Skeptico

Atheism is Not a Religion

This is a refrain I’m hearing a lot from religious apologists – atheism is a religion. Also its equally fallacious siblings, science is a religion and evolution is a religion. It’s a sign of their desperation that the best argument they have is not that atheism is wrong, or that god does exist (supported by evidence of course), but that atheism is a religion too. A strange argument for a religious person to make on the face of it.  Is it supposed to strengthen the atheist’s position or weaken the theist’s one? In reality it’s a sign they have run out of arguments.

Still, this argument is widely made, and so it needs to be addressed. Atheism (and here I mean the so-called “weak atheism” that does not claim proof that god does not exist), is just the lack of god-belief – nothing more and nothing less. And as someone once said, if atheism is a religion, not collecting stamps is a hobby.

That really ought to end the discussion right there. Clearly, a mere lack of belief in something cannot be a religion. In addition, atheism has no sacred texts, no tenets, no ceremonies. Even theists making this argument must know all that. So they must have something else in mind when they trot this one out, but what is it? What are they really thinking? Well, if you look at various definitions of religion, the only things that could possibly apply to atheism would be something like this:

6. Something one believes in and follows devotedly

or this:

4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.

Obviously I don’t know if that’s what they mean – I don’t read minds. But I can’t see what else it could be. They must be referring to certain activities of atheists – writing books and blogs, financing bus ads, joining atheist groups, etc. They think atheists are “religious in their atheism” as one person put it to me – the word “religious” being used here colloquially to mean something felt very strongly, or followed enthusiastically. But this definition of religion is so broad that virtually anything people enjoy doing very much, or follow strongly or obsessively, is a religion. It’s a definition of religion that is so broad that it’s meaningless. In reality, most of the things that people follow enthusiastically, are just hobbies. And ironically, although not collecting stamps is not a hobby, getting involved in atheist activities (writing books and blogs, attending atheist meetings) might well be a hobby for some people. But it is a hobby, not a religion.

What Is Religion?

I’m sure that argument won’t convince all theists to abandon this rhetorical trope they love so much.  To really address the argument, we have to define religion, and then see if atheism fits the definition. While I don’t think I can define religion completely, I think I can state the minimum that religion has to have to still be a religion. And it seems to me that there is one thing at least that is common to all religions. It’s this. In my view, religion at a minimum, has to have the following characteristic:

Religion must include something you have to accept on faith – that is, without evidence commensurate with the extraordinary nature of the belief.

Most religions will include other things too, but they must require faith. Of course, not all things that require faith are religions, but all religions must require faith.

The minimum definition covers all the religions I’m familiar with. For example, it includes any religion that involves belief in god or gods – something you have to believe in without evidence. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism… all require you to believe in god or gods as a minimum, without evidence. The minimum definition would also include religions that don’t require belief in god, but require faith in other things. For example, I believe it would include Buddhism, which (for example) includes the belief that living beings go through a succession of lifetimes and rebirth. It would also include Scientology – no evidence for Xenu, that I’m aware of. Maybe you can think of some actual religions that would be excluded, but I haven’t been able to so far.

So religion requires belief without evidence. And by that definition atheism cannot possibly be a religion because atheists do not have to believe in anything to be an atheist – either with or without evidence. QED.

Now, some religious people may say, “but that’s not my definition of religion”. To which I say, OK, then give me your definition. Give me your definition of religion, that doesn’t require belief without evidence, that includes your religion, the others I named, and atheism. And it needs to be better than the two dictionary definitions I cited above.  Give me that definition. Because here’s the thing. The problems I have with religions are:

1. They are not based on fact or on any reasonable evidence commensurate with the claims they make. In many cases, the claims they make are plainly absurd and are actually contradicted by the evidence.
2. Religious proponents demand respect, and adherence to their delusions by others. This despite (1) above.

Those are the aspects of religion that I object to. Clearly atheism doesn’t fit 1 (or 2) above, so it is nothing like any of the religions I object to. If your religion does not require belief without faith, then I probably wouldn’t have a problem with it. Assuming, of course, all the tenets of your religion are actually backed up by evidence extraordinary enough for the extraordinary claims your religion makes. But they never do. 

In my view, theists will have their work cut out to deny this minimum requirement for religion.  Come on – they even refer to their religion as “my faith”. 

Evidence and Extraordinary Evidence

Some religious people will claim that their religious beliefs are backed by evidence. This is where it gets tricky, because many religious people genuinely believe their religion is rational and backed by evidence. For example, one Christian I debated cited that the evidence Christianity was real, was (and I quote), “the resurrection of Christ”. Of course, the resurrection of Christ, if it had actually happened, would be pretty good evidence for Christianity. But, unfortunately, there is no good evidence for the resurrection. Certainly, nothing close to the extraordinary evidence we would need to accept this extraordinary claim.

Extraordinary Claims

This needs explaining in more detail. Why do extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence? Well, all claims require exactly the same amount of evidence, it’s just that most "ordinary" claims are already backed by extraordinary evidence that you don’t think about. When we say “extraordinary claims”, what we actually mean are claims that do not already have evidence supporting them, or sometimes claims that have extraordinary evidence against them. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence because they usually contradict claims that are backed by extraordinary evidence.

So why is Jesus’ resurrection an extraordinary claim, and why is the Bible not extraordinary evidence for it? Well, the resurrection goes against all the evidence we have that people do not come back to life, spontaneously, after two days of being dead. Modern medicine can bring people back from what would have been considered in earlier years to be “dead”, but not after 2 days of being dead with no modern life support to keep the vital organs working. In fact, it is probably reasonably safe to say it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that people cannot come back to life after being dead for two days without modern life support. So, extraordinary claim it is.

On the other hand, the evidence we are offered in support of this extraordinary claim consists only of accounts written decades after the event, by people who were not there when the events described were purported to have occurred. We are offered nothing but hearsay anecdotes from superstitious people with a clear reason for wanting others to think the story true. This is hardly acceptable evidence to counteract the fact that this never happens. Christians might ask, what evidence would an atheist accept for such an extraordinary claim? And in reality, it is hard to imagine that there could possibly be any evidence good enough for us to accept the resurrection as true. Christians may claim that this is unfair, or that we are closed minded, but the fact that you are unlikely to find extraordinary evidence for this event 2,000 years after the fact, is hardly the non-believer’s fault. The real question, considering the weakness of the evidence, and the wildly extraordinary nature of the claim, is why would anyone believe any of it in the first place?  The truth is, they accept it on faith.  In fact, the acceptance of this story on faith alone is usually considered to be essential to the true believer. And although that was just Christianity, the same lack of evidence, and belief based on faith alone, applies to the claims of all the other religions that I’m familiar with.

Religions require belief in extraordinary claims without anything close to the extraordinary evidence that is required.  Atheism requires no belief in anything.  The contrast couldn’t be clearer.

But the believer has one final shot – one last desperate rhetorical item to fling at the atheist.  Here we go.

More Faith To Be An Atheist?

The final argument many religious apologists throw into the mix is it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to believe in god. That certainly took me by surprise the first time I heard it. I think what they’re trying to say is this. Atheists think matter just appeared out of nowhere, that something came out of nothing. But where did the matter come from? To think that matter appeared out of nowhere requires more faith than to think a creator made everything. Why is there something rather than nothing? To think that matter just appeared by itself, requires faith.

Atheists don’t think matter came out of nowhere. Atheists say we don’t know where matter came from; we don’t know why there is something rather than nothing. Maybe one day we’ll know, or maybe we won’t. But we don’t know now. Theists are exactly the same. They don’t know either, but the difference is they make up an explanation (god). But it’s just a made up explanation – they have no reason to suppose it’s true, other than that they just like it.

And it’s a useless explanation. Unless they know something about this “God” – how he created everything; why he created it; what he’s likely to do next - it’s a lack of an explanation. It’s just a placeholder until a real explanation comes along. Except that the theist won’t be open to the real explanation when and if science is able to provide one. The god placeholder prevents investigation into any real tentative explanations. The theist who says god created everything, is the one with the faith – faith that “god” is the explanation and that no other is possible. The atheist is content to say “we don’t know”. For now, anyway. And it’s obvious that saying “we don’t know,” requires no faith.  That may be a hard thing to do for people who want all the answers, but it certainly isn’t religion.

