It's been a long time since I've posted anything to the blog, but I thought this video from The Thinking Atheist was definitely a worthwhile reason to fire up the computer and get back on.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Monday, October 3, 2011
A True Bible Beater
And also a bauble beater, because the fight erupted once she suspected the girlfriend of breaking the seventh commandment—"thou shall not steal my boyfriend's mother's jewelry." The Northwest Florida Daily News reports that she used the Bible to smite the girlfriend in the eye, causing a bleeding wound. The son, who witnessed the conflict, seemingly did nothing to stop it. Perhaps he was being attacked by locusts and got distracted.
The Bible seems to address situations like these in Exodus 21:26, which says: "If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake." Because the girlfriend's eye was only injured and not destroyed, she should still be on the hook for the missing jewelry.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Atheist Humor Part 7
The website atheistcartoons.com is chock full of terrific cartoon commentary about the incongruities, absurdities, and just plain silliness related to religion in America and abroad. I enjoy scrolling through the site and have purloined some of my favorites for use on the blog. If you need a good laugh, check out the atheistcartoons.com website. The cartoonist also has some animated cartoons on there that are pretty funny.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
If It's Tax-Free, It's For Me!
This is a very interesting little article from the Freedom From Religion Foundation and makes me wonder just how much money in taxes our local, state and federal governments (not to mention non-exempt taxpayers) are getting cheated out of by these bastions of morality. I think some in-depth investigation might expose this as a bigger problem than many people would like to believe.
Billboard scrutiny leads tax man to Ohio church - Freedom From Religion Foundation - FFRF.org
Billboard scrutiny leads tax man to Ohio church - Freedom From Religion Foundation - FFRF.org
I had planned to also post a link to an article from a Christian site about this same issue--('Atheists forced to take down billboard' is the tagline)--as a bit of counterpoint to the above story, but every time I opened the damn page, my computer would freeze up. Could it be a bit of divine intervention, perhaps?? LOL
 |
| Borrowed from atheistcartoons.com |
Quote of the Day:
"It has even been said that the greatest praise of God lies in the negation of the atheist, who considers creation sufficiently perfect to dispense with a creator."
--Marcel Proust
Saturday, June 4, 2011
After the Rapture
OK....I know it's been a really long time since I've updated my blog, but life has a way of getting in the way of other things sometimes. As a matter of fact, for many devoted Christians, life apparently got in the way of the afterlife...or rapture, at any rate.
I just came across this video from The Thinking Atheist and had to share it, as it is definitely one of his best. Enjoy!!
Quote of the Day:
"Immortality is a belief grounded upon other men's sayings, that they knew it supernaturally; or that they knew those who knew them that knew others that knew it supernaturally."
--Thomas Hobbes
I just came across this video from The Thinking Atheist and had to share it, as it is definitely one of his best. Enjoy!!
Quote of the Day:
"Immortality is a belief grounded upon other men's sayings, that they knew it supernaturally; or that they knew those who knew them that knew others that knew it supernaturally."
--Thomas Hobbes
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Will Science Be the Big Loser in New Congressional Budget Cuts?
Nature News online recently published an article on the possible effects on science and research-based funding of a Republican-led House of Representatives entitled "US Science Faces Big Chill." Despite some bright spots (i.e. increasing funding for the National Science Foundation), it looks as though science and technology researchers and agencies in general will be fighting an uphill and potentially losing battle against House committees and sub-committees chaired by skeptical fundamentalists who are unwilling to fund research that could, or already does, fly in the face of their religious beliefs.
Of course, as the article points out, this is not completely new. What would be new and more valuable, in this godless heathen's humble opinion, is if Congress would cut out funding to "Faith-based initiatives" first, and start taxing churches and other religious organizations, just like other businesses next, rather than reducing funding for useful, real-world improving, scientific research.
To view the original article, click the link here.
Of course, as the article points out, this is not completely new. What would be new and more valuable, in this godless heathen's humble opinion, is if Congress would cut out funding to "Faith-based initiatives" first, and start taxing churches and other religious organizations, just like other businesses next, rather than reducing funding for useful, real-world improving, scientific research.
