How not to approach a blogger

I was really hesitant to mention this more than a single tweet, but Pharyngula picked up the story, so now I feel oddly obligated to comment.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post in reply to Pastor Tom over at Hard Truth who seemed to think atheists were taking over the internet. My reply got fairly popular at reddit (athiesm + internet humor + being female = reddit success, apparently). Unfortunately, this resulted in a hoard of atheists visiting his posts to leave comments with varying levels of trollishness, which pretty much solidified his beliefs that atheists were indeed taking over the internet (good job, guys). He wasn’t happy with this, including with me:

“A blogger on www.blaghag.blogspot.com also felt bashing me was worth her time yesterday. (I didn’t see her name on there) While she wasn’t nearly as hateful as the first blog I mention, she still did her best to minimize me for my beliefs.”

Really, I was bashing him? Minimizing him for his beliefs? I invite you to go read my original post and look over what I said. Probably the worst thing I said is that his post was “both silly and intriguing,” and then proceeded to disagree with him. Of course, if I’ve learned anything from talking to conservative religious people, it’s that disagreeing with their beliefs is probably the most offensive thing you can do.

Then he picked up the comic I drew about PZ and Ken Ham’s epic battle in the Creation Museum. I’m a little peeved that he posted the whole thing without my permission, but at least he linked back to my blog. His post was so bad that I didn’t even want to bother replying to it – literally every single sentence had something worth arguing with, and it wasn’t worth my time. I’m really not interesting in debating people who are obviously so set in their beliefs. But the very last paragraph really got to me (emphasis mine):

“And just so everyone knows, I will be [at the Creation Museum] when the thundering herd shows up, and I plan on talking to them and interacting with them as much as they will allow, and if they lie on their blogs, I’ll be right here to point it out. So PZ, I can’t wait to see you, Jennifer, and the rest of your loyal subjects, and that’s the HardTruth.”

To be honest, this scared me. No, not the cheesy ending of “that’s the Hard Truth” after every one of his posts. Generally when random uber-conservative evangelical internet strangers say they’re going to find you and meet you, that causes a healthy paranoia in a person, especially a 21 year old female. Especially when said female was just angsting about how her overprotective father didn’t want her to get hurt by religious crazies during her trip. I didn’t want to blog about my fear, since it seemed like he read my blog, but I did tweet it:

“First theist just called me out and said he’s going to personally meet me at the Creation Museum. A little freaked out. http://bit.ly/EJZ58“

And…then he found my twitter account and commented:

“@jennifurret C’mon Jennifer, no need to be freaked out. I just want to say hello.”

Yeah, sorry, that kind of freaked me out more. I mean, it’s not like he stalked me – my twitter feed is clearly placed on my main page. But the way I read “I just want to say hello” in my head was really not helping to assuage my fears. I told myself to think positively about this. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt: normal, kind person until proven scary.

Me: I’m going to tell myself he’s just a nice preacher man with a family
Mark: So a rapist and a pedophile?*
Me: gaaaaaaaahhhh shut up shut up
Mark: I’ll be around, don’t worry.
Me: Great, my protection consists of a Jew, a gay, and a girl gamer. That sounds like a bad joke.

I really don’t think Pastor Tom is a bad guy – I know he reads my blog, so I don’t want him to take this post the wrong way – but I think you can understand my nerves. I’m a new blogger, and I’m always a bit paranoid about how what I say here can affect my every day life. And I’m not going to the Creation Museum for a big debate. I don’t want to roam the exhibits trying to refute everything and annoy the other patrons. I just want to have some chuckles with my fellow nonbelievers and get my photo taken riding a Triceratops. I am a bit proud that I was singled out in the same sentence as PZ – what an honor! That gained some applause from my club members yesterday, and according to a Pharyngula commenter I have now elevated to the status of Unholy Woman. Woo!

I’m still excited for the trip this Friday, but I think I’m going to be moving myself to the center of the herd.

*I really shouldn’t have to put this disclaimer here, but since this will probably be read by religious people…no, my friend Mark and I do not think all religious people are rapists and pedophiles. He was making a joke just to freak me out more.

Atheism is boring

Wait, what? Mark pointed this new Post Secret entry to me:
I had to pause for a moment to consider what this person meant. Atheism, boring? My best guess is that they mean since there’s no preordained meaning to life, no grand scheme, no “end goal” of eternal paradise, no supernatural occurrences…that that’s boring. Of course, I’m going to have to disagree. I think knowing that the world was formed naturally and that we’re lucky enough to be sentient in it is pretty damn amazing.