One last thing.  Some theists have responded to the “if atheism is a religion, not collecting stamps is a hobby” argument by pointing out that non stamp collectors (aphilatelists?) don’t write books or blogs about not collecting stamps, don’t post anti stamp collecting ads on buses, don't ridicule stamp collectors, etc.  This is meant to demonstrate that the “stamp collecting” analogy is weak.  It actually demonstrates that the analogy is very good, since it highlights one of the main problems atheists have with many religious people.

Here’s the thing they are missing, and the real problem most atheists have with religion.  If stamp collectors demanded that people who don’t collect stamps obey their stamp collecting rules, started wars with groups who collected slightly different types of stamps, denied non-stamp collectors rights or discriminated against them, bullied them in school, claimed you had to collect stamps to be a suitable person to run for public office, tried to get stamp collecting taught in schools as science in opposition to real science, demanded that people be killed for printing cartoons that made fun of stamp collectors, claimed that non-stamp collectors lacked moral judgment, made up ridiculous straw man positions they claimed non-stamp collectors took, and then argued against those straw men positions etc etc, - then non-stamp collectors probably would criticize stamp collectors in the way atheists criticize many religious people. And with good reason. Not collecting stamps would still not be a hobby.  Or a religion.

Proof That God Exists (Not)

From PZ I found Proof That God Exists – a series of questions designed to force the conclusion that (you guessed it), god exists.  The site presents a series of yes/no questions about whether laws of logic, science and absolute morals exist – questions to which I answered “yes”.  Sure, I guess “absolute moral laws” might be debatable, but I thought, murder is always bad and so I answered yes.

When I answered the last question with “I do not believe that God exists”, I got the following “proof”.  Well, not so much.  I imagine the logical fallacies employed will be obvious:

Denying the existence of God is not unbelief but an exercise in self-deception. You may know things, but you cannot account for anything you know.

And neither can you.  The difference is that you make up an answer - “God” – and put him in the place where you have no answer.  But it’s just a made up explanation – you have no reason to suppose it’s true, other than that you just like it.  And it’s a useless explanation. Unless you know something about this “God” – how he created everything; why he created it; what he’s likely to do next - it’s a lack of an explanation. It’s just a placeholder until a real explanation comes along.

Arguing against God's existence would be on par with arguing against the existence of air, breathing it all the while.

False analogy.  If a living animal is deprived of air, it will die.  This is a repeatable, reliable and undoubted observation.  I wouldn’t have to put up some lame 20 questions website to prove it either.

You use the universal, immaterial, unchanging laws of logic, mathematics, science, and absolute morality in order to come to rational decisions, but you cannot account for them. These laws are not the only way God has revealed himself to you, but they are sufficient to show the irrationality of your thinking, and expose your guilt for denying Him.

Pure assertion, unsupported by arguments presented so far. 

There is a reason that you deny the existence of God and it has nothing to do with proof. I can show this to you. Examine what your initial reaction was to the proof of God's existence offered on this website.

OK.  My initial reaction was… “let’s list the logical fallacies you’re using and put up a blog post”.  What’s your point?

Did you think that you could continue to deny God because you are not a scientist, or philosopher but 'Surely somewhere, sometime, a philosopher or scientist will come up with an explanation for universal, immaterial, unchanging laws apart from God?' Did you try to come up with an alternate explanation on your own?

No – see above.  I don’t need to come up with “an alternate explanation” – you’re the one making the claim so it is up to you to support that claim.

OR Did you even consider that the proof was valid?

First – it wasn't proof.  Proof only exists within math.  This was an attempt to prove something using logic only.  Even if the logic wasn’t flawed (which it was, but let’s say it wasn't), it would still not be “proof”, or even particularly good evidence.  Logic is great, but at the end of the exercise when you have your logical conclusion, you still have to test your conclusion against reality to see if it is true.  Science is full of experiments that seemed logically sound but failed the experiment and were discarded.  When I agreed the laws of logic exist, I didn’t agree that logic is always correct and will always lead you to the correct solution.  So for many reasons, your “proof” is quite obviously not valid.

Hoping that an alternate explanation for universal, immaterial, unchanging laws can someday be found apart from God, is a blind leap of faith, or wishful thinking. Isn't it interesting that this is exactly what professed unbelievers accuse Christians of?

Yeah, but that’s not what I did.  I’m just saying that if you or I don’t have the answer, you don’t get to say “therefore God” by default.

Please examine the real reason why you are running from God. It is my prayer that God will open your eyes and change your heart so that you may be saved from your sin, embraced by His forgiving love, and come to know the peace which passes all understanding.

I’m not running from something that (probably) doesn’t exist.  And we know that prayer is useless so go on, knock yourself out, pray for me.  Pray for some better logic while you’re at it.

The whole website was an exercise in argument from ignorance – you can’t explain it, therefore God.  Throw in an argument by bad analogy, some confident assertion that you have proved your point, and the customary attempt to assign motives to disbelief (“running from God”) and it’s the same standard vacuous religious drivel we’ve all heard before.  Nothing to see here.

Do You Have Frog's Legs?

…Then hop over the bar and get me a drink.

Ba-Boom!

A frog that constantly changes color is being worshipped as a god in India:

Hundreds of people are flocking to Reji Kumar’s home in India daily to pray and ask for miracles.

[…]

The frog was a dazzling white colour when Reji, who is from Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, in south India, first spotted it.

Then it changed to yellow and had gone grey by the time he got it home.

“By night the frog was dark yellow, and then it became transparent so you could see its internal organs," Reji, a life worker, reportedly said.

"It seemed like a miracle to me that this frog had so many different coats. So now people come to see him and pray to him.”

I suppose it’s about as much use as praying to any other god.  Which is to say, completely useless.  There is a more serious problem though – it seems the frog won’t eat anything:

My one problem is that this frog does not appear to eat. I keep trying to feed it but it doesn’t eat anything. I don’t know what else to give it

Yeah that's right - they're worried he might croak.  (Croak.  Frog - croak.  I kill myself sometimes.)  But why?  Hey, it couldn't be down to the fact that he's keeping the damn thing in a glass jar could it?

Seriously - that's no way to treat your lord and savior.

I pray that you buggers let me go.

Christians Justify Torture

Several bloggers have commented on the recent Pew Survey on whether or not different religious groups support torture. Interestingly, the question they asked was unequivocal – there were no euphemisms such as “enhanced interrogation” or yes it is / no it isn’t terms like “waterboarding”.  The question was unequivocally about torture:

Do you think the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can often be justified, sometimes be justified, rarely be justified, or never be justified?

The results by religious grouping below clearly shows that the more Christian you are, the more likely you are to think that torture was justified:

I’m not sure how statistically significant these results are. The numbers questioned in the attend religious services “weekly”, “monthly…” and “seldom or never” were 336, 225 and 168 respectively. That seems a little low to be used for drawing too many conclusions, although I could be wrong. If anyone has the statistical know-how to crunch the numbers and calculate statistical significance I’d be very interested. Also, the number supporting torture in the less religious groups is still fairly high in my view. Torture was justified at least “sometimes” by around 40% of the “unaffiliated” and “attend religious services seldom or never” groups. That compares with 54% to 62% of the religious groups.

Even so, significant or not, these results hardly support the view that religion (specifically Christianity) provides a moral compass, or that reading the Bible or going to church is necessary for one to be moral or good. And, really, should this surprise anyone? Consider what the “good book”, aka The Word Of God has to say about the use of torture. Just a few snippets:

If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property. Exodus 21:20-21

Oh yeah, you say, but that was just for slaves. Slaves are property, right? But it wasn't just slaves. Look what David did (with God’s approval) to all the inhabitants of several cities:

And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. 2 Samuel 12:31

Hum, saws, harrows, axes, the brick-kiln - well at least they didn't waterboard.

Jesus approved of the practice:

The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Luke 12:46-48

Oh that Jesus - such a barrel of fun. But then, he got it from his dad:

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. Revelation 9:5-6

Much more at the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible’s What the Bible says about Torture page.

This survey really shouldn’t surprise anyone. The Bible, Christianity, religion are not necessary for one to be moral or good.