To view the original article, click the link here.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Top 10 Evolution Stories of 2010
To read the complete article, click on the link below.
NCSE's Top 10 Evolution Stories of 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The Center of All Things--The Thinking Atheist
The Thinking Atheist recently posted this video as a tribute to Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot. I find it an appropriate and timely remembrance of the late Dr. Sagan (he died Dec. 20, 1996), and so I thought I'd repost the video here. Enjoy!
Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day
The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable.
If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.
--Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot
Monday, November 29, 2010
Top 10 Daily Consequences of Having Evolved
I thought this article was well-written and informative; full of lots of fascinating information, some I knew and some I didn't.
Natural selection acts by winnowing the individuals of each generation, sometimes clumsily, as old parts and genes are co-opted for new roles. As a result, all species inhabit bodies imperfect for the lives they live. Our own bodies are worse off than most simply because of the many differences between the wilderness in which we evolved and the modern world in which we live. We feel the consequences every day. Here are ten.
1. Our cells are weird chimeras
Perhaps a billion years ago, a single-celled organism arose that would ultimately give rise to all of the plants and animals on Earth, including us. This ancestor was the result of a merging: one cell swallowed, imperfectly, another cell. The predator provided the outsides, the nucleus and most of the rest of the chimera. The prey became the mitochondrion, the cellular organ that produces energy. Most of the time, this ancient symbiosis proceeds amicably. But every so often, our mitochondria and their surrounding cells fight. The result is diseases, such as mitochondrial myopathies (a range of muscle diseases) or Leigh’s disease (which affects the central nervous system).
2. Hiccups
The first air-breathing fish and amphibians extracted oxygen using gills when in the water and primitive lungs when on land—and to do so, they had to be able to close the glottis, or entryway to the lungs, when underwater. Importantly, the entryway (or glottis) to the lungs could be closed. When underwater, the animals pushed water past their gills while simultaneously pushing the glottis down. We descendants of these animals were left with vestiges of their history, including the hiccup. In hiccupping, we use ancient muscles to quickly close the glottis while sucking in (albeit air, not water). Hiccups no longer serve a function, but they persist without causing us harm—aside from frustration and occasional embarrassment. One of the reasons it is so difficult to stop hiccupping is that the entire process is controlled by a part of our brain that evolved long before consciousness, and so try as you might, you cannot think hiccups away.
3. Backaches
The backs of vertebrates evolved as a kind of horizontal pole under which guts were slung. It was arched in the way a bridge might be arched, to support weight. Then, for reasons anthropologists debate long into the night, our hominid ancestors stood upright, which was the bodily equivalent of tipping a bridge on end. Standing on hind legs offered advantages—seeing long distances, for one, or freeing the hands to do other things—but it also turned our backs from an arched bridge to an S shape. The letter S, for all its beauty, is not meant to support weight and so our backs fail, consistently and painfully.
4. Unsupported intestines
Once we stood upright, our intestines hung down instead of being cradled by our stomach muscles. In this new position, our innards were not as well supported as they had been in our quadrupedal ancestors. The guts sat atop a hodgepodge of internal parts, including, in men, the cavities in the body wall through which the scrotum and its nerves descend during the first year of life. Every so often, our intestines find their way through these holes—in the way that noodles sneak out of a sieve—forming an inguinal hernia.
5. Choking
In most animals, the trachea (the passage for air) and the esophagus (the passage for food) are oriented such that the esophagus is below the trachea. In a cat's throat, for example, the two tubes run roughly horizontal and parallel to each other before heading on to the stomach and lung, respectively. In this configuration, gravity tends to push food down toward the lower esophagus. Not so in humans. Modifications of the trachea to allow speech pushed the trachea and esophagus further down the throat to make way. Simultaneously, our upright posture put the trachea and esophagus in a near-vertical orientation. Together these changes leave falling food or water about a 50-50 chance of falling in the “wrong tube.” As a consequence, in those moments in which the epiglottis does not have time to cover the trachea, we choke. We might be said to choke on our success. Monkeys suffer the same fate only rarely, but then again they can’t sing or dance. Then again, neither can I.
