Pope Ratz Charged With Crimes Against Humanity Again

Last year, Pope Ratz (aka Pope Palpatine) was charged in the UK with crimes against humanity but it didn't go anywhere. This time, because the charges were filed at the International World Court, it has to be investigated. Two lawyers from Ratz' home state of Bavaria filed a 16,500 word indictment which alleged the following:

“three worldwide crimes which until now have not been denounced . . . (as) the traditional reverence toward ‘ecclesiastical authority’ has clouded the sense of right and wrong”.

The Pope “is responsible for the preservation and leadership of a worldwide totalitarian regime of coercion which subjugates its members with terrifying and health-endangering threats”.

He is also responsible for “the adherence to a fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of HIV-Aids infection exists” and for “the establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes”.

Tthe Catholic Church “acquires its members through a compulsory act, namely, through the baptism of infants that do not yet have a will of their own”. This act was “irrevocable” and is buttressed by threats of excommunication and the fires of hell.

It was “a grave impairment of the personal freedom of development and of a person’s emotional and mental integrity”. The Pope was “responsible for its preservation and enforcement and, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of his Church, he was jointly responsible” with Pope John Paul II.

Catholics “threatened by HIV-AIDS . . . are faced with a terrible alternative: If they protect themselves with condoms during sexual intercourse, they become grave sinners; if they do not protect themselves out of fear of the punishment of sin threatened by the church, they become candidates for death.”

There was also “strong suspicion that Dr Joseph Ratzinger, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of his church and as Pope, has up to the present day systematically covered up the sexual abuse of children and youths and protected the perpetrators, thereby aiding and abetting further sexual violence toward young people”.

Let's hope it sticks this time.

From: The Examiner

Soul Searching For Godless Heathens

I was recently asked about my worldview. Specifically I was asked what I find lacking in it. What do I see as flawed with it?

I've thought about this. I think by its very nature, my worldview is ideal for me. I don't see any flaws at all. But first, let's define it.

Worldview: 1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world. 2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.

So,  it's a very comprehensive set of beliefs about the world. And I'm very happy with the worldview I've thoughtfully developed. I will say it was a process, though, which is ongoing and, like all critical thinking, open to new information that can alter it.

Mine is based on Naturalism - a scientific account of the world in terms of causes and natural forces that rejects all spiritual, supernatural, or teleological explanations; Humanism - a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity; and Nature - nature is awesome and humans are responsible for taking care of the world to the best of our ability, and to be humane to other living creatures.

In those respects, science is very important to me because it's how we understand and progress. Through science the Universe gets to know itself (rough paraphrase from my hero, Carl Sagan), and we get to know our world and everything in it, including ourselves.

Science isn't everything though. There's also humanity and what we have developed*, such as consciousness and cognition, justice, beauty, love, humaneness, compassion, morality, genius, and on and on. (*note that there are animals that have some consciousness and self awareness, which is amazing and awesome. It shows that we are on the far end of the continuum, but still connected and an integral part of the animal kingdom!)

My worldview has been cultivated and formed over my life, but especially in the last 10 years since I've become an atheist. In other words, I've really thought about this, it isn't something told to me by anyone. And I think that's important for finding that it's complete and comfortable for me.

I thought I'd turn the question over to you. What is your worldview and do you feel yours has any flaws in it that bother you, that you find missing or less than fulfilling?

A Final Good Deed

For some time now I've had in mind what I want to have done with my body after I die. I know, it seems morbid, but really it's a great opportunity to make a difference even after death. The thing is, while I've told Butch (my awesome husband) and have made it clear that I want to give my body to science, I haven't followed through to make it easy for him if something unexpected happens.

My, this is so cheery as I face my 42nd birthday (March 2, gifts and Amazon gift certificates welcome! HA! Just kidding, cash is preferred. :P )

The other day a friend of mine on Facebook posted about how wasteful cemeteries are. He wrote, "Cemeteries are not a good idea. Natural resources are wasted, financial strain is put on the less fortunate, mass plots of land are deforested for coffins and burial space, names are forgotten, space is further limited, more natural resources are wasted, and religion is reinforced. We must critically think about alternatives." I agree!

