Archive for the 'religious indoctrination'

I’m writing this on Monday, but have delayed the scheduled posting of it for a few days, in that I do think there’s such a thing as inappropriate timing. Some folks may still think I’m off base with this one, and that’s fine. In the wake of the horrific shootings in Tucson the other day, there has of course been a lot of argument as to possible causes, motivations, the role America’s current volatile political climate may or may not have played in the event, and so on. I’ve been involved in a few arguments on Facebook myself. What will go unnoticed — indeed what is almost certain to be praised — is the way theists will spout sanctimonious, pious bullshit so staggeringly stupid and offensive that it can only be by a willful disconnection of one’s higher cognitive functions that the stupidity of such pronouncements do not meet with immediate ridicule and condemnation. Here’s one such inane homily, plucked at random from CNN. “The doctors are pretty clear that we just have to wait and see,” Mike McNulty said. But he added, “I can only think that God has more important things planned for her in the future.” Now, sure, I’m willing to accept that Mike McNulty is a respectable Democratic congressman, a dear friend and colleague of Gabrielle Giffords’, a good man dedicated to serving his state and his country, and an all around decent and intelligent fellow. He is in a deeply fraught emotional state, as anyone would be, and of course I’m not unsympathetic to that. I’m not attacking him here, so much as I am the inanity he has uttered, and what it says about how religion asks us to view the world. Let’s consider what kind of God this remark is proposing here. As he sits upon his heavenly throne of purest gold and alabaster, he thinks to himself, “Hmm, I have important things planned for this Democratic congresswoman. Being omnipotent, there are any...
Read more

I was contacted awhile ago by Tyler, a young atheist living in a Christian town in a Christian family surrounded by Christian friends. Not an uncommon story. At the time he was struggling with coming out and concerned about potential loss of his social support network and how others would react to his deconversion. Since that time he has come out as a strong atheist and anti-theist, lost friends along the way, but seems happier and more confident these days. He had shared his history with me when he first contacted me. He was raised in a fairly moderate Christian home and experienced a very average American upbringing, until, at 16, he landed in juvenile detention on drug charges. That’s when things began to change, not just socially but religiously. According to his account, he wasn’t addicted or having trouble due to drugs. Like many young people he was experimenting and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when he was remanded to his mother, she informed him he would be going to the Teen Challenge Ranch in Northwest Arkansas—an all-boy Christian rehabilitation center for troubled youth in the mountains near Fayetteville. “My parents had a list from Teen Challenge of what to pack and what not to…I needed all of the normal hygiene products, collared shirts and other appropriate clothing, and a NIV Bible. They also wanted me to bring an alarm clock, but it could not have a radio because they said they did not want anything ‘worldly’ interfering with my rehabilitation. The list of things we could not bring was quite a bit larger, though. We could not bring anything that was not Christian with us. No music, literature (not that I read that much back then anyway), no television, and no movies that were not approved by the staff. If it did not praise the Lord, it was not allowed.” The Ranch itself sounds not unlike other such facilities, but clearly my interest is in the integration of religion into the...
Read more

Since we’re only on for an hour now, I’m not sure how much time we’ll have for a topic, but if we have time, I would like to address the following miracle claim I was confronted with in a recent dialog: Out of curiosity though, I ask how you can scientifically prove how this happened: A young girl, between the ages of 3 & 4 drowns and dies. A man who has failed every CPR test in his life, brings her back to life. Later on, she tells her mother that she has a little sister named Emily. Emily does not exist. The little girl says she does. When asked who told her this, she said a lady in white did in a white room. Keep in mind the hospital had no white rooms where she was at and the nurses were not wearing white. Later on the mother is pregnant, the little girl says this is not Emily. It is not. It is a boy. Later on the mother is pregnant again, same thing happens, another boy. The family decides they are not going to have anymore children, but then the mother gets pregnant one more time. The little girl says this is Emily. A girl is born. For the record, this is a true story, with many witnesses. How is it that this little girl saw this lady in white in a white room while she was dead and then predicted the birth of her sister? This is why I am not atheist because I believe something or someone does exist and there is some kind of place after death besides six feet under or ashes. Not to give too much away, but to skip to the end of the discussion, after making a few requests for clarification from the claimant, this miracle is exactly as impressive as saying “Yesterday I flipped a coin, and before it landed, a little child shouted ‘tails!’—and it did land on tails. How do you explain this?!” Hope you’ll be there for the live feed!

So the Rethuglican Taliban are on the warpath, and once again they’re all about using the government to shove Jebus down all our throats (all the while pontificating that they got back into power because they’re all about “less government,” of course). So far, we have one gasbag here in Texas wasting no time in making sure that Ten Commandments slabs are erected in every school in the state. Just how many lawsuits over idiocy like that do we need before they figure it out? And the San Antonio paper has a poll, in which jackbooted theocratic thuggery is currently ahead by a two-thirds margin. We aren’t Pharyngula (I and several other folks I know have emails out to PZ at the moment), but perhaps we can “AXP” this poll just a tad in the direction of religious freedom and sanity. Anyway, to those of you on the left who sat out the mid-terms because you were disappointed that Obama didn’t fix the world fast enough, welcome to your new Saudi America. Addendum: PZ has now posted and the squid hordes have acted, and the poll is where it should be, at over 90% against.

Is This about Me or You? Imagine this conversation: Woman 1: So, anyway, at the end of the argument I just told my husband I thought he was wrong. Woman 2: I can’t believe you said that. Aren’t you afraid he’ll hit you? When I put myself in Woman 1′s place, I have two immediate thoughts: 1. Not in a million years would I be afraid my husband would strike me for any reason short of his own self-defense if I went violently insane. 2. How long was Woman 2 abused? Is she still being abused? I wouldn’t expect Woman 2′s comment from a woman who has no history of abuse whatsoever. I suppose I could imagine a situation where someone was under a mistaken impression I was being abused, and was concerned for my safety? But as a general rule, that question would not be raised in seriousness by a woman who is not or has not been in a situation where she’s been battered. The question, while aimed at Woman 1, actually speaks volumes about Woman 2, and tells us nothing at all about Woman 1. Language, questions and comments aimed at others actually carry within them information about those who are speaking. Even the most innocent language does this. If I see a friend making a Lasagna, and I see her using cottage cheese, and I ask “Oh, you don’t use Ricotta?” I’ve just said, “I don’t use cottage cheese when I make Lasagna, I use Ricotta.” We spend our conversational time telling people all about ourselves, often without even realizing we’re doing it. What Pascal’s Wager Tells Me about You When we think of Pascal’s Wager, we generally think in brief of someone asking “What if you’re wrong?” The stakes generally are “something bad” if you’re wrong (that you’re risking), and either gaining reward or simply avoiding the “bad” if you’re right. The Wager itself has a host of problems. But that’s not...
Read more