Blackwater

This was a breaking story yesterday that Blackwater has been a crusading Christian organization out to rid the world of Muslims by killing them one at a time. The overall story is just incredible. This video is from Countdown and it has a much more comprehensive explanation of the whole thing than anything I can say:

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Gustav

Major hurricane hitting New Orleans this morning. Almost all of the coast down there has been evacuated as the authorities overreact as usual. The reason so few left during Katrina is because they have issued evacuation warnings for decades and it was never needed. No reason to think it was needed then, or now. Those in charge just can't afford to have a repeat of Katrina. Anyway, I hope the damage is very small and no one gets killed.

The real irony here, that everyone seems to have failed to notice, is that last week James Dobson called on his followers to pray for rain during Obama's acceptance speech last Thursday because he chose to have it at Mile High Stadium instead of indoors. It didn't rain then but now we have MAJOR rain that has shut down the Republican convention, at least for today. Christians are really big on seeing signs from god, well this is one that slaps them in the face - hard, and I bet they fail to see it. Clearly god is voting for Obama.

It's also fun to watch the Republicans turn schizophrenic. They hate government and think it can't function well, yet are stuck in a situation where they HAVE to make government function well or suffer very bad press. And they have to provide aid to poor and multi-colored people when what they really want to do is leave them on their own. The core of the Republican philosphy is don't depend on government help, it's every man for himself. Now they have to pretend they care and have to make government good. I bet it's killing them. I certainly hope it's painful.

And I think losing a few days of their convention is going to hurt their chances of winning quite a bit. But they have to cancel much of it or look like the assholes they really are. God sure is a little devil, isn't he?

Gas Prices and God

Vjack at Atheist Revolution has an interesting story about one of the good side effects of our high gas prices - fewer people are going to church!

When the Rev. Robert E. Dennis notes that gas prices are necessitating some difficult choices by American seniors (e.g., gas, food, medication, etc.), he is on the right track. However, I have to fault this group for suggesting that church should even be among such considerations. That their "offerings" are down 20% looks rather trivial against increases in home foreclosures and seniors having to chose between medication and food!

The problem is that it will cut into the Good Rev's income. I wonder if most reverends live next to their churches and don't have to drive to work? Anyway, if they were all that upset over it all they have to do is pray for lower gas prices. Bible says prayer can move mountains, gas prices should be easy. Oh wait, someone tried that already, holding prayer meetings at gas stations and it didn't work. Now that's odd.

Ford Sucks

Thanks to Underground Atheist for this story; A Ford Dealership named Kieffe & Sons in Mojave, CA. has put out a very prejudiced ad:

"But did you know that 86% of Americans say they believe in God? Since we all know that 86 out of every 100 of us are Christians, who believe in God, we at Kieffe & Sons Ford wonder why we don't tell the other 14% to sit down and shut up. I guess I just offended 14% of the people who are listening to this message. Well, if that is the case then I say that's tough, this is America folks, it's called free speech. None of us at Kieffe & Sons Ford is afraid to speak out. Kieffe & Sons Ford on Sierra Highway in Mojave and Rosamond, if we don't see you today, by the grace of God, we'll be here tomorrow."
Would he be willing to say that to black people who are also about 14% of the population?

If Ford does not put a stop to this I will never buy a Ford again. Not that I was ever going to but this makes sure of it.

Useful Idiots

I came across this amazing web site about the Evangelical Manifesto. They are PDF files to download and probably too long for most people to read it all, but I did find some good stuff:

First, we repudiate two equal and opposite errors into which many Christians have fallen. One error is to privatize faith, applying it to the personal and spiritual realm only. Such dualism falsely divorces the spiritual from the secular and causes faith to lose its integrity. The other error, made by both the religious left and the religious right, is to politicize faith, using faith to express essentially political points that have lost touch with biblical truth. That way faith loses its independence, Christians become the “useful idiots” for one political party oranother, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology. Christian beliefs become the weapons of political factions.

Useful Idiots is such a great term, it's one I will definitely use in the future. I'm amazed that some Evangelicals were actually able to see this, they tend to be blinded by their ideology. The Republicans have lured them in with social issues such as abortion and gay rights and they vote on those thing while destroying themselves financially.

Second, we repudiate the two extremes that define the present culture wars in the
United States. On one side, we repudiate the partisans of a sacred public square, those who would continue to give one religion a preferred place in public life.
In a diverse society, it will always be unjust and unworkable to privilege one
religion. We are committed to religious liberty for people of all faiths. We are firmly opposed to theocracy. And we have no desire to coerce anyone or to impose beliefs and behavior on anyone. We believe in persuasion.

Now this is truly astonishing for an Evangelical. Their MO over the years has been to attack other religions, like that one group in Oregon that tried to keep out a Buddhist Temple from their town because it was devil worship. Or Bob Barr being outraged when he heard that Wiccans were able to hold ceremonies on a military base. So I'm very happy to see this development, it shows real rationality and a sense of fairness, although that word "persuasion" gives me pause. The Inquisition could be called "persuasion."

On the other side, we repudiate the partisans of a naked public square, those who would make all religious expression inviolably private and keep the public square inviolably secular. This position is even less just and workable because it excludes the overwhelming majority of citizens, who are still profoundly religious. Nothing is more illiberal than to invite people into the public square but insist that they be stripped of the faith that makes them who they are. We are committed to a civil public square – a vision of public life in which citizens of all faiths are free to enter and engage the public square on the basis of their faith, but within a framework of what is agreed to be just and free for other faiths as well. Every right we assert for ourselves as Christians is a right we defend for all others.