So I commented about donating your body to science and he asked how to go about it. He'd never heard of it. Then I wondered, do most people not know about this final charitable act? I should find out more for myself and others and then write about it!

First, you have 2 options for donating your body after death. One is organ donation, which you can do through your state, when you renew your driver's license (I was able to sign up online). You can help up to 8 people with your donation, how cool is that? Some of those people will get a new lease on life because of you.

Did you know even an 80 year old can be an organ donor? So make sure you have your organ donor card.

The problem is, you have to die under rather specific circumstances to be able to be an organ donor. You have to basically die where you can be ventilated immediately. So if you die at home or in an accident, unless an ambulance can start ventilating you, your organs can't be used. Only 1-3% of people die in a way that they can be a donor.

UPDATE: There is actually one program, Science Care,  that lets you both donate your organs for transplant then the rest of your body for science. See below for more information. This is the program Butch and I are looking to sign up with.

In some of these cases you could still do option 2, which is donate your whole body to science.

There are 2 ways a body is used when donated this way, either for education or research. While you can save up to 8 lives with organ donation, this whole body donation can save countless lives by training potential doctors and/or helping people do important research.

Doing Good, Spreading Inspiration

As those of you who follow my Facebook page know, I recently started an organization with my friend Eric called Viral Volunteer. In a nutshell, ViVo is about doing good deeds then going to the website and social media to tell others what you did and encourage them to do good things too.

Next Sunday, January 23rd, Eric and I, and a few of our friends, are going to the Ronald McDonald House here in Morgantown to make them lunch. We buy and prepare the meal, and then it gets served buffet style for parents and their children who are in treatment. It helps the parents and children have more time to spend together.

I know most of you don't live near me, but why not do your own local volunteering event? You can go to Viral Volunteer and fill out the form to let us know you'll be doing something and we'll post it to the site to encourage others to help their own community. Even if it's just you going out to your local park to pick up trash, let us know so we can inspire others to do something good too.

Also, we have a new form for those of you who have been inspired and helped by someone. Is there a person or group who has helped you? Have you been motivated by someone who helps others? Let us know. This is a wonderful way to encourage others and let people know you've been positively affected by someone.

You can also email me at Viral Volunteer if that would be an easier way for you to send pictures and/or tell your story.

Did you know that volunteering and helping others actually helps improve your health and increase your happiness and well-being? Find out how you can benefit from doing good deeds.

Don't know where to start? Here are some links and suggestions. If you have an organization that you think people should know about, leave a comment on that page, or here if you like.

As you know, I'm a godless heathen. Most, if not all, of the people helping out the Ronald McDonald House this Sunday are also atheists. A side benefit to doing good deeds as an atheist is that you help people realize that nonbelievers do good deeds too. That we care just as deeply and want to help our communities and our planet just as much as religious people. So when you fill out the form, feel free to let us know if you're volunteering in the name of your local atheist group (or any organization!). Also encourage your local group to start doing good deeds, and then have everyone fill out the form to start spreading the word. Atheists are good people too.

An Open Letter To Christians After The Arizona Shooting

We've all probably heard about the awful shooting in Arizona this past Saturday. My friend Edmund Metheny wrote an open letter to Christians and others in a note on Facebook. I liked it so much I asked him if I could share it with you and he agreed. So here it is, in its entirety:

To my Christian friends - and others

by Edmund Metheny

Since the shootings in Arizona, I have read numerous comments regarding the miraculous nature of the event. It was a "miracle" that Gabrielle Giffords survived, for example. I have read comments such as "God didn't do it, but he can turn a tragedy into a blessing if you just look, and take the time to see." I have even read comments to the effect that this evil only occurred because of a lack of faith in God.

I would like to provide you with an alternate viewpoint.

A miraculous event is not "a bunch of people got shot and some of them died and some of them lived." A miraculous event is "all the shooter's bullets turned into butterflies" or maybe "the shooter was struck dead by a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, just as he pulled the gun out" or "two she-bears appeared from nowhere and ripped the shooter to pieces." If the best that God can manage for a miracle in this case is six dead and fourteen injured, that is a weak-assed, pathetic loser miracle, and He should be ashamed.