Is this any more boring because I know the chemistry and physics of stars, not that they are angels in heaven?Is this any more boring because I know basic principles of geology formed it, not God?Is this any more boring because I know it evolved, not that it was created?I know I’m preaching to the choir (ha), but I don’t need an invisible man in the sky telling me what I should find meaningful. I find plenty of things beautiful and inspiring all on their own. Maybe that’s just because I evolved to have certain images and events trigger certain chemicals in my brain to make me feel good, but isn’t that in itself amazing?

But maybe I could be off. Maybe it’s the real world consequences of atheism that they find boring. Not going to church, not having holidays, not having local events. Even there, I think I’d disagree. I think even most theists find church boring, so that’s no great loss. Many holidays have totally lost their original religious connotations and can be celebrated even though you’re an atheist (I look forward to Christmas every year!). And the loss of community problem is shrinking with the more active atheist organizations we see popping up around the country.

Or, knowing the demographics of Post Secret, maybe this is some young person who called him or herself “atheist” because it’s “cool.” I’d like to pretend this isn’t happening, but there are more and more “atheists” who can’t give you a single logical argument why they don’t believe in God – not because those arguments don’t exist, but because they haven’t given it any thought. I can imagine some punk atheist kid (hell, how old am I, 80?) suddenly finding “atheism” boring and going back to angels and miracles and dudes rising from the dead.

Of course, this is all just utter speculation and could be complete BS. I probably shouldn’t try to interpret Post Secret cards so deeply. What do you guys think?

I think this is pretty much the best thing someone has ever called me

Occasionally I like to wander around the internet, checking out blogs that have linked to my posts. Well, one of those was The Good Kentuckian, which I’m 99.99% sure is supposed to be a Stephen Colbert-like satire (though one can never be to sure when it comes to Poes). My blog is listed under what is quite possibly the best group name ever: FeminiNazi Nation of Christ-Haters.

Yessss. I’ve made the big time! The only thing that could make that better is if the blog was sincerely conservative. But you never know with the internet. I’ve definitely heard real conservatives say stupider things than what they have in their posts.

PZ and Hemant are also listed, but I think my group name is still the best. Pharyngula made “America-Hating Blogs to Watch Closely” and Friendly Atheist unfortunately got “Atheists & Homosexuals – Evil Intertubes Run By Demons.” Sorry Hemant, I guess you’re giving these guys the wrong signals!

And while we’re on the topic of blogging accomplishments, apparently my blog is blocked at someone’s work for “objectional content.” I’m not sure if it’s the atheism, occasional swearing, or random discussions about sex, but I think this is hilariously awesome. Well, not awesome for the people trying to read my blog at work – sorry guys – but I’ll consider it an honor!

Oh yeah? Well our atheist club has superheros for officers!

I finally got around to doing a little housecleaning around the Society of Non-Theists’s website. Freshmen should start poking around for club information in a couple weeks, so I wanted to make it look like we actually do stuff (which we do!). And I finally got around to updating the Contact page with some officer bios so it looks like we’re actually normal (well, relatively) human beings with actual personalities.

It amuses me to no end that we have a blonde, brunette, and red head. It’s so delightfully stereotypical. I keep having images of Charlie’s Angels or the Power Puff Girls or any superheroine trio. And having three women as officers is definitely going to help club attendance – girls will feel welcome, and boys well…yeah, I don’t need to explain why boys will come.

Now if I can only convince my fellow officers that we all need matching spandex outfits…then club attendance would increase by 1000%.*

*If I hear about people contacting the officers in order to be creepy instead of real club business, I will smite you.

Don’t forget to make your donation if you pledged

If you sponsored me in the Blogathon, don’t forget to actually go and make your donation! It would be a shame to have $530 pledged and only a fraction of that actually get donated. Click here to make your donation. If you don’t remember the amount you pledged, go sign into your account at the Blogathon website. If you’re still having trouble, let me know and I can look it up for you.

Please try to make your donation by this Friday! All donations are going to be matched until then, so you’re effectively doubling your impact. Thanks again!

Don't forget to make your donation if you pledged

If you sponsored me in the Blogathon, don’t forget to actually go and make your donation! It would be a shame to have $530 pledged and only a fraction of that actually get donated. Click here to make your donation. If you don’t remember the amount you pledged, go sign into your account at the Blogathon website. If you’re still having trouble, let me know and I can look it up for you.

