Owner: Atheist Revolution URL:http://www.atheistrev.com Join Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:00:16 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Religious belief is a destructive force that causes far more harm than good. Atheist Revolution is a blog dedicated to breaking free from irrational belief and opposing Christian extremism in America. Site statistics:Click here
Misconception About Atheism 1970-01-01 00:59:59 In previous posts, I have addressed many common misconceptions about atheists, but an important misconception remains about the whole of atheism. This particular misconception is difficult to classify and appears to involve a synthesis of several of those which I addressed previously. It is used to stimulate fear, and I predict that it will become more popular as more atheists gain prominence. This misconception concerns what I will refer to as the "atheist agenda." It can be stated as follows:Misconception: There is an atheist agenda which includes the complete eradication of religion, the systematic persecution of believers, and maybe even mass murder. Lest you think that I am making up this misconception only to dispel it, I will direct you to this recent article in The Christian Science Monitor. As you can see, this misconception involves the belief that theism is the only thing keeping us from murdering each other. Nice view of human nature, isn't it? Of course, atheism is not s Read more:Atheism
Bush as a Religious Leader? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I recently watched a Ted Koppel special on the Discovery Channel called "Iran: The Most Dangerous Nation." It was interesting, and I continue to be appalled by how little most Americans know about this country and how blindly many follow our elected leaders without understanding the implications of their policies for the region. But this is not going to be the point of this post. As suggested by the title, I have something else in mind.During the special, Koppel was interviewing an articulate Muslim woman who, in a very matter-of-fact tone, referred to President Bush as "a religious leader." Bush as a religious leader? How could she think that? Falwell, Robertson, and until recently, Haggard - these are religious leaders. Not Bush. The woman noted that Bush regularly speaks from office about his religious faith, going so far as to say that America's invasion of Iraq was the will of his god. Maybe she has a point.The more I thought about this, the more I started to realize how Bush mus Read more:Leader
The Paradox of Intolerance 1970-01-01 00:59:59 If you are an atheist, it is likely that you have first-hand experience with religious intolerance. You have learned to hold your tongue in certain situations (e.g., family gatherings where religious persons are involved, around religious co-workers or supervisors, etc.), and you have probably experienced as least some adverse consequences for failing to do so in other situations. You are fully aware that many believers despise you, fear you, and misunderstand you. If you've spent any time studying religious texts, such as the Christian bible, you have learned that these negative attitudes are not simply a twisted interpretation of religion but painfully clear in the texts themselves.Of course, if you are an atheist who has expressed your lack of belief, it is equally likely that you have been accused of being intolerant yourself. You are perceived as hating religion and religious believers. You want to ban their "holy" texts, prevent them from engaging in their cherished rituals (all Read more:Intolerance
, Paradox
How About Some Accountability? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Like most Americans, my thoughts have been turning increasingly to Iraq. With the release of The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach (Vintage), there has been much speculation about how Bush will respond. The media's consensus appears to be that the report offers him a way out of Iraq if he wants it.I would like to see the situation in Iraq resolved with as few casualties as possible on both sides. However, I remain frustrated that there is no sign that the Bush administration will be held accountable for deceiving the American people and launching a preemptive war to accomplish ideological goals rather than to suppress an actual threat. It isn't that nobody is calling for the administration to be held accountable (see United States v. George W. Bush et al.), but Congress does not seem particularly interested.Admittedly, this is a difficult call. In the immediate aftermath of the Democratic wins in Congress, I remember having mixed feelings about the newly elect Read more:Accountability
The War on Dawkins 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Speaking of Richard Dawkins
(see my recent post), it appears that his in-your-face antics have caught the attention of the South Park guys. Dawkins may view this as a positive development, thinking that it will help spread the word about atheism. I'm not so sure. I fear that this episode may end up being an important warning to atheists that insulting people may not be the best way to change their minds.I have not read The God Delusion yet, but I plan to start it soon. I have read other books by Dawkins, and I generally like what he has to say. However, I do have some questions about how he says it. If his intent is to write solely for atheists, then bravo - change nothing and keep writing. However, if he wants to persuade believers to embrace reality instead of superstition, then I fear his approach may backfire.News of the South Park episode suggests that Dawkins is already earning a reputation as an abrasive ideologue. In The Revealer article, Daniel Sorrell writes, "Dawkins' str
Marital Freedom: A Church-State Issue 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Americans United for Separation of Church
and State
has a great article about the freedom to marry on their blog. The thesis of the article, "The Source of U.S. Law: Leviticus or the Constitution," is that efforts by Christian extremists to deprive Americans of the freedom to marry persons of their choosing is a church-state issue. Drawing on recent articles from two prominent American newspapers, this article makes a solid case for marriage bans being a violation of church-state separation. I admit that I hadn't really thought about the issue this way, focusing more on the expression of religious intolerance.It is a good read, so check it out.Tags: church and state, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, gay marriage, marriage Read more:Freedom
Giving Thanks: An Atheist's Way 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I have never considered Thanks
giving to be a religious holiday, although I have known many people who treat it as if it is. Their rationale, if questioned, is often that it is meaningless to be thankful without having a supernatural entity to which one gives thanks. I disagree. I've always had people in my life to whom I give thanks, and I've never had any problem expressing joy at positive circumstances. None of this has ever required me to posit a supernatural entity.On past Thanksgivings spent with family, it was common for someone to ask everyone at the table to join hands, bow their heads and go around stating something they were particularly thankful for that year. Most of the time, no religious references were made. Nobody invoked various gods, and nobody said "amen." It never struck me that something supernatural was missing or that the exercise would be any more meaningful if I was thanking someone other than living persons or general good fortune.Of course, I've also exper Read more:Atheist
, Giving
Where Elton Went Wrong 1970-01-01 00:59:59 According to Elton
John, religion should be banned because of the harm it causes. I agree that religion is harmful, but Elton is wrong about banning it. I suspect that most of my atheist readers will agree with me on this, but I'd still like to explain my position.Elton correctly points out that religion promotes hatred and intolerance. Faith is the enemy of science and those of us who want our leaders to make decisions based on sound reasoning are likely to oppose it. Of course, the list of religiously-motivated ills is long and has been addressed previously here and elsewhere, so I will not indulge in this tangent right now. Instead, I will limit myself to pointing out that Christianity is quick to condemn persons with non-Christian beliefs. Rather than simply acknowledging that there are persons with other beliefs, Christianity chooses to disparage them. So much for tolerance.The issue is what to do about religion. Banning it is a ridiculous idea, and communist societies have aptly Read more:Wrong
Evangelizing Science 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Science and religion: complementary methods of studying competing spheres of experience or opposing forces with irreconcilable views of reality? Regardless of your position on this question, I suspect you will agree that science has been marginalized under the Bush administration. If you are still not convinced of this, do yourself a favor and read Chris Mooney's The Republican War on Science.In this post, I'd like to draw your attention to a recent article in the New York Times by George Johnson, "A Free-for-All on Science and Religion." The article discusses the manner in which science should respond to religion, and you will see that there is anything but unanimous agreement here. In fact, this article reflects some fairly heated disagreement among atheist scientists.Acknowledging some oversimplification, let me label one side of the argument as cautious realism. According to this position, our goals should be realistic. According to Francisco J. Ayala, "If we think that we are Read more:Science
Any Hate Groups Near You? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Religion may be an important factor in perpetuating hatred and intolerance, but it is certainly not the only one. Here in Mississippi, we know a thing or two about hate groups. Believe it or not, the Klan is still alive, and we still have some misguided folks who think the Confederacy is a source of pride.HATE GROUPS Black Separatist Christian Identity Ku Klux Klan Neo-Confederate Neo-Nazi Other Racist Skinhead Tempting as it may be, don't start feeling superior until you've checked out your state on the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. You just might be surprised.Thanks to Pharyngula and Stupid Evil Bastard for the links.Tags: intolerance, Read more:Groups
DefCon Protest is Misguided 1970-01-01 00:59:59 DefCon is asking readers to contact Wal-Mart to protest their decision to sell the Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game. The game, developed by Christian extremist and bestselling author Tim LaHaye, depicts Christian players "converting or killing non-believers which can include Jews, Muslims, and Catholics." The heart of DefCon's protest seems to center on the idea that selling this game promotes religious violence. I wonder if they are also asking Wal-Mart to stop selling the Christian bible?I value freedom of speech, and this means that I seek to defend the freedom of individuals to create and sell material with which I do not agree or even find personally offensive. Thus, I don't see this particular protest as something worth supporting. Why must we be so quick to attempt to ban anything with which we disagree? This game could open a dialogue about the perils of religious violence and demonstrate that Christians should refrain from pointing the finger at Muslims when they suppo Read more:Misguided
, Protest
Time for Action in Darfur 1970-01-01 00:59:59 According to the Catholic News Service, religious leaders in the Save Darfur
Coalition are calling for a weekend of prayer to stop the violence in Darfur. Even though intercessory prayer is ineffective, I hope that their efforts to call attention to the situation in Darfur will help.Due to a puzzling lack of media coverage on Darfur, many Americans have no idea that at least 400,000 people have been killed since 2003 in a genocide sponsored by the Sudanese government. Peace in Darfur does not appear to be one of President Bush's priorities, and this needs to change.To learn more about the dire situation in Darfur and see what you can do to help, please visit SafeDarfur.org.Tags: Darfur, Sudan, politics, prayer Read more:Action
Edwards Enters 2008 Presidential Race 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I am happy to hear that John Edwards
is poised to enter the 2008 Presidential
race. During the 2004 campaign, I found him to be quite a bit more charismatic than Kerry but clearly less experienced. At the time, I remember thinking that he could be a viable candidate in a few more years. Now I think he just might be what the Democrats need to put up a fight in '08.I have said before that I believe Hillary Clinton is simply too divisive. I fear that she would rally the conservative base like nothing we've seen this side of gay marriage. Many of them would need no more reason to oppose her than her gender. As if that weren't bad enough, I'm not sure her support among Democrats is going to be that strong. Should she run against a moderate Republican, I'd give her little chance of success.The other name heard a great deal lately is Obama. While I like what I've seen from him so far, I fear that his inexperience would be an issue. He might make a good choice as a VP, but I'm just not
Your Beliefs Are Not Sacred to Me 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Christians seem to think that their religious beliefs deserve respect, even from persons who do not share them. "You don't have to believe what I do," they say, "but you should at least respect my beliefs." Why? I happen to think that I can defend your right to believe as you wish without having even a trace of respect for what you believe. Moreover, I can respect you as a person without respecting your religious beliefs.The truly interesting thing is that many religious moderates, freethinkers, and atheists share this viewpoint that religious beliefs should be respected. In other words, many non-Christians would agree that it is okay for me not to share your beliefs as long as I still respect them. Whether this perspective comes from politeness, a desire to avoid conflict, a fear of retribution, or some other source, it remains a powerful factor maintaining religious belief. It erects a force field around religion, preventing meaningful criticism from entering.The question that needs
Atheist "Spirtuality" 1970-01-01 00:59:59 In the social sciences, it is common to distinguish between religion and spirituality. Questionnaires designed to tap these two constructs are fairly different in their content, and the attitudes of many scientists toward spirituality are often kinder than those toward religion. Thus, it is not surprising to encounter someone who claims to be "spiritual but not religious."Is spirituality an important part of life which we atheists are neglecting at our peril? There certainly are correlations between spirituality and various measures of well-being. Maybe we shouldn't be so hasty to dismiss these findings as little more than evidence that ignorance is bliss.According to this article in the American Chronicle, atheism is compatible with spirituality. Most definitions of spirituality agree that it has nothing to do with any sort of gods. It isn't even about spirits or anything else necessarily supernatural. Rather, it is more about the perception of oneself in relationship to one's envi Read more:Atheist