Now here they have it wrong but I think it's just ignorance on their part, but then I think most atheists get it wrong, too. The Separation of Church and State is most important to the religious because it protects them from religious persecution, or of being in that "Useful Idiots" role as they say above. Religion tied to government is no longer free. But the real bottom line of it all is that the government should not be in the religion business, period. It sounds nice to give everyone their say but the government has to stay away from religion in any way. Besides, adding religion into the public square is no way to promote civility, it's a way to destroy it.

Third, we are concerned that a generation of culture warring, reinforced by understandable reactions to religious extremism around the world, has created a powerful backlash against all religion in public life among many educated people. If this hardens into something like the European animosity toward religion in public life, the result would be disastrous for the American republic and would severely constrict liberty for people of all faiths. The striking intolerance shown by the new atheists is a warning sign. We call on all citizens of goodwill and believers of all faiths and none to join us in working for a civil public square and the restoration of a tough-minded civility that is in the interests of all.

Now this one cracks me up. Probably comes from that Barna survey a few months ago that said people had a more negative perception of Evangelicals than just about anybody else. What they call intolerance by atheists is just a question of us calling it like we see it. Most religion is evil and causes evil things to happen. Like the T-shirt that said "Imagine No Religion" and had a picture of the New York skyline with the Twin Towers still there.

I read something a while back that showed that certain Evangelicals, Hispanics and blacks primarily, do not understand other Evangelicals obsession with such issues as abortion and gays while completely ignoring Jesus' message to help the poor and needy. Wow! And here I thought Jesus said to make a lot of money and let the poor fend for themselves, I mean, that's what right wingnuts are all about. Did Jesus actually say to help the less fortunate and that it's not good to be rich? You'd hardly know that from the behavior of most Evangelicals.

California Teacher Makes Anti-Christian Remarks

Saw this story in a number of places, first at One News Now:

Sixteen-year-old Chad Farnan is accusing Capistrano Valley High school history teacher James Corbett of making numerous anti-Christian remarks. Farnan claims that while recording class lectures for note-taking purposes, he recorded Corbett stating that "Jesus glasses" obscure the truth and that Christians are more likely to commit rape and murder.

Another one is at the Thinking Christian:

James Corbett “Taught Us How To Think”

And from Webloggin:

Almost without exception, his supporters say that it’s appropriate to crudely insult religion and to use history lessons as a rant against Christianity. Why? Because in their minds he’s speaking truth, and it’s an educator’s responsibility to bring truth to his students, especially the benighted Christian ones. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that there is a problem, not with discussing faith, but with insulting faith.

Each of these has their own perspective that they bring to this that I find interesting. In one they mention Corbett talking about the Flying Spaghetti Monster so I have to assume he's an atheist since that is an atheist's joke. It's how we point out how absurd we find people's religious views, often a comparison is made to belief in Santa Claus as equivalent to most religious belief.

My first thought on this is; how many times have Christians been up in arms when someone complained about a Christian pushing religious propaganda in a classroom? They scream like a banshee who has stepped on a nail about their freedom of speech and religious freedoms being taken away. The fact is they always want it their way with no consistent logic or fairness other than "We are right and everyone else is wrong!"

So as an atheist how do I feel about it? Corbett was out of line. I think it is perfectly OK for him to have brought up the subject of religion, especially Christianity if it's a class on European history, and even to express his own opinion on it. Where he was out of line was in trying to proselytize in a public classroom and in insulting the people who believe it. If a Christian had done that inside a classroom as a teacher I'd be screaming like a banshee who had just stepped on a nail.

Worse than just being impolite, he might have ruined what could have been a very thoughtful discussion and alienated the very people he wants to listen to him. If he was anywhere outside of the classroom and outside a position of authority then I think he has the right to say whatever he pleases.

On the other hand I think the entire story has to be taken with a grain of salt. I haven't heard Corbett's actual remarks and I know Christian's often think anything that isn't fawning praise is an insult. So maybe Corbett wasn't out of line. I certainly don't think he should be fired or suspended, but I do think he should tone it down a bit. Read the links and decide for yourself.

Young People Rejecting Christianity

I found this great blog article through Alternet, all about how young people - those under 30 - feel about Christians. Apparently you can't be obnoxious for decades without some kind of backlash, most do not look favorably on Christians, even the ones who are Christian themselves:

This study is prompting quite a bit of soul-searching among Evangelicals. Some feel this study verifies things they've long suspected; others are just stunned. Maybe it's the way everybody's always ignored their persistent conversion efforts -- they just got so used to being tuned out by the mainstream culture that it never occurred to them that anyone might ever take anything they said seriously. And now, they're genuinely surprised to find out that yes, we were listening -- and yes, we did take it all very much to heart. And, furthermore, what we've heard has deeply damaged our opinion of them.

All they've been spouting for years now is hatred and criticism and they are shocked that people find that distasteful? And note that this study is from Barna, a Fundamentalist organization. Here's more:

-- The long-term trend toward a less Christian nation is probably good news for liberalism in general. If there are comparatively fewer Christians, there will be more people of other faiths -- though other Barna studies have found that the biggest gains of all are being made among atheist and agnostic free-thinkers, who are also the most likely to be political liberals. This, in turn, bodes well for the various scientific fields that have come under attack by the religious right; and it opens the way for Christians and non-Christians to find some fresh common ground on issues like social justice and the environment as the religious leadership changes.

The biggest gains are being made among atheist and agnostic free-thinkers. Heh heh. I've long said that the most potent force for creating atheists is the bible, someone has to be brain dead to read the whole thing all the way through and not see something is seriously wrong. But it is looking as if the most potent force for creating atheists is Christians themselves. And it all bodes well for science and liberalism - AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!

I must have died and gone to heaven.

Kansas Classroom

Here is a great cartoon on the state of our education these days thanks to the fundie, science and knowledge haters. Click once on the image to get a larger view that is more readable: