Today while you’re singing Heresy Carols around your Blasphemy Tree and waiting for the arrival of Heathen Claus with his bag full of graven images, don’t forget to take the time to reflect that Bullshit is the Reason for the Season.
Robert Green Ingersoll was a 19th century attorney, politician, and orator, and the best known proponent of agnosticism in an era when Americans would flock to public debates and lectures, and education and understanding had not yet become tools of the vile secularist lib’rul conspiracy. For a while now I’ve been meaning to learn more about his life and his writings, but this has been relegated to my “things to eventually get around to” list.
This morning, though, while blog-surfing on a slow day at work, I came across a bit of Ingersoll’s writing which I thought was important enough to share even though it’s already making the rounds via other blogs (you know, the kind people actually read!):
When I became convinced that the universe is natural-that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf, or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world-not even in infinite space.
I was free-free to think, to express my thoughts-free to live to my own ideal-free to use all my faculties, all my senses-free to spread imagination’s wings-free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope-free to judge and determine for myself-free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the “inspired” books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past-free from popes and priests-free from all the “called” and “set apart”-free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies-free from the fear of eternal pain-free from the winged monsters of the night-free from devils, ghosts, and gods.
For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought-no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings-no chains for my limbs-no lashes for my back-no fires for my flesh-no master’s frown or threat-no following another’s steps-no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.
And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain-for the freedom of labor and thought-to those who proudly mounted scaffold’s stairs-to those whose flesh was scarred and torn-to those by fire consumed-to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons of men. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they had held, and hold it high, that light might conquer darkness still.
Sep 142009
For those (and you know who you are!) who might opine that atheists should just shut up, or who might bring up the old canard that goes something like, “If you don’t believe in God, why are you so afraid of him?”, I offer, in reply, this article by Frank Schaeffer:
As a former Religious Right leader, who was raised (and home-schooled by my Evangelical-leader parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer) in the movement, let me explain just why the ordinary rules of decency don’t apply to the right these days.
He goes on to talk about the home schooling and private Christian schooling movements that took off in the 50s:
In the early 1970s the evangelicals like my late father and James Dobson decided that the our society had fallen so far “away from God” and so far from “America’s Christian history” that it was time to metaphorically decamp to not just another country but to another planet:. In other words virtually unnoticed by the media and mainstream political operatives, a big chunk of American society seceded from the union in all but name.
[...]
Hating the USA became next to godliness.
He quotes evangelical leaders to reveal a theocratic agenda – non-Christians shouldn’t be allowed to vote in this supposed “covenanted Christian nation”, and “The Christian goal for the world is the universal development of Biblical theocratic republics, in which every area of life is redeemed and placed under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the rule of God’s law.”
Whether the world wants it or not, one would assume, and even if said goal has to be achieved at gunpoint.
The fact of the matter is we now know what the experiment in raising children outside of the American mainstream means. It means that there’s a whole subculture within American culture that mistrusts facts precisely because they are facts. They glory an alternative view of not just politics but of reality.
Those damned facts must be tools of Satan, because they’re always rearing their ugly heads to contradict our faith.
Most chilling is Schaeffer’s insistence that this movement, though it has suffered a tremendous loss of political power in the last few years, is still going strong and working tirelessly to incrementally, gradually influence every aspect of our society.
There’s no arguing with such people and no winning against them using mere elections. They are not playing by American rules. Their idea of winning is not fair elections but Armageddon.
Got that? When we hell-bound militant godless heathen speak up about why we’re hell-bound militant godless heathen, it’s these people – and often their more moderate enablers – we’re railing against.
Jul 292009
… it might be due at least in part to the need to cover the rising incidence of teen pregnancy and STDs under the auspices of the Bush/Republican/right-wing/holier-than-thou “abstinence only” sex education programs.
Yes, it seems that in 2005, just about the time when effects of the Bush-era policies of enforced ignorance might start to be seen, there was a sharp reversal of a long downward trend in the very kinds of teen issues that sex ed classes are supposed to help prevent:
According to the CDC, birth rates among teenagers aged 15 or older had been in decline since 1991 but are up sharply in more than half of American states since 2005. The study also revealed that the number of teenage females with syphilis has risen by nearly half after a significant decrease while a two-decade fall in the gonorrhea infection rate is being reversed. The number of Aids cases in adolescent boys has nearly doubled.
The report becomes more interesting when we take a look at where in the country the biggest upswings in these statistics have happened:
The CDC says that southern states, where there is often the greatest emphasis on abstinence and religion, tend to have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.
Now of course correlation is not proof of causation. Just because teens seem more likely to have unprotected nookie in communities where “sex before marriage makes the baby Jesus cry” is deemed a superior alternative to… oh, let’s call it… “reality” – doesn’t mean they’re boinking in large numbers simply because they’re uninformed. But those who might tout the effectiveness or righteousness or whatever of the ignorance-only plan need to give us some evidence that it actually works, and based on this study, that’s clearly not the case.
“Oh”, one might argue, if one was an evangelical nutcase, “the problem is that our abstinence-only efforts aren’t widespread enough to counter the effects of our sinful society!” And, in fact, that’s exactly the argument being made against these statistics:
Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for American Values, which describes itself as a supporter of traditional marriage and “against liberal education and cultural forces”, said the abstinence message is overwhelmed by a culture obsessed with sex.
If there was some truth to this statement, wouldn’t we expect to see significantly higher pregnancy and STD numbers outside Sarah Palin’s “real America”? You know, all those cities packed with them thar commie-lovin’ godless islamo-fascist America-hatin’ inneleck’shul libruls, those places where Christianity is illegal and gay sex is mandated by law and the president isn’t really a Kenyan spy bent on dictatorship?
Aren’t those the folks God is supposed to be punishing with AIDS?
Right way to express disapproval of a culture, tradtion, religion, etc:
Orally or in writing in an appropriate venue, inviting discussion and criticism, and using the interplay as means to refine or revise your argument.
Wrong way:
Murder practitioners of the offending creed. Human beings can sink to some very low depths in the name of glorified tribalism, and the deliberate murder of a pregnant woman and her husband simply because you don’t like the implications of her clothing is a few fathoms down on that scale. (Not so bad as, for instance, killing and/or displacing millions through a misguided invasion of an entire country, just to pick a theoretical example, but a horrible crime nonetheless.)
Muslims are justified in their outrage, in this case, both over the crime itself and the tepid media response to it. They are correct in saying that had a Muslim attacked a member of some other ethnic or religious group, news tickers on every TV news network would have reported the killing over and over at the bottom of the screen during the 24 hour Michael Jackson coverage.
Based on recent history, though, it should be pointed out to the more radical among the Muslim community: justifiable outrage is not an excuse to riot in the streets. Do that and you’re just lending credence to the lunatic fringe that might be inclined to support this man’s actions. Do that and you continue to perpetuate a justifiable-outrage circle-jerk that will keep on begetting violence and distrust on both sides long after you’ve gone off to meet your version of the invisible sky wizard. (Besides, it’s not as if the guy drew a picture of Mohammed or something…)
I should also point out that this man’s vile actions and the seeming lack of western interest in said actions are in no way a repudiation or validation of your repressive, misogynistic traditions. Your head scarves and burqas are the symptoms of a belief system in which women are little more than property, subject to beatings and execution if they, willingly or not, step outside the narrow, puritanical set of behaviors you have defined for them.
Ensign and Sanford are the latest in the GOP (your) Family (not mine) Values crowd to be embroiled in sex scandals. (Who will be next? These things always happen in threes, you know!) These latest are particularly interesting – in Ensign’s case, because it appears he may have used his position to arrange for financial reward and punishment for his mistress, and in Sanford’s case, because he apparently spontaneously abdicated his duties in pursuit of his South American love interest.
Maybe Sanford is smarter than we think – he left the country to have his affair, so he probably can’t be charged under South Carolina’s archaic anti-adultery law. However, that alleged higher law he brought up during his speech reserves a harsher punishment for him than the fine and/or prison time prescribed by state legislation:
The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. (Leviticus 10:20)
Governor, are you sure it’s a good idea to be bringing up “God’s Law” right now, in a state that’s part of the literalist-leaning Bible Belt?