Atheism Online Directory is Back 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Atheism Online is back and under new management. All atheist bloggers are strongly encouraged to add their blogs to the directory and spread the word to potential readers. You may recall that the original Atheism Online was designed to be the one-stop directory for all atheist-oriented blogs and websites. The sudden loss of the original was a blow to the community of atheist bloggers, so I welcome the revival of the site. Best of all, they plan to continue the mission of the original site. See Black Sun Journal for more information.Tags: atheism, atheist, blog, blogging, blog directory Read more:Atheism
, Directory
"Happy Holidays" - Deal With It 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The phrase "happy holidays" enrages countless Christians and represents the heart of the war on Christmas. When an individual says "happy holidays" to a Christian instead of "merry Christmas," the Christian is supposed to assume that this is code for "I am an atheist, and I detest your Christmas." Never mind that many prominent atheists celebrate Christmas. Even worse is when a company sets an official policy whereby employees are supposed to say "happy holidays" and discouraged from saying "merry Christmas." This is worse because it is supposed to reflect an organized conspiracy of misguided political correctness and hostility toward religion. Thus, "happy holidays" has become symbolic to many Christians for efforts to "take the Christ out of Christmas."If we cut through the right-wing efforts to inflame their easily provoked base, we can examine what is really happening here and learn something valuable about the socially conservative mind. Our starting point is to ask what would le Read more:Happy
, Happy Holidays
, Holidays
Stay Warm, Pacific Northwest 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Having lived in both Oregon and Washington State for a number of years, I have an appreciation for how unusual this winter storm is for that part of the country and how poorly prepared the area is to deal with something like that. It sounds like prolonged power outages plus cold temperatures could be a real problem, especially in the coastal communities. Time to break out the long underwear and fire up those wood stoves.This time of year, I can't help but wonder what residents of the PacificNorthwest
might have done to offend Jee-zuhs. I haven't heard any pronouncements from Jerry or Pat yet, so maybe things will be okay. After going through Katrina, I have extra sympathy for victims of a wrathful Jee-zuhs. Take care all. My thoughts are with you.Tags: Oregon, Washington, storm, weather
The New Atheism on NPR 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Thanks to Unscrewing the Inscrutable for alerting me to a great NPR story on atheism. It is nice to know that the media periodically remembers that we exist. It also has some good Sam Harris quotes. You can listen to it here.Tags: NPR, radio, atheist, atheism Read more:Atheism
The Persecution of Believers 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I don't usually find myself in agreement with George Will, although I certainly respect his intellect. However, I thought this brief article on religion in America was worth sharing.I am encouraged by the numbers he cites which indicate a doubling of the number of nonbelievers between 1990 and 2001. Similarly, it is nice to see some recognition that politicians may be starting to think twice about atheist-bashing. It will be interesting to see how the mid-term elections affect this. Finally, I appreciate Will's observation about the unrealistic nature of the Christian persecution complex. This is a topic about which I have previously posted and which I continue to find fascinating. This is particularly true this time of year when complaints about a "war on Christmas" are common.As long as Christians continue to equate disagreement and criticism with persecution, they will continue to feel persecuted. Of course feeling persecuted is quite different from being persecuted, but this poin Read more:Believers
, Persecution
Book Review: Letter to a Christian Nation 1970-01-01 00:59:59 You may have noticed that I've been reading Letter
to a Christian
Nation by Sam Harris. After reading the diminutive 91-page book twice and taking some time to reflect on its contents, I'm ready to offer my review.To get your most likely question out of the way first, readers of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason will find little in the way of new material here. For the freethinking reader, End of Faith is easier to recommend. While far from perfect, it offers a broader scope and more detailed arguments. Of course, it was also written with a different purpose and a different audience in mind. Nevertheless, Letter has merit as a concise summary of portions of End of Faith. It was an enjoyable read, even if it did little beyond reinforcing my views of Christianity.To evaluate Letter to a Christian Nation and grasp what I believe is the book's central flaw, one must identify the target audience. Harris says that he wrote this book for a subgroup of Christians
Want a Free Copy of The God Who Wasn't There DVD? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 How would you like a free copy of The God Who Wasn't There DVD? All you have to do is post a video of yourself on YouTube saying "I deny the Holy Spirit." For the details on this great deal, visit The Blasphemy Challenge.Thanks to Pharyngula for the tip.Tags: The God Who Wasn't There, DVD, free