6. We're awfully cold in winter
Fur is a warm hug on a cold day, useful and nearly ubiquitous among mammals. But we and a few other species, such as naked mole rats, lost it when we lived in tropical environments. Debate remains as to why this happened, but the most plausible explanation is that when modern humans began to live in larger groups, our hair filled with more and more ticks and lice. Individuals with less hair were perhaps less likely to get parasite-borne diseases. Being hairless in Africa was not so bad, but once we moved into Arctic lands, it had real drawbacks. Evolution has no foresight, no sense of where its work will go.
7. Goosebumps don't really help
When our ancestors were covered in fur, muscles in their skin called “arrector pili” contracted when they were upset or cold, making their fur stand on end. When an angry or frightened dog barks at you, these are the muscles that raise its bristling hair. The same muscles puff up the feathers of birds and the fur of mammals on cold days to help keep them warm. Although we no longer have fur, we still have fur muscles just beneath our skin. They flex each time we are scared by a bristling dog or chilled by a wind, and in doing so give us goose bumps that make our thin hair stand uselessly on end.
8. Our brains squeeze our teeth
A genetic mutation in our recent ancestors caused their descendants to have roomy skulls that accommodated larger brains. This may seem like pure success—brilliance, or its antecedent anyway. But the gene that made way for a larger brain did so by diverting bone away from our jaws, which caused them to become thinner and smaller. With smaller jaws, we could not eat tough food as easily as our thicker-jawed ancestors, but we could think our way out of that problem with the use of fire and stone tools. Yet because our teeth are roughly the same size as they have long been, our shrinking jaws don’t leave enough room for them in our mouths. Our wisdom teeth need to be pulled because our brains are too big.
9. Obesity
Many of the ways in which our bodies fail have to do with very recent changes, changes in how we use our bodies and structure our societies. Hunger evolved as a trigger to drive us to search out food. Our taste buds evolved to encourage us to choose foods that benefited our bodies (such as sugar, salt and fat) and avoid those that might be poisonous. In much of the modern world, we have more food than we require, but our hunger and cravings continue. They are a bodily GPS unit that insists on taking us where we no longer need to go. Our taste buds ask for more sugar, salt and fat, and we obey.
10 to 100. The list goes on.
I have not even mentioned male nipples. I have said nothing of the blind spot in our eyes. Nor of the muscles some of use to wiggle our ears. We are full of the accumulated baggage of our idiosyncratic histories. The body is built on an old form, out of parts that once did very different things. So take a moment to pause and sit on your coccyx, the bone that was once a tail. Roll your ankles, each of which once connected a front leg to a paw. Revel not in who you are but who you were. It is, after all, amazing what evolution has made out of bits and pieces. Nor are we in any way alone or unique. Each plant, animal and fungus carries its own consequences of life's improvisational genius. So, long live the chimeras. In the meantime, if you will excuse me, I am going to rest my back.
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Top-Ten-Daily-Consequences-of-Having-Evolved.html#ixzz16i743yAy
The Top Ten Daily Consequences of Having Evolved
By Rob Dunn
By Rob Dunn
Smithsonian.com, November 19, 2010
Natural selection acts by winnowing the individuals of each generation, sometimes clumsily, as old parts and genes are co-opted for new roles. As a result, all species inhabit bodies imperfect for the lives they live. Our own bodies are worse off than most simply because of the many differences between the wilderness in which we evolved and the modern world in which we live. We feel the consequences every day. Here are ten.
1. Our cells are weird chimeras
Perhaps a billion years ago, a single-celled organism arose that would ultimately give rise to all of the plants and animals on Earth, including us. This ancestor was the result of a merging: one cell swallowed, imperfectly, another cell. The predator provided the outsides, the nucleus and most of the rest of the chimera. The prey became the mitochondrion, the cellular organ that produces energy. Most of the time, this ancient symbiosis proceeds amicably. But every so often, our mitochondria and their surrounding cells fight. The result is diseases, such as mitochondrial myopathies (a range of muscle diseases) or Leigh’s disease (which affects the central nervous system).
