Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
Religion is colliding with the law all over the place.
A Malaysian woman was jailed for worshipping a teapot. It was a very large teapot, two stories high; does that help? There’s also a wonderful Catch-22 in the story — Malaysia allows freedom of worship, but under Sharia law, apostasy is a criminal offense, so she can be arrested for violating Muslim law.
In a sensible contrast, Britain has voted to take blasphemy off the law books. Good news, you English — blaspheme all you want! I expect a chorus of “goddamns” in the comments now.
The US isn’t quite so rational, since we’ve got loons pushing a religious agenda everywhere. Look in Idaho, where a public school is teaching creationism because atheism is immoral (nice chain of non sequiturs in that), or Mississippi, which offers public school assemblies to indoctrinate kids in Christianity. That’s two places where I think the law needs to step in.
Texas is contemplating the theological necessity of goats. Can we please get to the point where everyone realizes that theological necessity is no necessity at all? Oh, and Santeria is just as wacky as Christianity.
One of the reasons we atheists have to be loud and assertive is that we are floating alone in a vast sea of ignorance. Case in point: here is an artist who has obviously never met an atheist.
I am expressing my feeling towards the very Idea of Atheism. I almost pity those who have such beliefs. I’m not saying they are wrong or right. I’m just saying that what they believe in is more depressing than any other possibility.
So I made this simple picture to express my feelings for somebody who believes in nothing.
here we see a person sitting in a blank room without any doors or windows. What is most troubling is the fact that this person wants to be here, and is unwilling to move from his chair. Alone, neglected, and lost to the ravages of time. without anything to grab onto and hold as a symbol of his own identity. Those who seek nothing as a reward shall ultimately receive it.
I don’t think Atheists can even believe in love, which is the saddest part.
If this picture offends you, remember that it is not directed at you. Even if you are an atheist.
Atheists don’t believe in love? Where does this nonsense come from? This fellow is a fool who sits alone himself, imagining what atheists must think, and he conjures up this ridiculous picture based on the idea that atheists are lonely nihilists who believe in nothing. I know a lot of atheists, and no, his portrayal is not accurate.
I’m not offended by the picture — I’m just sickened by the smug ignorance of its creator. There are a lot of comments over there, too, all of which are getting hidden away by the host, which tells us who has got his eyes firmly closed in this debate. I think he needs to retitle his picture to “Self Portrait.”
This atheist simply believes in all that is (which is quite a lot), and doesn’t believe in that which isn’t (which denial, to some theists, seems to represent a complete denial of the universe…which tells us more about their deluded mindset than ours.) Since the artist doesn’t understand that we do believe in something (including love), here’s a short, simple creed for the godless.
An atheist’s creed
I believe in time,
matter, and energy,
which make up the whole of the world.I believe in reason, evidence and the human mind,
the only tools we have;
they are the product of natural forces
in a majestic but impersonal universe,
grander and richer than we can imagine,
a source of endless opportunities for discovery.I believe in the power of doubt;
I do not seek out reassurances,
but embrace the question,
and strive to challenge my own beliefs.I accept human mortality.
We have but one life,
brief and full of struggle,
leavened with love and community,
learning and exploration,
beauty and the creation of
new life, new art, and new ideas.I rejoice in this life that I have,
and in the grandeur of a world that preceded me,
and an earth that will abide without me.
Everyone has been sending me this story about how a researcher has deduced from the crazy talk in the bible that Moses was high on drugs. I don’t believe it. Sure, it’s possible, but the information is insufficient, and the hypothesis is unnecessary.
Look at Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Robert Tilton, Billy Graham, Kathryn Kuhlman, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim and Tammy Fae Bakker, Ted Haggard, Kent Hovind, Oral Roberts, Aimee Semple McPherson, Peter Popoff, Benny Hinn, Fulton Sheen, Charles Coughlin, and every single little podunk charismatic and fundamentalist preacher you can find in any town in the country. They all report visions and conversations with a god, and get ’em going and they’ll start babbling apocalyptic nonsense ala Revelation … and they aren’t all high on psychedelic drugs. Human beings have a phenomenal capacity for self-delusion and fantasy; we don’t need to postulate strange drugs in the absence of evidence to explain lunatic religious behavior, and it’s actually a bit of a cop-out.
We do have a Drinking Liberally chapter here in lovely Morris, so if you just happen to catch this in time, the beer will be flowing at the Old #1 bar downtown at 8:00. We will talk and argue; personally, I want snarl about Holy Spirit Hillary. Someday, can we please have a president who doesn’t babble about magic ghosts? Pretty please?
Yeah, I cried at the story of The Dog, the Cat, and the Giant Squid.
Quick, someone, get the movie rights!
Greg Laden has some inspiration for life science teachers. It’s good advice, too, on how to charge forward and do a great job in your chosen career.
Teachers, come to Minneapolis this summer! Not for the Republican convention, but for the other great big important meeting that will be taking place: Evolution 2008.
Teachers in particular get a really good deal: a special workshop is planned, specifically on the teaching of evolutionary biology in the schools. We’ve got some good speakers (and me) lined up, and the registration cost of a mere $20 not only gets you into the workshop, but into the regular meetings as well. Here are the details:
Evolution 101 Workshop for K-12 Educators
Friday, June 20, 2008
Bell Museum of Natural History
University of Minnesota
.625 CEUsOne $20 registration also gives K-12 teachers access to sessions and symposia by the sponsoring scientific organizations, as well as social events and keynote speakers for the full conference, June 20-24.
The EVOLUTION 101 workshop provides K-12 educators with information to effectively teach evolutionary biology in public and private school science classrooms. The workshop provides teachers the opportunity to interact with professional scientists who are eager to encourage evolutionary pedagogy. With one registration, K-12 teachers will also have access to presentations by the professional organizations, as well as keynote speakers for the full conference, June 20-24.
Registration: $20 non-refundable
A certificate of completion and .625 Continuing Education Units will be awarded for attendance at this workshop.
For more information about this workshop and to register on-line, please visit:
http://www.cce.umn.edu/conferences/evolution/evolution_101.htmlThe workshop is sponsored by the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), Minnesota Citizens for Science Education (MnCSE), and the Bell Museum of Natural History, with the generous financial support of the ADC Foundation.
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
© 2008 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved
This is pretty bad. It’s a school called the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, and the concept is great — bring smart high school students in to college early, where they can get more advanced instruction from professors. It sounds like the faculty are good and competent, near as I can tell, but I got a message from one of the students attending the school: the administration seems determined to destroy the science and math aspects of the program, and as far as I’m concerned, they’ve already damaged its reputation.
They bring in outside seminar speakers — good idea — but the impression I’m getting is that their speakers are there to contradict the science. They’re bringing in people from Probe Ministries, of all places; it’s a gang of god-walloping creationists who rail against homosexuality and abortion. That is not a good sign.
Then, this year, they give out t-shirts with a cute logo to admitted students. This is another fine idea, except that the implementation is truly cringeworthy. Students get to choose one of two t-shirts, and, well, their choices are both revealingly ignorant.
Somewhere south of San Francisco, there is a billboard that declares that there is physical proof of the existence of a god, and which suggests that you read their website. A reader sent it to me, and being the sort of open minded fellow who doesn’t believe in any gods but is happy to look at any evidence someone might find, I looked.
I’m still an atheist. You can stop here if you want.