Melanie Phillips Wrong Again

One of the most consistently stupid “journalists” writing on the subject of science and intelligent design has to be Melanie Phillips. I commented two years ago on another horrendous anti-science piece of hers: Idiot Journalist is the new enemy of reason.  Now she’s back again writing in the Spectator, with a piece entitled Creating An Insult To Intelligence – actually a highly accurate headline considering what she wrote under it.

Listening to the Today programme this morning, I was irritated once again by yet another misrepresentation of Intelligent Design as a form of Creationism. In an item on the growing popularity of Intelligent Design, John Humphrys interviewed Professor Ken Miller of Brown University in the US who spoke on the subject last evening at the Faraday Institute, Cambridge. Humphrys suggested that Intelligent Design might be considered a kind of middle ground between Darwinism and Creationism. Miller agreed but went further, saying that Intelligent Design was

nothing more than an attempt to repackage good old-fashioned Creationism and make it more palatable.

But this is totally untrue. Miller referred to a landmark US court case in 2005, Kitzmiller v Dover Area School District, which did indeed uphold the argument that Intelligent Design was a form of Creationism in its ruling that teaching Intelligent Design violated the constitutional ban against teaching religion in public schools. But the court was simply wrong, doubtless because it had heard muddled testimony from the likes of Prof Miller.

The court was”simply wrong”? What, because you say so? And why was Miller’s testimony “muddled”? Because you didn’t like it? Or because you didn’t understand it? In any case, the court was not “wrong”, simply or otherwise. The court was shown evidence (actually, virtual proof) of the link between creationism and ID. The transitional version - cdesign proponentsists – was discovered.

Put simply, the ID book Of Pandas and People that was discussed at the Dover trial was originally a unashamed creation book called Creation Biology. (You know it’s a creation book because it has the word “Creation” in the title. You’re welcome.) Just after the Supreme Court ruling against creation science in Edwards v. Aguillard, the Disco Tute decided to remake the book as an ID book, rewriting large parts of it to make it all “sciencey” and not creationism at all.  No, really. But unfortunately for them, they were in such a hurry to do so that in changing the wording in one place from “creationists” to (presumably) “intelligent design proponents”, they morphed the two phrases and the book actually included the words “cdesign proponentsists”. Apparently they believe in a designer but not in a spell checker. Hilarious. Click the NCSE’s Missing Link discovered! for a detailed explanation of what they did. Also, The Panda's Thumb's Missing link: “cdesign proponentsists”.

Whatever the ramifications of the specific school textbooks under scrutiny in the Kitzmiller/Dover case, the fact is that Intelligent Design not only does not come out of Creationism but stands against it. This is because Creationism comes out of religion while Intelligent Design comes out of science.

Which is funny, because cdesign proponentsists (excuse me) intelligent design proponents don’t do any science. Instead they write long whiney articles about why ID is too science.

Creationism, whose proponents are Bible literalists, is a specific doctrine which holds that the earth was literally created in six days. Intelligent Design, whose proponents are mainly scientists, holds that the complexity of science suggests that there must have been a governing intelligence behind the origin of matter, which could not have developed spontaneously from nothing.

So how did the existence of this “governing intelligence” result in there being matter? According to IDists, the designer designed stuff. Stuff that could not have evolved. So after he had designed it, surely he must have implemented his design? But how did he do this, if the “matter […] could not have developed spontaneously from nothing” as Phillips writes? Didn’t the designer have to “create” the matter? If not, where did it come from? And if the designer did create matter, how is this not “creationism”? Obviously it’s not literal six day creationism, but who said creationism had to be literal six day creationism as in Genesis? Regardless of whether ID has its roots in religious creation or not (it does, but even if it didn’t), it’s still creationism. Clearly it’s more than just “design” (intelligent or otherwise). Somewhere along the line, the designer had to create stuff too.

The confusion arises partly out of ignorance, with people lazily confusing belief in a Creator with Creationism.

A bit like how people lazily confuse the appearance of design with belief in a designer.

But belief in a Creator is common to all people of monotheistic faith – with many scientists amongst them -- the vast majority of whom would regard Creationism as totally ludicrous. In coming to the conclusion that a governing intelligence must have been responsible for the ultimate origin of matter, Intelligent Design proponents are essentially saying there must have been a creator.

There you are - “there must have been a creator”.  Told you.

The difference between them and people of religious faith is that ID proponents do not necessarily believe in a personalised Creator, or God.

Well, yes they do, but even if they didn’t, it’s still creationism. It’s still “magic man did it”.

As a result, both Creationists and many others of religious faith disdain Intelligent Design, just as ID proponents think Creationism is totally off the wall. Yet the two continue to be conflated. And ignorance is only partly responsible for the confusion, since militant evangelical atheists deliberately conflate Intelligent Design with Creationism in order to smear and discredit ID and its adherents.

No, we conflate them because they are the same. If they want it to be science they need to do some science. Then they need to write it up and present it for publication in a science journal. Then have it peer reviewed, and stuff like that. But that’s too hard. Instead they just want to whine about how mean scientists are for calling them creationists. Boo hoo.

Easter and God the Victim

A little perspective on Easter (which is today).

Yesterday, PZ reported on the “debate” between Christopher Hitchens and radio host Todd Friel – a labored exercise in Pascal’s Wager. Freil basically says, if we assume the Christian story is true, don’t you agree that atheists will go to hell? It goes on for over ten minutes, but there really isn’t much more to it than that. Hitchens does an excellent job of demolishing the idiot. (Click the link above – PZ has the full interview embedded.)

There was one area where I felt I had something to add to Hitchens’ rebuttal.  It was with Freil’s suggestion that Jesus’s death on the cross was an act of generosity.  As best I can recall, this is what Freil said:

If Jesus took the punishment that you deserve… wouldn’t that be the single greatest act of kindness in the history of the world?

Hitchens replied no, because he (Hitchens) hadn’t been born then and hadn’t been consulted.  Which is true, but I could think of additional reasons why this wasn’t an act of kindness.

I wanted to ask, who made this rule?  Who decided that Jesus had to die a horrible death before my sins could be forgiven? Surely this rule was made up by god? But why does he have to follow it? He’s god. He could forgive any sins he wanted. What possible difference could it make that Jesus did or did not die on the cross? And then it struck me – god is just playing victim. (“Oh boo hoo, I died on the cross for you, the least you could do is love me and praise me your whole life.”) Jesus's dying on the cross wasn’t an act of generosity. On the contrary, it was totally self serving – nothing but a piece of passive aggressive manipulative bullying. God had simply set himself up so he could play victim for the rest of eternity. What a wimp.

And it’s actually worse than that. The reward god has for us if we believe in him and praise him our whole lives, is that he won’t send us to burn in the hell that he created for us. We’re supposed to be grateful that Jesus died so that god could give himself permission not to torture us for eternity. That would be like me setting up a torture chamber in my basement and expecting people to think I was generous for agreeing not to lock them up there and torture them for the rest of their lives (as long as they worship me). That wouldn’t be considered an act of kindness. I would rightly be considered a psychopath for even setting up the torture chamber in the first place.

So to recap on god’s generosity at Easter: to save us from an eternity of torture in hell that he (god) created and had decided to send us to, based on rules he (god) made up all by himself, he (god) suffered torture (that he planned) on the cross, so that now as long as you worship him, he won’t send you to the hell that he can freely choose not to send you to anyway. And this, we are expected to believe, is act of kindness.

What a moron.

Top Atheist Bloggers

Daniel at Unreasonable Faith has just published his list of the Top 30 Atheist/Agnostic/Skeptic Blogs which includes Skeptico.  Thanks Daniel. 

His top five are:

1. Pharyngula
2. Friendly Atheist
3. Cynical-C
4. Debunking Christianity
5. Atheist Media Blog

Pharyngula is on the top of my RSS feed and Friendly Atheist is there too, as are several of his other 25 (click the link for the full list).  It's worth checking out some of the others if like me you haven’t read them all.

Explain that "code of conduct" thing

Religious people - explain that “code of conduct” thing for me again.  You know, how the bible and the ten commandments is supposed to be:

the historical foundation of American law, moral values and code of conduct.

And then explain this:

A 24-year-old ski lift operator who fatally shot the general manager of the Eldora ski area was determined to kill co-workers who weren't Christian, according to court records obtained Thursday.

