you completely misunderstand Richard Dawkins.