What made this event less horrible than it might have been was not God - it was people. Heroic people who prevented the shooter from reloading. Heroic people who provided aid at the scene. Heroic people who worked tirelessly and quickly to give medical care to the injured. And it wasn't prayer that saved the injured. If prayer was going to do it, don't you think maybe someone could have done a bit more for Christina Taylor Green? Perhaps another verse of "Jesus loves the little children" might have done it?

Starting To See Moral Relativism As Clearly Flawed

Most people don't think much about morality, in my observation. They are given their morals from their parents, pastors, teachers, and peers, etc. They don't need to know terms like "moral relativism". I have done just fine for 41 years without ever thinking about the definition of the term.

I think even once you eschew God and the bible, unless someone challenges you, you'll still rely on your basic moral code which you got when you were younger (and probably indoctrinated). A lot of that might evolve into what "feels" like the right thing to do, more than what the bible said.

Then there are those who think about this sort of thing all the time. I'm not one of those people, normally. I don't like philosophy very much. I prefer science and testable claims to pontificating about things that can't really ever be known. But as I venture on my Quest for Knowledge, lately I've run into philosophy more often.

I've even subjected you to it, such as the whole Free Will vs Determinism argument (which I still have plans to continue).

I think we are best served with examining our ethical code and reevaluating what's in there and why. I did that some time ago with my personal Principles. It was a challenging but rewarding exercise.

Side Note: The Rationally Speaking podcast recently interviewed Joshua Knobe about his new field of Experimental Philosophy (x-phi), which was fascinating. Joshua even made them (and me) gasp with the results of one study that was very surprising! Here's a link to the episode.

The book club I'm in, as I've mentioned, is going to be reading The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris. I lost interest in our current book, so I've started in on this one and so far Sam Harris is speaking my language, that science can determine values for conscious beings.

The following excerpt from the book shows what moral relativism basically is (the woman in it is definitely a moral relativist), and why it's clearly flawed. This is an anecdotal story from Sam. But I think it's quite important to share:

Excerpt from The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values by Sam Harris. - Highlight Location 765-83 (chapter 1)

We already have good reason to believe that certain cultures are less suited to maximizing well-being than others. I cited the ruthless misogyny and religious bamboozlement of the Taliban as an example of a worldview that seems less than perfectly conducive to human flourishing.

The Humanist Ten Commandments

For the book club I belong to, we're reading Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe by Greg Epstein. It's basically all about Humanism.

From the AHA: Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity. Fred Edwords explains the many different kinds of humanism here, then goes on to explain more about Modern Humanism.

Anyway, in Good Without God, Epstein has a chart of the ten commandments. I wanted to share it with you because I thought the Humanist version was pretty good:

Exodus 20		King James Version		Modern Version		Humanist Version
1		20:2-3 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.		Do not worship any other god.		Seek the best in yourself and in others, and believe in your own ability to make a positive difference in the world.
2		20:4-6 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.		Do not make or worship idols or images of God.		Pursue truth and honesty in all you do; and be wary of allowing power, status or possessions to substitute for moral courage, dignity and goodness.
3		20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.		Do not misuse the name of God.		Be positive and constructive rather than negative and disrespectful.
4		20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.		Keep the sabbath day holy. You must rest on that day each week.		To be healthy, you must balance work, play and rest.
5		20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.		Honor your father and mother.		All members of the family should respect each other.
6		20:13 Thou shalt not kill.		Do not commit murder.		Same.
7		20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.		Do not be unfaithful to your husband or wife.		Same.
8		20:15 Thou shalt not steal.		Do not steal.		Same.
9		20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.		Do not lie or speak badly about others.		Same.
10		20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.		Do not be jealous of other people, and do not desire other people's spouses, houses, or anything else they have.		When you see nice things owned by others, let them be your inspiration, rather than a source of bad feelings. If there are things that you want, work hard to get them.