2. Hiccups
The first air-breathing fish and amphibians extracted oxygen using gills when in the water and primitive lungs when on land—and to do so, they had to be able to close the glottis, or entryway to the lungs, when underwater. Importantly, the entryway (or glottis) to the lungs could be closed. When underwater, the animals pushed water past their gills while simultaneously pushing the glottis down. We descendants of these animals were left with vestiges of their history, including the hiccup. In hiccupping, we use ancient muscles to quickly close the glottis while sucking in (albeit air, not water). Hiccups no longer serve a function, but they persist without causing us harm—aside from frustration and occasional embarrassment. One of the reasons it is so difficult to stop hiccupping is that the entire process is controlled by a part of our brain that evolved long before consciousness, and so try as you might, you cannot think hiccups away.
3. Backaches
The backs of vertebrates evolved as a kind of horizontal pole under which guts were slung. It was arched in the way a bridge might be arched, to support weight. Then, for reasons anthropologists debate long into the night, our hominid ancestors stood upright, which was the bodily equivalent of tipping a bridge on end. Standing on hind legs offered advantages—seeing long distances, for one, or freeing the hands to do other things—but it also turned our backs from an arched bridge to an S shape. The letter S, for all its beauty, is not meant to support weight and so our backs fail, consistently and painfully.
4. Unsupported intestines
Once we stood upright, our intestines hung down instead of being cradled by our stomach muscles. In this new position, our innards were not as well supported as they had been in our quadrupedal ancestors. The guts sat atop a hodgepodge of internal parts, including, in men, the cavities in the body wall through which the scrotum and its nerves descend during the first year of life. Every so often, our intestines find their way through these holes—in the way that noodles sneak out of a sieve—forming an inguinal hernia.
5. Choking
In most animals, the trachea (the passage for air) and the esophagus (the passage for food) are oriented such that the esophagus is below the trachea. In a cat's throat, for example, the two tubes run roughly horizontal and parallel to each other before heading on to the stomach and lung, respectively. In this configuration, gravity tends to push food down toward the lower esophagus. Not so in humans. Modifications of the trachea to allow speech pushed the trachea and esophagus further down the throat to make way. Simultaneously, our upright posture put the trachea and esophagus in a near-vertical orientation. Together these changes leave falling food or water about a 50-50 chance of falling in the “wrong tube.” As a consequence, in those moments in which the epiglottis does not have time to cover the trachea, we choke. We might be said to choke on our success. Monkeys suffer the same fate only rarely, but then again they can’t sing or dance. Then again, neither can I.
6. We're awfully cold in winter
Fur is a warm hug on a cold day, useful and nearly ubiquitous among mammals. But we and a few other species, such as naked mole rats, lost it when we lived in tropical environments. Debate remains as to why this happened, but the most plausible explanation is that when modern humans began to live in larger groups, our hair filled with more and more ticks and lice. Individuals with less hair were perhaps less likely to get parasite-borne diseases. Being hairless in Africa was not so bad, but once we moved into Arctic lands, it had real drawbacks. Evolution has no foresight, no sense of where its work will go.
7. Goosebumps don't really help
When our ancestors were covered in fur, muscles in their skin called “arrector pili” contracted when they were upset or cold, making their fur stand on end. When an angry or frightened dog barks at you, these are the muscles that raise its bristling hair. The same muscles puff up the feathers of birds and the fur of mammals on cold days to help keep them warm. Although we no longer have fur, we still have fur muscles just beneath our skin. They flex each time we are scared by a bristling dog or chilled by a wind, and in doing so give us goose bumps that make our thin hair stand uselessly on end.