The documents, filed Wednesday in Boulder District Court, said witnesses told authorities that Derik Bonestroo walked into a building at work, fired a gun into the ceiling and said: "If you're not Christian, you're going to die."

Because from this story, it seems to me that this Christian “code of conduct” is pretty useless.

I’m not saying that most Christians or even many Christians would ever do such a thing.  What I’m saying, is that being Christian, reading your bible, following God, clearly does not make you moral and is clearly not necessary as a “code of conduct” for us to follow.  So, Christians, explain please exactly why I’m wrong here or stop banging on about how atheists are amoral.  Please.

Hat tip to Atheist Revolution.

Ten Commandments Moron

I just received an email advising me that “help is on the way,” with a link to Scott Teague’s Ten Commandment Awareness Walk’ to Washington, D.C..  Teague is apparently the founder of “The Ten Commandment Warriors,” ("warriors"?) and claims he is answering a call from God to make America aware of the ten commandments.  Because, you know, there is so little awareness of these things right now.

My mission is to bring awareness to our great nation and to remind all that the Ten Commandments are the historical foundation of American law, moral values and code of conduct.

Well, perhaps Teague isn’t really that aware himself of what those ten commandments actually are.  Only two – you shall not kill and you shall not steal – are actually laws in the US.  You shall not bear false witness is only  a law in the specific case of where an oath has been sworn.  A “code of conduct”?  We need to be told not to kill people?

Teague doesn’t care.  He thinks the recession is punishment from God because we have turned our back on him, or something:

He believes the cause of the economic recession and other problems across the nation are a result of America turning its back on God and is claiming the scripture in II Chronicles 7:14 (If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land) as the solution. Teague says he is asking men and women everywhere to join him in prayer for America on March 4th.

Oh I see, they’re going to pray also.  Well that’s a relief.  For a minute I thought it was going to be a walk only – a purely symbolic act that would make people feel they’re doing something but ultimately would have absolutely no effect at all.  But they’re going to pray as well.  Phew!  Good to know this Teague guy has fully thought this through.

The best bit was at the end:

Teague says he he has no doubt that God has blessed a drought stricken Johnson County with rain and snow recently because so many people have fought to keep the Ten Commandments in the courthouse. “It works at this level, and God can work at any level, and I believe he will.”

Wow, Teague has never heard of winter.  I guess it’s not mentioned in the bible.

"Where’s all this snow coming from?"

COTG

My favorite post from the Carnival of the Godless yesterday was What Must We Do To Be Saved?  The writer has actually read the relevant sections of the Bible to try to discover what Jesus wants us to do so that we can be saved an eternity of hellfire torment from our loving God.  Is it just to forgive others, as Jesus says in Matthew, or is it to be good, or not blaspheme, or keep the commandments (which ones?), or give all your money to the poor, or…?  You get the idea.  Jesus seems a little confused about what we have to do.

Anyway, an excellent example of how to examine the Bible rationally and demonstrate its contradictions.  Worth bookmarking.

Mark Souder Gets It. Or Not

From PZ I learned of more stupidity from a Republican Congressman. Yeah, hard to believe, but true.  Rep. Mark Souder, in a recent interview, claimed admitted that the highlight of his year was appearing in Expelled:

I personally believe that there is no issue more important to our society than intelligent design. I believe that if there wasn't a purpose in designing you — regardless of who you view the designer as being — then, from my perspective, you can't be fallen from that design. If you can't be fallen from that design, there's no point to evangelism.

First off, this is a critical thinking blog and so I am required by law to tell you this is an Appeal to Consequences logical fallacy – the truth (or otherwise) of something does not depend on the consequences of it being true (or not).  If it did, Santa Claus must be real, or Christmas wouldn’t be so much fun.  Of course, you knew that.

My legal duties taken care of, it struck me that, fallacious logic or not, Souder unintentionally spoke the truth there.  As he said, “If you can't be fallen from that design, there's no point to evangelism.”  Quite true.  Unfortunately, Souder will probably not draw the obvious conclusion from his own words, namely there's no point to evangelism.  But then, we know from Senator Mark Pryor that you don’t need to pass an IQ test to get into congress, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised.

Carnival of the Godless - Special Newtonmas Edition

This Thursday we celebrate the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton, born December 25th, 1642 (old style calendar).  Newton remains one of the true giants of science, having discovered that gravity affects celestial bodies according to the same laws that we observe on Earth. Newton’s equations are still used by NASA when sending vehicles into space.  Of course, Newton was also religious, but he was a man of his time – a time before we knew about evolution, before man had shrunk the need for God as an explanation to just that of a “designer” who tinkers with DNA (according to Michael Behe, anyway).  Perhaps if Newton had been born today he would have been less enamored of religion, just as he would almost certainly not have experimented with alchemy.  Anyway, his religious beliefs in no way diminish his scientific achievements, and his birthday (Newtonmas) should be celebrated.

That’s all very well, but recently I’ve become aware of the war on Newtonmas (TWON).  Apparently many Christians, not content with appropriating the Winter solstice celebrations that take place today (Happy Solstice to any pagans reading), and the celebrations and customs of other religions, now want to appropriate the Newtonmas holiday too.  They are even calling TWON, “the war on Christmas.”  How dumb is that?  So I’m going to start with several posts that comment on this absurd “war.”  Here goes…

The War On Christmas (TWOC)

To start us off, Ron Gold presents The "War On Christmas": Bill O'Reilly's Ill-Conceived Fight posted at The Invisible Pink Unicorn, arguing that if you're concerned with what greeting a store clerk gives you, then maybe you're really condemning the secularization of the commercialization of Christmas.  Nice thinking.

Yvette presents O'Reilly: Holidays For Christians Only posted at Blue Linchpin. This is an open letter to O'Reilly containing some logical arguments.  Ha – like he’d even recognize a logical argument.  Worth a try, though.

Robert McCormick presents Good for Goodness sake posted at Relatively Science, where he tells us that the Bible (Jeremiah  10:1-5) outlaws the whole idea of a Christmas tree anyway.  Huh – so the Bible’s against Christmas too?  I guess I’d better post a picture of a Christmas tree, then.  Here it is.

Vjack presents How Christians Have Secularized Christmas posted at Atheist Revolution, about how Christians are themselves responsible for the war on Christmas, and how they have the solution in their own hands (if they are willing to take it).

Vjack also presents Encouraging Children to Believe Falsehoods posted at Mississippi Atheists (he has two atheist blogs!?), asking if teaching our kids the Santa Claus myth undermines our credibility when we later try to teach them critical thinking.  No Santa?  That that really would be TWOC.  What about Newton in a Santa hat?  Would that be OK?

To round up TWOC posts, Procrustes presents State of Christmas posted at State of Protest.  He concludes the State of Christmas is that the State should stay out of Christmas and all religious affairs.  And that is really where TWOC should end.

Just Regular Godlessness

There were some non-TWOC posts too.  First off, H presents maybe god was only pro-life for daniel and isaiah (the guys, not the books) posted at ...And That's How You Live With A Curse, asking, if God is so against abortion, how come he calls so  often for children – including unborn children - to be killed?  I  think we should be told.  (Backed up with Bible quotes.)  Wow.  I guess God needs a hug.  Perhaps he’ll get one if I post some mistletoe.

Adrian Hayter presents Crackergate Continues: FSMdude Interrogated posted at The Atheist Blogger.  Apparently "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” is optional for some Christians.  Somebody called the cops on a kid who had posted YouTube videos of magic crackers being desecrated, alleging the kid had a gun and was planning a murder spree.  Nice.

Regular Skeptico commenter (and fierce debater) Tom Foss presents On Suffering and Sacrifice posted at Dubito Ergo Sum, asking Christians, if you could go back in time and successfully rescue Jesus from the crucifixion, would you do it?  The way some believers answer that question is… interesting.

Greta Christina presents two posts on what is it like being an atheist in the LGBT community compared with being LGBT in the atheist community.  Part one is Being an Atheist in the Queer Community, and part two (on what she thinks we should do about it) is How To Be An Ally with Atheists, posted at Greta Christina's Blog.  Greta’s posts are always insightful, and these are no exception.