Epstein goes through each one of these and explains in much more detail what they mean.

I rather like most of the Humanist version. I especially like 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10. I have problems with 5 though.

Determinism and Free Will 2a of 4

Recently, I wrote about Determinism and Free Will. It was basically an introduction and consisted of a transcript of the Reasonable Doubts guys. Well, this is the first half of their second episode on the subject. I decided to break it up into two posts because, as you can see, it's incredibly long. And it was taking me forever to transcribe it.

So in this part, the guys are talking about determinism again, especially in regards to how to deal with people who break the law or do something wrong. This is a very touchy subject but the guys explain it well, especially when they talk about parenting.

Here you go:

1:56 Dave (D): So in our previous episode, Free Willy vs the Determinator part 1, we talked some about determinism and free will, but we didn't get to the moral implications associated with a hardcore determinist world view like the three of us seem to share. And not all naturalists do.

Jeremy (J): No, we need to acknowledge that there is diversity amongst naturalists. I will say I don't feel bad going further in saying, though, I think they're wrong. I think they're demonstrably wrong. I think accepting determinism, unfortunately or not, is necessitated by a consistently naturalistic world view. But there are people who disagree.

D: But it's a very hard thing to do, and it took me a very long time to just decide that, "yes, in fact I'm going to follow the evidence", because you're giving up a lot of things, apparently.

J: You're giving up things you never had.

D: Well, yeah. But things that I thought I had.

12 Questions About Morals By Sam Harris

Sam Harris wrote an article answering 12 questions relating to his book, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values, which is due to be released October 5th:

1. Are there right and wrong answers to moral questions?

Morality must relate, at some level, to the well-being of conscious creatures. If there are more and less effective ways for us to seek happiness and to avoid misery in this world -- and there clearly are -- then there are right and wrong answers to questions of morality.

2. Are you saying that science can answer such questions?

Yes, in principle. Human well-being is not a random phenomenon. It depends on many factors -- ranging from genetics and neurobiology to sociology and economics. But, clearly, there are scientific truths to be known about how we can flourish in this world. Wherever we can have an impact on the well-being of others, questions of morality apply.

3. But can't moral claims be in conflict? Aren't there many situations in which one person's happiness means another's suffering?

A Bit of Dawkins

One of my Facebook friends posted this to his feed today. Richard Dawkins waxing eloquent:

‎"The feeling of awed wonder that science can give us is one of the highest experiences of which the human psyche is capable. It is a deep aesthetic passion to rank with the finest that music and poetry can deliver. It is truly one of the things that make life worth living and it does so, if anything, more effectively if it convinces ...us that the time we have for living is quite finite."

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?"

"An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor or Baal or the golden calf. As has been said before, we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."

Science Can Answer Moral Questions

Sam Harris gave a talk at TED recently and it's now available. He talked about morals and how science doesn't have to stay silent when it comes to what is best for conscious beings. It was very interesting. Please share it around if you like what he has to say. I'd love to hear your opinions in the comments. I agree with him.



About the talk:
Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can -- and should -- be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life.

Sam's project: Project Reason
His homepage: SamHarris.org

Religion Is Evil And Contagious

But don't take my word for it. How about an Oxford professor whom you know and love? Richard Dawkins, of course! I found this 2 part video he did for the BBC in 2006. It's a very good overview of his ideas and concepts of religion, evolution and atheism. See below for the descriptions of each episode.

The Root of All Evil? Part 1: The God Delusion. (Richard Dawkins, 2006) - 47:51



The Root of All Evil? - The Virus of Faith (2 of 2) - 47:58



Here's a description of the first episode:

What Makes Us Uniquely Human?

The other day, I watched a 3 part special about what makes us uniquely human from the rest of the animals on the planet, namely chimps. It was very interesting and I wanted to share it with you. I'm linking to each full length video and then below I will link to Science Talk's interviews with Alda about the show and other interesting things.

Here's some information from PBS:

After some three and a half billion years of life’s evolution on this planet – and after almost two million years since people recognizable as human first walked its surface – a new human burst upon the scene, apparently unannounced.