8. Our brains squeeze our teeth
A genetic mutation in our recent ancestors caused their descendants to have roomy skulls that accommodated larger brains. This may seem like pure success—brilliance, or its antecedent anyway. But the gene that made way for a larger brain did so by diverting bone away from our jaws, which caused them to become thinner and smaller. With smaller jaws, we could not eat tough food as easily as our thicker-jawed ancestors, but we could think our way out of that problem with the use of fire and stone tools. Yet because our teeth are roughly the same size as they have long been, our shrinking jaws don’t leave enough room for them in our mouths. Our wisdom teeth need to be pulled because our brains are too big.
9. Obesity
Many of the ways in which our bodies fail have to do with very recent changes, changes in how we use our bodies and structure our societies. Hunger evolved as a trigger to drive us to search out food. Our taste buds evolved to encourage us to choose foods that benefited our bodies (such as sugar, salt and fat) and avoid those that might be poisonous. In much of the modern world, we have more food than we require, but our hunger and cravings continue. They are a bodily GPS unit that insists on taking us where we no longer need to go. Our taste buds ask for more sugar, salt and fat, and we obey.
10 to 100. The list goes on.
I have not even mentioned male nipples. I have said nothing of the blind spot in our eyes. Nor of the muscles some of use to wiggle our ears. We are full of the accumulated baggage of our idiosyncratic histories. The body is built on an old form, out of parts that once did very different things. So take a moment to pause and sit on your coccyx, the bone that was once a tail. Roll your ankles, each of which once connected a front leg to a paw. Revel not in who you are but who you were. It is, after all, amazing what evolution has made out of bits and pieces. Nor are we in any way alone or unique. Each plant, animal and fungus carries its own consequences of life's improvisational genius. So, long live the chimeras. In the meantime, if you will excuse me, I am going to rest my back.
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Top-Ten-Daily-Consequences-of-Having-Evolved.html#ixzz16i743yAy
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Sam Harris Interviewed on MSNBC's 'The Last Word' with Lawrence O'Donnell
This is a really good interview with Sam Harris about Islam.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Science Saved My Soul
I was reading through the posts this evening from RichardDawkins.net and came upon this video from philhellenes. He puts out some brilliant and thought-provoking videos and this one is no exception. Enjoy!!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Chilean miners rescued & 3 rival churches claim the credit - Los Angeles atheism | Examiner.com
Like most people who are aware of this story, I, too, am very glad to see these miners rescued from such a horrible circumstance. It took a great deal of human ingenuity to devise the means of their rescue, and provide them with the nutritional and medical support necessary to keep them alive. It also took a great deal of patience on the part of both the miners and the equipment operators to bring the mission to completion.
What I find absolutely baffling though, (as this article rightly points out), is how, given all of this very human support, these miners, their families, and so many of the interested observers around the world, STILL want to claim this rescue mission as a victory for God. Of course, the 3 clowns claiming victory for their personal version of the Almighty, never once placed blame for the initial catastrophe at deity's door (or the loss of so many other miners' lives at any given time), so why give him the credit for saving these men? I guess I will never truly understand the religious mindset in this respect.
Read the full article below:
Chilean miners rescued & 3 rival churches claim the credit - Los Angeles atheism Examiner.com
What I find absolutely baffling though, (as this article rightly points out), is how, given all of this very human support, these miners, their families, and so many of the interested observers around the world, STILL want to claim this rescue mission as a victory for God. Of course, the 3 clowns claiming victory for their personal version of the Almighty, never once placed blame for the initial catastrophe at deity's door (or the loss of so many other miners' lives at any given time), so why give him the credit for saving these men? I guess I will never truly understand the religious mindset in this respect.
Read the full article below:
Chilean miners rescued & 3 rival churches claim the credit - Los Angeles atheism Examiner.com
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Our Bloodthirsty Bible: by The Thinking Atheist
I decided to check out The Thinking Atheist's YouTube channel this afternoon, and happened upon two new videos: Our Bloodthirsty Bible--The Bald Avenger & Hands Off. Like most of his other videos, these take a humorous satirical shot at the Christian religion and in this case, its holy book. I actually learned a few new things too.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
It's All About Me
I just concluded a casual stroll through my Facebook page, checking out the various goings-on with several friends. Given that it is Sunday, naturally, some of my theistic friends have little 'God is Great' cheers posted for status updates today. That is their choice, of course, and I have the option of glancing at them and then scrolling on past.