Yvette presents A World Without Gods posted at Blue Linchpin, asking if atheists should really be working on changing minds through logic and reason, or would a better strategy be to reach out to theists in other ways?

Arensb presents Foxholes and Shoe Leather posted at Epsilon Clue.  He tackles the old "no atheists in foxholes" myth, and argues that even if it were true, it’s only because people resort to desperate measures in desperate times.  It doesn’t mean those desperate measures are effective.

Hank presents Why I am not an atheist posted at Dangerous Intersection.  Also the reasons he is an atheist.  Not as confusing as it might it appear.

Seth Manapio presents suicide posted at Whiskey Before Breakfast... the Blog – on why people without faith still have reasons to live.  And care about things in general.

Mansur Ahmed presents The Great Religious Divide posted at Film, Literature, and the Human Condition.  Explains why Humanism is not a religion, but is rather an ethical approach to life.

Summer presents Raising Kids Without Religion posted at Wired For Noise.  The post title speaks for itself, although the interesting thing is that it’s written by a person of faith.

Transplanted Lawyer presents Invoke Rule Eleven On The Thomas More Law Center posted at Not A Potted Plant, about how the Thomas More Law Center is wrong on all counts regarding the Muslim-bashing lawsuit they filed alleging America is a Christian Nation.

I hope you like the picture of the holly – another image the Christians appropriated.  Btw, don’t do what I did and Google images of “holly.”  Funnily enough, if you do that you don’t get many pictures of holly, just lots of skimpily clad women.  You have to Google “Christmas Holly”, which proves the war on Christmas has failed, if you ask me.  (And I know you all just Googled images of “holly” anyway.  Santa can see you, you know.)

While we’re on the subject, Ron Britton presents Stop the (re)Presses! posted at Bay of Fundie, describing how some fundies have become outraged at Victoria's Secret store displays. BoF's posts are usually amusing, and this one is no exception.

Andrew Bernardin presents Where Does the Soul Go? posted at the evolving mind. 

Steve Snyder (SocraticGadfly) presents Obama sellout NO. 344 - Rick Warren at inaugural posted at SocraticGadfly. A short post on why we might as well throw politics under the bus and get Jeremiah Wright in the mix, too.

I even sneaked in a quick post of my own on why Rick Warren Is Wrong.

Finally, Chris Hallquist presents David Aikman's _The Delusion of Disbelief_ posted at The Uncredible Hallq – his latest entry in a longer series critiquing the critics of Dawkins, Dennett, and Harris.

That’s It

That’s it for this edition of the COTG.  So kick back on Thursday and raise a glass to Sir Isaac. And remember, Newton was actually born on December 25th, unlike, er, that other guy whose birthday is also celebrated by many the same day.  Of course, celebrating Newtonmas doesn’t mean you can’t also celebrate Christmas if you want (or Hanukkah, or anything else for that matter).  Santa, trees, presents, turkey etc are not restricted to Christians, so celebrate the day any way you want.  And ho ho ho.

The next edition of COTG will be in three weeks time on January 11th, 2009, at CyberLizard's Collection.  Please submit all entries using the GOTG submission form - that way, the host receives your entries via email as nicely ready-formatted html.

And I believe Brent is looking for hosts.  Hosting the carnival is a great way to raise the profile of your blog.  Check out the Carnival of the Godless page for guidelines and for contact information for hosting requests.

Rick Warren Is Wrong

A wrong choice for Obama to be a major figure in his inauguration, but also wrong in general.

I know that Obama’s big deal is supposedly inclusiveness – to include all in his cabinet and the decision making, even those who may disagree with him.  Well OK, including some people who may disagree with you, and who won’t be afraid to stand up to you, can be a good thing.  We could have done with some of that over the past eight years.  But having someone who disagrees with you is one thing.  It is OK to disagree at times.  What is not OK is to include someone who is just plain wrong.

Warren is wrong on so many things.  Many people have pointed out that he is wrong on Proposition 8, and everything to do with the treatment of gay people.  But then Obama has also said he’s against gay people being allowed to marry, so perhaps Obama agrees with Warren on this topic, on some level at least.  So it’s not this thing that surprises me so much about this pick.  It disappoints me considerably, but it doesn’t totally surprise me.  What I do find incomprehensible though, for a President-Elect who has promised to reinstate the importance of science in his administration, is that he will give so much prominence to an evolution denier.

For example, this is Warren during a debate with Sam Harris:

If you're asking me do I believe in evolution, the answer is no, I don't. I believe that God, at a moment, created man. I do believe Genesis is literal, but I do also know metaphorical terms are used. Did God come down and blow in man's nose? If you believe in God, you don't have a problem accepting miracles. So if God wants to do it that way, it's fine with me.

Warren’s ignorance of science most likely informs his other positions on gay rights, stem cell research and women's rights.  Such a man should not have any place in Obama’s inauguration.  Inclusiveness is OK, wrong is just wrong at any time.

Jesus The Play

My favorite post from yesterday’s COTG is undoubtedly The Resurrection ! - Adapted For The Stage.  It’s the supposed rough drafts of, well, the resurrection of Jesus, adapted for the stage.  The different drafts represent the different versions of the resurrection myth, depending on which gospel you are reading, and shows the author’s difficulties in arriving at a consistent story that agrees with all the different versions found in the Bible.  It’s very well done.  I really can’t quote any of it – you have to read it all to get the full benefit.  The first part (based on Matthew) might seem a little slow, but as you read on to the second part and beyond, you’ll see the point.

It’s one of those posts that makes me say, “I wish I’d thought of that.”

Blasphemy Logic Failure

From Orac today I learnt of the latest attempt by the religious to claim the entitlement they clearly believe is their birthright, namely to prevent anyone from criticizing their delusions. Apparently the United Nations has just backed an anti-blasphemy measure proposed by Islamic countries. Although this is currently only advisory to other UN members, the religious nuts clearly won’t stop there unless they absolutely have to. This is an issue of free speech – no one has a right to never be offended. Orac has a good expose of the dangers with this, and there’s no need for me to repeat the arguments here. Check out Orac’s post Anti-blasphemy = anti-free speech for the details.

I wanted to comment on one point though – fallacious logic from the Dutch government. Apparently the Dutch may scrap the current legal ban they have on blasphemy, effectively expanding hate speech to include it. The bit that caught my eye was the flawed justification for it:

The statement said there was no difference between insults aimed against people based on their race, religion, sexual orientation or handicap.

No no no no wrong wrong wrong. (Sigh.) We’ve been through this before. The argument is a false analogy.  It’s quiet simple really. Race, handicap, sexual orientation are things that people ARE. Religious beliefs are IDEAS. They are not analogs. They are different things altogether. You should not criticize people because of their race, sexual orientation etc because these things can not be right or wrong, they just are. And we are all human beings, we should not be criticized for being black, being gay, whatever.  But an idea (such as believing in the tenets of a religion) can be right or wrong. (Usually wrong, actually, in the case of religion, although that is besides the point with respect to the logic.) It’s really discouraging that the government of such a modern democracy apparently relies on such piss poor logic.

And look at the argument – it is nothing more than an argument by analogy – almost always fallacious. Here is their argument. It goes something like this:

1. We all know that ________ (insert preferred thing - racism, homophobia – something no one can disagree with) is bad.
2. Criticizing religion is just like ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_________ (same thing as in 1. above)
3. Therefore criticizing religion is bad.

You’ll notice, no actual evidence facts or logic are offered to show that criticizing religion is, actually, bad.  And as I wrote before, when someone argues by analogy, you can be pretty sure it’s because they don’t have any facts, evidence or logic to support their position. Because if they had any facts, evidence or logic they would presumably present it. Now maybe someone can come up with a reason we shouldn’t criticize religion.  I can’t think of a valid reason off hand, but perhaps there is one somewhere.  But one thing is for sure, saying it’s just like racism isn’t it.

All ideas should be open to criticism.  But no ideas should be subject to criticism more than religious ideas – they’re the ideas, out of all the ideas out there, not backed by evidence and in many cases clearly contradicted by the evidence.  Which is of course why they want to ban criticism – because they know their delusions won’t stand up to investigation.