Please try to make your donation by this Friday! All donations are going to be matched until then, so you’re effectively doubling your impact. Thanks again!

Homeless Atheist leaves Millions of Dollars to Charities

There’s a great story over at NPR about a homeless man who surprised them by leaving them $4 million dollars when he died. He had to money to live luxuriously, but instead he lived the simplest life possible:

“When Walters retired, he evidently retired from the world of material comforts. He didn’t have a car.

“He just gave up all of the material things that we think we have to have,” Belle says. “You know, I don’t know how we gauge happiness. What’s happy for you might not be happy for me. I never heard him complain.”

Evidently, among his few possessions was a radio. Hence those announcements listeners hear now and again on NPR stations.”

He also donated smaller sums of $400,000 to various non-profit organizations, including a Catholic mission where his best friend worked.

“Belle stayed with Walters when he was ill. She became his nurse and ultimately the executor of his estate — as well as one of the beneficiaries — despite fundamental differences between them.

“He was an atheist and I’m a very profound practicing Catholic, and I’d never met an atheist,” Belle says. “And that just blew my mind that somebody could not believe in the Lord.””

I really love seeing stuff like this, but especially when it involves an atheist. It’s only more proof that you don’t need to be religious to be a good, charitable, self sacrificing human being.

And an extra special bonus? He was a Purdue alumnus! Go Boilermakers for producing the occasional awesome person.

This should be fun

So I was lamenting earlier about my failure to come up with interesting group activities for my atheist organization. The same member quoted in that post just came up with a great idea – a Photo Scavenger Hunt! Grouping up members and making them take photos of themselves doing silly things or in front of silly things before a time limit runs out. “That’s not as awesome as an orgy!” you say. Well I disagree! Why? Because it’s going to be a Freethinking Photo Scavenger Hunt! With wonderful items on the scavenger hunt list like:

– Depict evolution somehow
– Laugh/cry in front of a place of worship
– Act out your favorite ridiculous scene from a holy book

etc

Now all I have to do is finalize the list by Sunday…but I figure a lot of you here are even more creative/hilarious than I am, so I’m going to ask for your help. What do you want to see on that scavenger hunt list? Email me at jmccreig(at)purdue.edu.

DO NOT LEAVE COMMENTS WITH IDEAS IN THEM BELOW OR I WILL DELETE THEM AND SMITE YOU WITH A FIREY HEATHEN RAGE! General comments about how awesome this idea is are okay, but I don’t want club members getting a sneak peak at the list (especially since a lot read my blog). You’ll probably get some of the best photos posted here, so put those thinking caps on!

A Victory for the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign

A while back I posted how the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign had their ad “You Can Be Good Without God” rejected in Bloomington for being “too controversial” even though the bus agency (owned by the town) had run religious ads before. Well, they’ve reached a settlement regarding their lawsuit! The transit will run their ads on as many buses for whatever length of time at the normal rate, and pay for part of the ACLU’s legal fees. And they say it best:

“Let’s be straight here: this is a victory not just for atheism and secularism, but for free speech all around.”

I’m crossing my fingers that West Lafayette is next. Maybe I need to go beg their organizer a little more…

I'll pray for you

From Mark:

Still alive, here’s Guest Post #5!

The question was “How you feel when people say ‘I’ll pray for you’ because something bad happened to you?”

In the end, it’s a tough question to answer.

On one hand, the people that say these things to me don’t understand that it means nothing to me whereas they firmly believe that their prayers (if they end up doing them at all) accomplish something that they obviously cannot. Of course, I would much rather they try to hire the best doctor/lawyer they could to help me out.

On the other hand, however, knowing that they are intending to pray for me to their god in a way that does not inhibit me from getting better means that they care. They certainly care enough to feel empathy for me in my time of need. It’s not up to them to try to upgrade my situation on their own. They are not expected to pay my hospital bill unless it is their fault to begin with that I’m there.

So, while I would not like to have to deal with a chaplain coming to give me my last rites as I’m dying, I will appreciate every prayer, useful or otherwise, that people can spare. It may not do anything on its own, but I will be comforted by the fact that there is someone out there somewhere who cares about me in my hour of need.

This is post 46 of 49 of Blogathon. Pledge a donation to the Secular Student Alliance here.