A few moments ago, however, one caught my eye that aroused in me an involuntary, intellectual & emotional recoil. This was the post:
"So-and-so loves it when God gives me such personal gifts." (emphasis mine)
She then goes on to talk about running into a former roommate in a deli and spending the afternoon together catching up.
So let me get this straight.....running into an old roommate is a "personal gift" from God? And this friend is so wonderful in God's eyes that she deserves such a "personal gift" more than say, a child in a third world country, who needs food, shelter, clothing, medicine, a family, etc, etc, etc....? Or more than a mother of 3 young children needs a cure for breast cancer? Or any number of actual "gifts" which would make life not just a little nicer for someone, but might make the difference between life and death, suffering or relief.
The sheer arrogance of that statement just floors me! It also leaves me wondering if this friend, and the many other believers like her, would be as quick to attribute such personal attention from the Almighty when some inconvenience or greater tragedy strikes. Somehow, I think not.
A few moments ago, however, one caught my eye that aroused in me an involuntary, intellectual & emotional recoil. This was the post:
"So-and-so loves it when God gives me such personal gifts." (emphasis mine)
She then goes on to talk about running into a former roommate in a deli and spending the afternoon together catching up.
So let me get this straight.....running into an old roommate is a "personal gift" from God? And this friend is so wonderful in God's eyes that she deserves such a "personal gift" more than say, a child in a third world country, who needs food, shelter, clothing, medicine, a family, etc, etc, etc....? Or more than a mother of 3 young children needs a cure for breast cancer? Or any number of actual "gifts" which would make life not just a little nicer for someone, but might make the difference between life and death, suffering or relief.
The sheer arrogance of that statement just floors me! It also leaves me wondering if this friend, and the many other believers like her, would be as quick to attribute such personal attention from the Almighty when some inconvenience or greater tragedy strikes. Somehow, I think not.
Friday, October 1, 2010
The Sound of Science
This is a really cute song done to the tune of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence".
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Atheists/Agnostics Know More About Bible Than Believers
I think the headline here should come as no surprise to many non-believers. After all, a great number of us come to atheism/agnosticism through our study of religion and the Bible. It's just nice to see actual data on a phenomenon that has always been something of an intuitive certainty.
Click on the link below to see the brief NPR article discussing the results of the Pew survey.
Quote of the Day:
"It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to infidelity."
--Abraham Lincoln
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Richard Dawkins Speaks at the "Protest the Pope" Rally in London
I don't think the 'Protest the Pope' rally in London got much exposure here in the States, so I thought I'd post the brilliant speech of Britain's "most famous atheist" given at the rally. In it, Dawkins addresses the charges made by the Pope that atheists are responsible for 20th century villains such as Hitler, and levels a few in return at Ratzinger and the RCC as well.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
To Offend or Not to Offend, That is the Question
I wish I would have had my camera with me this morning on the way to work. There is a fundamentalist church (whose signs I have posted photos of before) boasting this little nugget of wisdom on their marquee:
"The purpose of the Christian life is to fulfill the Master's will."
If I'm not mistaken, that was also the purpose of the slave's life.
As if I didn't already have a pretty good understanding of how slavery was justified by the majority of Southern Christians prior to and during the Civil War, and how obedience was sold to the slaves through the medium of religion, that sentence alone really hammered the point home.
I find this mindset both obnoxious and frightening. The master/slave dichotomy has no place in a free, secular society.
Now, I have to sheepishly admit, I found the idea of Aslan being the mascot rather appealing. I mean, yes, Narnia was nothing but a big old Christian metaphor, with Aslan filling the role of God, but if I was going to create a deity or mascot, what better one than a big, regal, rideable, child-loving lion? Of course, as I explained in my reply, I didn't think Aslan was the reason for the lion mascot.