Hindu Buddha Allah, bigger than God

God's own reputation was at stake in yesterday’s presidential election. That’s not my opinion, obviously. It was the opinion of Arnold Conrad, the former pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Davenport, who took it upon himself at a McCain rally a few weeks ago, to warn God of the implications of an Obama win:

There are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that [John McCain’s] opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens,

OK, well ignoring for now that Allah is just another name for the God that the Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship, and that Hindu and Buddha are not gods anyway, what can we conclude from last night’s Obama victory? Presumably that the Christian god is smaller than that of the other religions. According to pastor Conrad, anyway. And he should know, being a pastor and all.

Alternatively, prayer has no effect on anything. Perhaps any Christians reading this can tell us which.

I guess we should all be grateful Conrad didn’t call on any really powerful gods. For example Thor, who would have beaten them all with his big Smashum hammer!  Phew - close call!

Religulous

So I saw Religulous yesterday. This is a brief review – I didn’t take notes, and in any case telling you details would spoil the actual film. But I will say that it’s very funny. And worth seeing.

Maher gets his laughs by just asking various religious people to explain and justify their beliefs. All he needs in addition are a few snarky words and comedic glances to camera combined with some subtitled comments and sharp editing. It’s hard to name my favorite piece, but one that does stick out is the interview with creationist US Senator Mark Pryor, who actually said that humans didn’t know it was wrong to kill people before we got the ten commandments. But to his credit, Pryor did go on to point out that you don’t need to pass an IQ test before you can be a US Senator. Thanks for clearing that up.

Although most of the movie was comedic, the end contained the serious message Maher obviously intended the movie to make. With scenes showing nuclear explosions and the like captioned with quotes from the Book of Revelation, Maher laments that we developed the tools to annihilate life on Earth while some of the people with their fingers on the trigger still believe in the biblical End Times. He calls on the anti-religionists to come out of the closet and assert themselves. He also has a message for those who consider themselves moderately religious – examine your faith to determine if it's really worth the cost. Or to put it another way, the moderates provide cover for the religious nut cases who could really do some damage. The serious end was at odds with the rest of the film, but at least the message was clear.

Criticisms

Some have criticized the film for just going for the soft targets – the less sophisticated religious rather than religious scholars. For example, American Thinker suggested that Rick Warren would have been a better opponent for Maher. Well, considering this example of Rick Warren’s piss poor logic, I have to disagree. Warren would have been no better than most of the people Maher used in his film, but he would certainly have been less funny. The fact is, religion makes no sense when you examine it critically, no matter how much you’ve studied its nuances. This criticism is little more than a courtier’s reply – if you’re not interviewing experts in the design and manufacture of invisible garments, you’re not entitled to point out that the emperor has no clothes. I think Maher was perhaps a little mean with the blue collar workers at the truck stop church, but most of his interviewees were fair game. Remember, he did try to get interviews at the Vatican and with representatives of the Mormon Church but was thrown out of both locations.

Others have criticized Maher for not being honest in describing the film’s intent when booking the interviews. For example, Maher’s name was never mentioned in advance, nor was the true name of the film. It has been suggested that this is similar to the way the producers of Expelled hid the true meaning of their film from Dawkins and others. But those interviewed in Expelled were never told the true intent of the film even during the interviews. No one being interviewed by Maher could have been in doubt of his true intent for very long.

So overall, a good film. Some religious people are predictably complaining that Maher was unfair, and that he won’t convert anyone with this film, but that wasn’t his intention. The film is aimed (in my opinion) at weak believers and non-believers, and for them it will hit the mark.

Now, if Maher could only learn to apply some of this kind of critical thinking to his wacky beliefs about “western” medicine, vaccines and germ theory, I might start watching Real Time again.

Girls Gone Wicca

Apparently it’s not Harry Potter’s fault any more. It’s Buffy’s fault. Yes, 50,000 women have stopped going to church and it’s all the faulty of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, according to a recent study published in Women and Religion in the West. The study's author Dr. Kristin Aune, a sociologist at the University of Derby, is quoted saying:

"Because of its focus on female empowerment, young women are attracted by Wicca, popularized by the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In short, women are abandoning the church."

Well, somehow I’m not convinced of this. First, Willow, not Buffy, was the witch. The report doesn’t mention 50,000 women patrolling graveyards at night with wooden stakes. Perhaps if women are abandoning the church, it’s because of some other reason.

Second, neither the summary of the actual study nor its index mention Buffy at all. Wicca is mentioned (it just says “see spirituality"), but it doesn’t seem to be a major part of the study. So I wonder if bringing Buffy into it isn’t just a way to drum up publicity for this otherwise distinct minority interest $100 book. (If so, it seems to have worked.)

Anyway, I won’t be convinced until I hear of 50,000 boys leaving the church to get into construction so they can emulate Xander. Now that would be surprising, if not exactly empowering.

 

Hey, Jesus was a carpenter you know.

Edger - New Atheist Blog

The Edger is a new student blog promoting "secularism, atheism, science, humanism , and the cosmos".  From an initial look it seems to have some very good writing.  Two posts  initially stand out for me, the first being A People’s Guide to the Catholic League:

It takes some practice to get used to reading the Catholic League’s nauseatingly self-promoting, whiny press releases, but once repetition vaccinates you against the obnoxious professional victimhood of its patriarch Bill Donohue, you see that certain patterns start to emerge. One thing you notice is that even though the League’s mission statement identifies it as a “civil rights organization,” the League does not appear to have ever done anything that could even be mistaken for “civil rights” work at any point in its history.

Donohue is certainly a professional victim, as I have written before.  The other post I especially liked, and on a subject I wish I'd thought of, is How to criticize the “New Atheists:” a seven-step guide to writing the perfect reactionary hissy-fit.

...unlike you, the New Atheists have not taken the decades of study required to lodge yourself in an obscure nitch of your religion’s ivory tower to which nobody listens except the others trapped in the same nitch, you are understandably infuriated that Hitchens never once mentions Eric Rust’s clever interpretation of Tillich’s commentary on the epistemology of empiricism as applied to the miraculous, or that Harris never even bothers to set himself against every single sentence of The City of God. Sure, nobody cares about what theologians have to say, and their commentary is wholly irrelevant if there isn’t a God in the first place, but so what? You’re a religious writer; what do you need with honesty?

With almost a dozen young writers it's a very professional looking site, well worth adding to your RSS feed.

Prayer Fails Again

See the gas price board on the right? This is from April, aka “the good old days,” when regular was under $4.00 a gallon even in San Francisco. Back then, someone called Rocky Twyman decided the solution to high gas prices was to ask God to lower them:

Twyman […] staged a pray-in at a San Francisco Chevron station on Friday [April 25], asking God for cheaper gas. He did the same thing in the nation's Capitol on Wednesday [April 23], with volunteers from a soup kitchen joining in.

He repeated the performance again on May 28. Well guess what, he was successful! Yes, according to The BBC, Twyman is claiming:

…the credit for the recent sharp drop in the US price of petrol.

Rocky Twyman, 59, a veteran community campaigner, started Pray At The Pump meetings at petrol stations in April.

Since then, the average price of what the US calls gasoline has fallen from more than $4 a gallon to $3.80.

Well then, I guess it’s time we atheists admitted we were wrong and that God really does exist. If prayers really do work, we must have been wrong all this time, yes? Let’s take a look at the (no doubt) solid evidence that prayer worked in this case. I got this graph from GasBuddy.com, showing the prices in San Francisco and DC (the places where he prayed back in April), as well as the US average:

Click the graph for a bigger image.  I’ve added a couple of arrows to indicate when the prayers took place. And as you can see, gas prices came down immediately after the prayer...  er, rose despite the prayers.  Actually, rose even more steeply immediately after the prayers on May 28. And they’re still higher than they were at any time before the prayers started.

You know, looking at this graph, it’s almost as if prayer is completely useless at influencing gas prices.

The Atheism Tapes

I've just finished watching The Atheism Tapes, which despite the name is actually two DVDs.  They consist of Jonathan Miller's interviews, on the subject of atheism, with:

• philosopher Colin McGinn
• philosopher Daniel Dennett
• physicist Steven Weinberg
• Arthur Miller,
• Richard Dawkins
• theologian Denys Turner

They have some brief clips online, if you want to get a flavor.