Trapped: An Atheist in Hiding 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I feel trapped by an inner conflict with which I have been struggling lately. This conflict is nothing new, but it has been occupying my thoughts more than usual for some reason. The conflict concerns my decision to write this blog, Atheist
Revolution, under a handle rather than my real name.I would like to be able to replace my handle with my real name and perhaps even add a photo of myself. Why? Among the more trivial reasons are things like enhancing my credibility, gaining a greater sense of ownership over my writings here, and serving as a better model for other atheists seeking to be more open about their views. These reasons are not trivial in any absolute sense; I only label them this way in comparison to what I perceive as a more important reason. Posting under a handle is starting to limit me from doing things I would like to be able to do. I'd like to be able to write more book reviews here and to assist authors with developing their materials. Working more closely with pub
Christmas Ruined By Christians 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Just when I get a little holiday optimism, something comes along to shatter it. No, it wasn't getting merry Christmas
ed by my doctor yesterday. It wasn't the minor annoyance of everything closing down this time of year. It wasn't even the increasingly over-the-top decorations in my neighborhood. Instead, it was two news items I'll share with you in this post.First, I ran across this story about elementary school children writing letters to Santa. Sounds pretty innocent until you read it and hear about the Christian mother who decided to raise a stink after being told that it was not appropriate for her to change the assignment and have her daughter write a letter to Jesus instead. How dare this school attempt to keep Jee-zuhs out of the classroom! How dare they prevent a parent from modifying work assigned by a teacher!Here is what the mother said in her interview with the Times Record News:You'd rather have them write a letter to someone who is not real rather than let my daugh Read more:Christians
Some Xmas Eve Reading 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The Xmas
Eve edition of Carnival of the Godless is now up at God is For Suckers! If that isn't enough reality-based reading for you, check out Skeptic's Circle at Humbug Online. Finally, I am working on the fourth part of the story of my personal journey to atheism and plan to post it later today. That ought to keep you busy for awhile.Tags: atheist, atheism, Carnival of the Godless, Skeptic's Circle Read more:Reading
Journey of an Atheist, Part IV 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This is the fourth part of a multi-post series. Part III can be found here, or if you'd like to start from the beginning, you can find Part I here.Where the third part of this series left off, I had graduated from high school and entered a private liberal arts university in the Pacific Northwest. Attending this particular Christian university turned out to be exactly what I needed. As I described in my previous post in this series, I received an outstanding secular education in this context, studied Christianity from both a theological and philosophical position, and honed my critical thinking and debate skills. I read Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Thoreau, Freud, and of course, Bertrand Russell. It was Russell's excellent Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects that gave me permission to fully reject Christianity and helped me understand that I was certainly not the first to do so. By the conclusion of college, I was openly atheistic and experiencing the j Read more:Atheist
, Journey
Journey of an Atheist, Part III 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This is the third part of a multi-post series. Part II can be found here, or if you'd like to start from the beginning, you can find Part I here.As high school graduation neared, I found myself becoming more liberal than my parents on most issues (e.g., I supported the legalization of drugs, animal rights, and became quite concerned about the environment). I saw no use for religion, but my feelings toward it were considerably less hostile than they had been previously. I saw it more as a waste of time than a destructive force. My feelings toward most believers could be described as a mixture of pity and disdain.Under the guidance of my parents and a few influential high school teachers whom I trusted, my college application process focused on private liberal arts colleges. I had the grades to get in, and my grandparents were willing to help considerably with the expenses to fund what they saw as a superior education. I was in complete agreement with everyone advising me that a small l Read more:Atheist
, Journey
Some Christmas Silliness 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This really doesn't have much of anything to do with Christmas
, but I just ran across this collection of proofs over at godlessgeeks and had a good laugh. Enjoy. It might just make you a hit around the table with your Christian relatives this year. Read more:Silliness
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