As to the Lion of Judah, I also have to confess that that particular metaphor did not cross my mind at all as I was sitting at that light. I was more focused on the idea of lions in the book of Daniel, or the lions of Rome to whom many Christians were more-or-less sacrificed for sport. It was with this in mind that I dashed off what I thought was a witty, if a bit snarky, comment. After all, who would want a Christian-eating lion as the mascot of a Christian school, right?
"The purpose of the Christian life is to fulfill the Master's will."
If I'm not mistaken, that was also the purpose of the slave's life.
I find this mindset both obnoxious and frightening. The master/slave dichotomy has no place in a free, secular society.
******************************************
On the way home from work, I had a different type of experience. While waiting through 2 cycles of a stoplight, I quickly updated my facebook status with a flippant comment about a bumper sticker I saw on the car in front of me. It was a sticker for a local Christian school in town, whose mascot is a lion. My smart-ass remark went something like this:
"Anyone else find it ironic that a Xtian school has a lion for a mascot? Apparently someone did not think that through completely."
Later on, I found that I had apparently offended a couple of my Christian friends. Punctuated with exclamation points and question marks, one friend replied "Lion of Judah!!??!?" and another with "Aslan?"
Now, I have to sheepishly admit, I found the idea of Aslan being the mascot rather appealing. I mean, yes, Narnia was nothing but a big old Christian metaphor, with Aslan filling the role of God, but if I was going to create a deity or mascot, what better one than a big, regal, rideable, child-loving lion? Of course, as I explained in my reply, I didn't think Aslan was the reason for the lion mascot.
As to the Lion of Judah, I also have to confess that that particular metaphor did not cross my mind at all as I was sitting at that light. I was more focused on the idea of lions in the book of Daniel, or the lions of Rome to whom many Christians were more-or-less sacrificed for sport. It was with this in mind that I dashed off what I thought was a witty, if a bit snarky, comment. After all, who would want a Christian-eating lion as the mascot of a Christian school, right? Unfortunately, I did have to concede (on FB anyway) that my friend was probaly correct with his Lion of Judah interpretation. In my defense though, during my own Christian upbringing, although I was familiar with the Jesus as lion metaphor, it was the metaphor of Jesus as lamb that was emphasized, and with which I was most familiar. Who knew that I'd be able to offend Christians with their own simultaneously contradictory metaphors? After all, it's not like I questioned the wisdom of leaving the Lamb of God alone with the Lion of Judah (which would be a truly blasphemous mixing of the metaphors)!
I suppose that is the point of this whole little story (if there is such a point). Christians find it so easy to get offended when their own religious doctrine offers so much contradiction that almost any silly comment made without intent to offend is bound to ruffle somebody's feathers.
As a sidenote, I also find it absurd that religious believers find it necessary to defend their god from irreverent and flippant commenters such as myself in the first place. I really just want to say, "If I've insulted God, I'm sure he'll let me know. After all, look at what he did to Job...and Job was a righteous man." So far, God's been pretty mum on the whole thing, which leads me to conclude that he obviously has a much better sense of humor than those Christian soldiers who feel compelled to defend his honor.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Finally, Some Hope for America!
Finally, something to celebrate! Sometimes it's difficult to feel optimisitic about the direction the US is heading when our headlines are filled with stories about obscure, fundamentalist cult leaders burning holy books, we find pundits promoting their religio-political agendas on prime time television, or see high profile elected officials spouting ignorant garbage about the "evils" of stem-cell research.
This brief segment at least provides some hope that the flame of the Enlightenment won't be completely extinguished any time real soon; that the values of freethought and skepticism might one day light even the darkest corners of Louisiana. (cue inspirational music)
Quote of the Day:
"Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too."
--Heinrich Heine
This brief segment at least provides some hope that the flame of the Enlightenment won't be completely extinguished any time real soon; that the values of freethought and skepticism might one day light even the darkest corners of Louisiana. (cue inspirational music)
Quote of the Day:
"Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too."
--Heinrich Heine
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Rowan Atkinson in 'We are most amused'
This is just too darn funny on its own for any additional commentary from me.
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