It was us.

Until then our ancestors had shared the planet with other human species. But soon there was only us, possessors of something that gave us unprecedented power over our environment and everything else alive. That something was – is – the Human Spark.

What is the nature of human uniqueness? Where did the Human Spark ignite, and when? And perhaps most tantalizingly, why?

In a three-part series broadcast on PBS in January 2010, Alan Alda takes these questions personally, visiting with dozens of scientists on three continents, and participating directly in many experiments – including the detailed examination of his own brain.

Interesting, Enlightening Evolution

Hey Everyone! About a week or so ago, I wrote about the Meaning of Life and also mentioned a set of videos by Richard Dawkins that my friend Rachel had told me about. I watched all 5 videos and thought they were interesting and enlightening so I am sharing them below.

I was on an evolution kick and also found a 3 part program on Nova called Becoming Human, all about the evolution of us. I can't give you the videos here, but I'm providing the links so you can watch them on PBS's site. They are very interesting, and were just aired on PBS in November, so they have some new ideas and research.

• Becoming Human Part 1: First Steps: Six million years ago, what set our ancestors on the path from ape to human?


• Becoming Human Part 2: Birth of Humanity: New discoveries reveal how early humans hunted and formed families.


• Becoming Human Part 3: Last Human Standing: Many human species once shared the globe. Why do we alone remain?

Exploring a bit further, I found an interesting article about human evolution called Are We Still Evolving? This is a question that I have been pondering lately. Since we developed agriculture about 10,000 years ago, developed medicines, learned to cook our food, and developed technology, among some factors, more and more babies survive and grow up to reproduce. According to the article, about 98% of all babies born in the U.S., Europe or Japan survive long enough to reproduce and pass on their DNA, so survival doesn't depend as much on genes.

But in third world countries, natural selection still favors mutations in dealing with deadly diseases. For instance, people with the sickle-cell mutation in the beta hemoglobin gene have a protection against malaria.

One example of more recent evolution in humans is lactose tolerance. This is evidence that we have evolved, even if it's just in a small but significant way.

Why Do Christians Hate The ACLU?

Because I'm sure many just see it as a title, or an acronym, and recall their mention in the news involving lawsuits, lets start by answering a basic: What is the ACLU?

American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 by Crystal Eastman, Roger Baldwin and Walter Nelles. It was founded to assist in defending the rights of citizens as granted by the United States Constitution. At the time, the three biggest concerns were freedom of speech (for anti-war protesters), civil rights for blacks (and other minority races), and equal rights for women. On their site, the ACLU proclaims themselves as a "guardian of liberty, working [...] to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country."

This is the group who has time-and-time again gone to bat for the 'little guy' to insure their Constitutional rights as a citizen and a human are upheld. The Christian's very doctrine urges them to help the weak, the sick, the poor, the unfortunate, the 'little guy'. So why do so many Christians harbor such vitriol and hate towards the ACLU?

Add Us To The Map!

Here in West Virginia, it seems like everyone must be traditionally religious. People wear crosses around their necks and churches seem to be on every corner. But there are godless people scattered about. When I first moved here I felt like I had to hide my lack of faith in the closet. It was oppressive, and still can be at gatherings or over the holidays.

Then I met Tim. He's a friend of mine who is also an atheist and he encouraged Butch and I to come to a Morgantown Atheist meeting. Earlier this year we did and it was awesome! Here were people who were like us, who had similar views of the world in matters of religion as us. The next month we joined the Freethinkers Morgantown Book Club too.

One thing we wanted to do at Morgantown Atheists was to get a billboard like other cities across the country and around the world. We started getting a bit more organized, then found the United Coalition of Reason. They believe that local organizations who don't even know about each other should work together, pool our resources, and reach out together to people who don't even know the little groups exist.

Before you know it, we formed the Morgantown Coalition of Reason! That's the Morgantown Atheists, the Morgantown Brights, the Freethinkers Morgantown Book Club* and the Morgantown Thomas Paine Society*. Now together we can do projects together and all kinds of good stuff. Since we got together, I've met a lot of other people from the other groups and they're great!