Well, it’s that time of year again: the annual Easter weekend Blog Against Theocracy, to which I’ve intended to contribute for the past two years, but for which my record of actual participation has been… limited.
I had grandiose ideas this year about doing some actual research on current or past theocratic societies – pointing out some of the abuses of power that came with, say, the Church’s domination of European life through the middle ages, or perhaps a cautionary tale of what life is like under the theo-tyranny of Kim Jong Il today.
But time passed, other business took precedence, and it became clear there wasn’t going to be time for research. So, I thought to myself, why don’t I do something a little more light-hearted? I could find one of those fear-mongering “what if atheists ruled the world” type screeds that are not uncommon on theistic web sites, and write a parody of it (as if those things aren’t self-parodies by their very nature).
But now, as I sit here during the brief lull after the morning egg hunt and traditional devouring of candy and before the afternoon dash to visit a bunch of relatives, I’m guessing even that intention will have to be put aside.
I felt obligated to post something, though, however short and pointless it might be. I felt this way because I think the Blog Against Theo is a great idea that deserves that extra little bit of linkage I can give it. More importantly, though: I had to get that naked picture of Christopher Hitchens scrolled down off the screen.
Yeah, it’s been a few months since the last time I put up a blog post promising it wouldn’t be a few months before my next one, but today while reading a blog I normally enjoy, I read something so horrendous that I was inspired to finally try to remember my password to log on to this here site and post something to express my outrage.
PZ Myers, biologist and outspoken opponent of things superstitious, today for the first time since I’ve been reading his blog made a statement that deeply offended me. I am thoroughly outraged.
He writes:
Not only are the paladins of evolution handsomer, wittier, more charming, and with a deeper grasp of the truth than the orc-like hordes of creationism, but even our ancillary skills are wielded with more effortless panache than our opponents’ primary talents.
Yes, he actually wrote that, and apparently stands by it since it’s still right there for anyone to read. I thought long and hard about just how to reply to this… this disgusting piece, and finally realized that I’m just not qualified to address it in the way it truly deserves.
But I know someone who is.
I mailed a link to Prof. Myers’ screed to an acquaintance. As this screen grab from our webcam chat shows, he was quite visibly disturbed upon reading it.
After he composed himself, I offered to let him use my highly trafficked (my wife looked at it at least twice in 2008… once without me leaving it up on her screen!) blog to issue a reply. So without further ado, please welcome my first ever guest blogger, Kerschplat the Uruk Blackarrow.
Thank to Don for letting use of blog space. Apologize for bad human words – Kerschplat usually eat people, not talk them.
Kerschplat angry today when read hairy science man compare orcs to creationists. Angry long time, then hurt – even cry little – then angry again. Angry feel more natural.
Orcs not have problem with Theory of Evolution. Easy to believe complex organism crawl out of slime – Kerschplat himself crawl out of slime every morning, then go looking for complex organism to squash and eat. Kerschplat live simple and honest life – he disagree someone, he not make up fact or ignore evidence to support argument – he shoot opponent in back, fair and square.
Kerschplat still too angry for eloquent waxiness in reply, so simply say this: Me demand PZ Myers to issue public apologizing to orc kind – included goblins – for slanderous remark. If no say sorry, Kerschplat not afraid to call on evil forces from darkest depths of underworld: lawyers. If PZ not sorrying, Kerschplat take legal action. Maybe get free camera.
Since have attention, Kerschplat do little self-promotion. Am something of artist – squeeze fluids from fallen foes for paint colors – and make picture of early aquatic life frolick near shoreline before emerge onto land. Attach below – please to give feedback in comments. Kerschplat open to critcism so for people who say bad things, Kerschplat do honorable thing and not use slow, painful kill method.
Thank muchness,
Kerschplat
There you have it, an emotional reply from someone to whom this grievous insult was directly… uh… directed. Stick that wafer into your fiery pit of despair and smoke it, Myers!
(Yes, I truly am a master of Photoshop!)