Funnily enough, I actually enjoyed Colin McGinn's piece the most.  Funny because I'm usually not a great fan of philosophers.  He discussed the ontological argument for God - ie an argument from reason alone, rather than from any actual verifiable evidence.  You might know what I would think of an argument that is not supported by any verifiable evidence - not much.  The way McGinn explains it, the argument is that God must exist because of the way God is defined.  That sounds to me like circular reasoning.  If you click the link above you'll find several versions of the argument, none exactly the way McGinn describes it, and none making any sense to me.  The argument sounds like pure sophistry.

A more interesting point was McGinn's rebuttal of the "no morals without God" drivel we've all heard before.  McGinn says that "do not steal" is obviously a good rule, we all know we shouldn't steal, and God tells us not to steal, so God is right.  But supposing God said "it's OK to kill", would we then think it was OK to kill?  Answer - no of course we wouldn't.  We would, in that instance, say God was wrong.  In fact, God does say "don't kill", but we knew that already - we knew God was right because we already knew it, not because God just told us, so obviously we don't get our morality from God.  Christopher Hitchens made the same point but in a slightly different way.  He said something like, do you really think humans thought it was OK to kill and steal, before Moses came down from the mountain with his tablets?  "Oh, you mean we shouldn't kill?  OK, right  got it.  Thanks - didn't realize."

The other interviews are all interesting.  Miller, for example, gives an insight into what it was like growing up Jewish in Brooklyn in the early 1900s.

The producers say they will donate $3 from the sale of each DVD set to the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) to support Specialist Jeremy Hall's case and the constitutional right of soldiers for freedom from religion. Hall is the atheist soldier who was sent home from Iraq as protection, after receiving threats from other soldiers because of his atheism.  Funny, you'd think if he offended anyone, the Christian soldiers would just forgive him.  But apparently they didn't. Anyway, the MAFF needs all the support it can get on this issue, and the donation to this cause is worthwhile in addition to what you get on the DVDs.

Paroled To Sin Again

Don't you just love those stories about how some criminal found Jesus while in prison, and gave up his criminal ways?  No, me neither.  But the religious do.  Specifically, the Episcopal Church, who converted the convicted murderer James Tramel.  Tramel was convicted in the stabbing death of a homeless man in 1985, but apparently he found love for Jesus in prison, to the extent that the Episcopal Church ordained him as a priest.  The Church naturally lobbied for Tramel to be paroled, and only four months after his release in 2006, they made him rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco. 

What a heartwarming story.  What could possibly go wrong?  Try sexual abuse of a parishioner:

It's [at the Church] that the victim said Tramel, who is married and has a young child, took advantage of her during counseling sessions.

"They didn't give an honest depiction of this man," said the victim, a 36-year-old San Francisco resident. The Chronicle does not identify victims of sexual abuse.

The diocese acknowledges that Tramel abused his power and committed sexual misconduct...

So, theists, remind me - where does morality come from, again? 

Atheism Requires No Faith

This is another piece of flawed reasoning the religious have been throwing around a lot recently – “it requires more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God.” I guess there must have been a memo sent round or something. Talking points. That’s the only explanation. It’s certainly not because it’s a valid argument.

The usual rebuttal given is that atheism just means no belief in God, and it doesn’t require any more faith to have no belief in God than it does to have no belief in Russell’s Teapot. That’s obviously true but I think it misses the point the theists are trying to make.

What they’re really saying

I think what they’re trying to say is this. Atheists think matter just appeared out of nowhere, that something came out of nothing. But where did the matter come from? To think that matter appeared out of nowhere requires more faith than to think a creator made everything. The theists quite often mess up the argument further by misunderstanding the big bang, or with dodgy statistics, or with appeals to ignorance of abiogenesis. But that’s the basic argument. Why is there something rather than nothing? To think that matter just appeared by itself, requires faith.

The flaw in their argument

Atheists don’t think matter came out of nowhere. Atheists say we don’t know where matter came from; we don’t know why there is something rather than nothing. Maybe one day we’ll know, or maybe we won’t. But we don’t know now. Theists are exactly the same. They don’t know either, but the difference is they make up an explanation (God). But it’s just a made up explanation – they have no reason to suppose it’s true, other than that they just like it.

And it’s a useless explanation. Unless they know something about this “God” – how he created everything; why he created it; what he’s likely to do next - it’s a lack of an explanation. It’s just a placeholder until a real explanation comes along. Except that the theist won’t be open to the real explanation when and if science is able to provide one. The placeholder prevents investigation into the real explanation. The theist is the one with the faith – faith that “God” is the explanation and that no other is possible. The atheist is content to say “we don’t know”. For now, anyway. And it’s obvious that saying “we don’t know,” requires no faith.

Egnor Attributes Scientific Progress to Religion

OK, so I’m a little late to this one. But I still think I have something to add. Well I would.

PZ wrote a piece extolling the virtues of science over religion in curing diseases such as cancer, and bemoaning the shortage of funds to support research. (And also bemoaning the money wasted on useless woo projects such as homeopathy and creationism.) The Discovery Institute’s pet brain surgeon, Michael Egnor, then penned what he probably imagined was a decent rebuttal - Cancer Research, Prayer, and St. Jude. A snippet:

I take exception to his claim that prayer and religious faith had nothing to do with the improvements in the treatment of cancer.

The remarkable progress in the treatment of cancer in the past several decades had a lot to do with faith and prayer. Myers misunderstands the origins of modern medical science and the history and nature of cancer treatment.

[…]

Advances in science and cancer treatment emerged, not from science in isolation, but from a culture that made science possible and that directed the fruits of scientific work toward good and compassionate goals. The culture from which science has emerged is Judeo-Christian culture, and modern science has arisen only in Judeo-Christian culture.

PZ responded, as did Orac and Steven Novella, so I don’t need to repeat all their points in detail. Obviously scientific discoveries took place in other cultures apart from Judeo-Christian ones, and even more obviously, the main contribution of religion to scientific discovery has been to suppress it and deny reality, rather than to encourage any new discoveries. Opposition to stem cell research on religious grounds is an obvious example. As is Egnor’s support of the Discovery Institute, a body that wants to deny evolution and instead promote the pseudoscientific idea of Intelligent Design. Egnor even denies that knowledge of evolution has any bearing on medical research – a view that if accepted by researchers, would without doubt hinder new discoveries. Egnor’s views are decidedly anti-science.

Steven Novella also noted that Egnor’s argument was a diversionary tactic. PZ had argued that science, not woo or prayer, has resulted in improvements in treatments for cancer; Egnor shifted the argument to claim that only faith and religion motivated those scientific discoveries. Well OK, he can think that if he wants, but hasn’t he just admitted that it is only through science that these discoveries can actually be made? If you examine Egnor’s almost 2,000 words, you won’t find anything that suggests science is not the best (or only) method for making new discoveries in medicine. And yet this is the man who would bypass the scientific method to teach pseudoscience in schools, and have researchers ignore the implications of evolution in their work. His best argument is that, well, er, science was motivated by religion. Really? That’s the best you got?

OK then. So my question to Michael Egnor is this: now that you have apparently conceded that only science will result in progress, will you publicly admit that we should consider only scientific ideas about how we got here, and disavow quasi religious ideas such as ID? No? I don’t think he will either.

I want to comment on one additional point he made:

The application of science to care for the sick presupposes the view that we have an ethical obligation to help the weakest among us. The atheist view of metaphysics — that the universe has no purpose and no designer and no transcendent ethical code — provides no impetus to scientific inquiry or to the compassionate application of scientific knowledge.

An example he uses is the claimed higher rates for survival of epidemics in early Christian communities, compared with those in pagan communities. This, he claims, was due to the care that Christians provided for the sick, and their refusal to flee when an epidemic struck. (In pagan communities, healthy people fled.) Assuming this is true, all this shows is that early Christians were better than early pagans. Or, if you like, Christian irrationality was better than pagan irrationality. Of course, preferable to both is rationality. By now we should have progressed beyond the world view of second century pagans, with or without religion.

Of course, Egnor’s argument is just the old “no morality without Jesus” drivel we have all heard and debunked many times before. Good people do good things and bad people do bad things, religion notwithstanding. But as someone once said, only religion can make good people do bad things. Egnor shows here that his opposition to evolution is not based on rationality, but on his religious beliefs. Which is great for him, I guess. But not something anyone else need take seriously.