So the UnitedCoR helped us get our billboard! For a month we're going to be calling out to the godless of our area, letting them know where to find us, and that they are not alone. People of Reason, unite!

If you're in West Virginia, you can contact the MorgantownCoR to see about joining. In fact, you can contact me, because I'm the Coordinator.

If you're in another part of the country, think about contacting UnitedCoR to help you get organized too. United we stand. And together we can make a positive difference in our communities and around the country. :)

By god, he's a Bad Designer!

The other day I was pondering how our bodies have features that are poorly designed. Not to get too personal, but I have a hard time with coughing over the least little thing. Sometimes if I inhale wrong, my uvula freaks out and I start to cough like crazy. It's horrible.

So I wanted to write down some goofy examples to share with you, as if there were a god, he's pretty bad at designing. Then my mind kind of fizzled out, so I thought, hell, I'm not the first person to come up with this brilliant idea. I'll Google it. That's when I found the following video, which sums it up in about 6 minutes rather perfectly.

Neil deGrasse Tyson did a talk back in late 2006 where he ended with the following: (I have reproduced most of his slides below for your convenience)

Amusing Ourselves To Death

I saw this comparison of Aldous Huxley to George Orwell the other day. I thought it was extremely well done and thought you might find it insightful:

Amusing ourselves to death by Stuart McMillen - Aldous Huxley, author of "Brave New World vs. George Orwell, author of "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

My Personal 10 Commandments

Butch and I had Brent and Tim (my fellow Morgantown Atheists cohorts) over for dinner the other night. (oh, and Tim brought his standard poodle Lucy, who was highly interesting to my crazy mutts. They were in love with her sexy Frenchness!) Anyway, over pizza, Tim challenged me to come up with my own personal list of 10 Commandments. The New 10 Commandments.

First let's look at the old fashioned set that so many people want festooned on government property to hopefully force everyone to be good, obedient, god-fearing christians.

According to the bible, there are 3 sets of commandments by Moses' god. (see Wikipedia's page here)

• Exodus 20:2-17


• Exodus 34:11-27


• Deuteronomy 5:6-21

Most of these commandments are the words of an angry, jealous, childish god. They aren't helpful, moral or ethical. They don't advance us as a species. In fact they hold us back with threats and superstitions.

So here's my task, which I will gladly share with you:

A christian Couple Wears A Scarlet 'A' For A Day

I was stumbling around the interwebs the other day and came across an article on Skepacabra that was so interesting, I have to share it with you.

Apparently when the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) went to the Creation Museum recently, a christian couple snuck in to see what it would be like to be an atheist. It was a bit of a social experiment. Apparently they were not prepared for how they were treated. They didn't wear atheist gear, but got name tags that proclaimed them as part of the group. They were appalled by their treatment.

First, they noticed that security had been beefed up a great deal since the wife's last visit to the museum.

While I did not have a T-shirt (a symbol anyway) it was obvious that there was a distinctive way that we were being treated because of the shared identification.  There were hateful glances, exaggerated perceptions, waxing surveillance by security, and anxious but strong ‘amens’ accompanying a lecture on “The Ultimate Proof of Creation” by Dr. Jason Lisle.
Is this how Christians treat people?  Is this how we follow Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us?  I cannot help but think that many Christians are fearful of atheists.  It is a sort of xenophobia that runs along lines of faith and belief.  What we tend to forget is that atheists, agnostics, and evolutionists are people too.  If our attempt to preserve our belief means that we are treating these people like animals, are we really holding up principles that are based on a creation worldview?
There have rarely been times in my life that I have been ashamed of people that I call “brothers and sisters in Christ.”  This was one of them.  To be judged by people that share my beliefs because of the name tag I wore was appalling.

Yes, this is how many christians treat people. Oh, and christians are far from persecuted in this country, so that's inaccurate. But otherwise, thank you to the couple who decided to walk a mile in our shoes. Empathy can be a powerful force for understanding. If only it could open a dialogue between "us" and "them".