Damned Aliens

So the Vatican’s chief astronomer thinks extraterrestrial life might exist:

Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.

[…]

Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.

Um-Kay. But didn’t God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son? So all those aliens must be headed for hell, since they’ve never been given the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their savior. Seems rather harsh. Not to mention bad planning – creating all those life forms for them all to be damned to an eternity of fire and brimstone. (Apart from those who are free from original sin, of course.  But surely that can't be all of them?) 

I can’t help thinking that God didn’t think this through very carefully.

Those Militant Stamp Collectors

The other week I got involved in a debate with a theist in the comments to this Depleted Cranium blog post. Commenter Jason insisted that atheism is a religion, to which I replied with “if atheism is a religion them not collecting stamps is a hobby.”  He replied with this:

If people organised groups around the theme of not collecting stamps, wrote books about the virtue of not collecting stamps and identified themselves as definitely not stamp collectors, while at the same time running around rubbishing stamp collecting as a deluded hobby practiced by idiots, most people would recognize the actions of somebody who has turned “not stamp collecting” into a hobby they have.

Jason’s reply is a fine example of someone who has thought part the way through an issue, but not all the way. It’s pretty obvious what he is missing. I replied that if stamp collectors demanded that people who don’t collect stamps obey their stamp collecting rules, started wars with groups who collected slightly different types of stamps, denied non-stamp collectors rights or discriminated against them, bullied them in school, claimed you had to collect stamps to be a suitable person to run for public office, tried to get stamp collecting taught in schools as science in opposition to real science, demanded that people be killed for printing cartoons that made fun of stamp collectors, claimed that non-stamp collectors lacked moral judgment, made up ridiculous straw man positions they claimed non-stamp collectors took, and then argued against those straw men positions etc etc, - then non-stamp collectors would probably criticize stamp collectors the way Jason suggested. And with good reason. Not collecting stamps would still not be a hobby though.

Thinking about Jason’s argument the next day, I had a feeling I’d heard it somewhere else recently. Then I remembered – I think Jason had been reading Dinesh D’Souza. That explained why his arguments were so lame. The thing is, if religious people just followed their religions without bothering anyone else, didn’t try to get creationism taught in science class, etc, I wouldn’t care over much. I’d still think they were a little silly. On the level of children believing in Santa Claus, perhaps. And I still wouldn’t want to listen to them prattling on about their delusions. (Look, the grownups are talking now. Go over in the corner and play with your bibles for a while.) But I wouldn’t care about it, not really. The problem with religion though, is that they can never just keep it to themselves. They insist that everyone respects their delusions and follows their rules. They are like militant stamp collectors. Join our stamp collecting club or else.  And that's the basic problem with religion.  That, and  the fact that it's mostly nonsense.

The rest of Jason’s arguments were against the convoluted straw man atheist he insisted we all are. Read the whole comments thread only if you are feeling masochistic.

Actually, it's called "Begging"

A Chihuahua has begun joining in daily prayers at a Buddhist temple in Japan.

He’s probably praying the monk stops the pointless ritual and feeds him already.  There's probably more chance that’ll come true than whatever the monk’s praying for.

Expelled from Expelled

Read PZ’s description about how he was not allowed in to see the new dumb creationist film “Expelled” – the one about how poor old Intelligent Design is being discriminated against in favor of Evolution because it (ID, not evolution), has not passed scientific muster. They wouldn’t let in PZ but did let in Richard Dawkins.  What morons.

Also read this account from a pro-ID person who supposedly witnessed the whole thing. Apparently he thinks that “anyone walking away from this film will be convinced that the merits of Intelligent Design should be on the same level playing field as Evolutionary Theory”. The comments to that post so far are critical (to be polite) of this guy, his account and his view of the film. Worth a read if only to marvel at the IDists' stupidity.

Vox Keeps His Readers In The Dark

Via the Bad Astronomer I read this absurd post from a blogger called Vox who seems to think that dark matter and dark energy are outside the scope of science which means that secular societies are “arguably insane”.  Of course, Vox’s argument is unarguably retarded.  He’s saying that because we don’t know exactly what dark matter and dark energy are, they’re outside the realm of science. But that’s obviously false: it’s only through science that we even know that dark matter and dark energy exist. There is nothing in the bible about the universe being 72.1% dark energy and 23.3% dark matter. Nor does it say on which day God created them.  They don’t exist, according to the nomadic goat herders who wrote the bibble.  Furthermore, if we are ever to understand dark matter and dark energy, that will only happen through the process of science, not by assuming it’s too complex and so Goddidit.  Vox's silly argument is just another lame Science Doesn't Know Everything appeal.

I did post a comment on Saturday, asking the assembled loons who support the blog’s author, what other method they would use to try to understand dark matter and dark energy. Unsurprisingly they had no reply.

God Fails

Newsflash: God failed tonight to get Huckabee elected President. Imagine my surprise.

We know Huckabee was God’s candidate. After all, the man himself said:

There’s only one explanation for it, and it’s not a human one. It’s the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of five thousand people. (Applause) That’s the only way that our campaign can be doing what it’s doing. And I’m not being facetious nor am I trying to be trite. There literally are thousands of people across this country who are praying that a little will become much, and it has. And it defies all explanation, it has confounded the pundits. And I’m enjoying every minute of them trying to figure it out, and until they look at it, from a, just experience beyond human, they’ll never figure it out. And it’s probably just as well. That’s honestly why it’s happening.

I’ll repeat – Huckabee said of his earlier poll success: “There’s only one explanation for it”. Only one. What’s the explanation now then Mike? Did God change his mind? Or is he not powerful enough to swing a few measly votes? Or,  maybe your imaginary sky fairy doesn’t exist.

There’s only one explanation for it, and it’s not a supernatural one. It’s the same complete lack of power that proves again and again that prayer doesn’t work. (Applause)  And I’m not being facetious (actually I am, but who’s counting), nor am I trying to be trite. There literally were thousands of people across this country who were praying that a little will become much, and it didn’t. And it is totally expected and totally explainable. It has confounded the religious idiots (OK, some redundancy there).  And I’m enjoying every minute of them trying to figure it out. And until they look at it from a rational perspective (as if) they’ll never figure it out. And that's a pity. That’s honestly why it happened.

Honestly.

Your God was no use. Never was. Never will be.

More Intolerance from the Religious

Ron at The Frame Problem informed me of a University’s refusal to recognize an atheist group. The vice-president of the club, blogging in Cosmopolitan, has the actual response to the atheists’ application, from the Campus Clubs department:

While the Campus Clubs department understands the goals and visions of your organization, they are not compatible with the guidelines of what may be approved and incorporated into our department. While the promotion of reason, science and freedom of inquiry are perfectly legitimate goals, what is most in question in regards to your club’s vision is the promotion of “a fulfilling life without religion and superstition“. While this university is indeed technically a secular institution, secular does not denote taking an active stance in opposition to the principles and status of religious beliefs and practices. To be clear, this is not meant to say that the promotion of science and reason are illegitimate goals. But due to the need to respect and tolerate the views of others, the Campus Clubs department is unable to approve a club of this nature at this time.

I’m afraid they don’t understand the meaning of the word “tolerate”. To “tolerate” the views of others doesn’t mean you can’t criticize them, it just means you don’t prevent those views from being heard. Only by actually trying to prevent views from being heard – for example, by refusing to approve a club whose views you may disagree with – are you being intolerant. I guess they also need to look up the word “irony”.

Once again, despite the nice sounding wording (that it took them nine months to craft), what we have here is the usual intolerant attitude of the religious, whose only response to people who don’t accept their delusions – is to ban them. And yes I know, this group hasn’t been “banned”, strictly speaking. They can still exist (I presume); they just don’t get the freebies the religious groups get. But make no mistake, they would ban this group if they could. And this group isn’t even an in your face atheists’ group. Their name is the Laurier Freethought Alliance.

The Freethought group recently responded in an extremely conciliatory way, in an attempt to get the decision reversed, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens. But why should they have to kowtow in this way? Can you imagine a Christian group (in the West) having to explain itself in such apologetic and conciliatory terms to get approved? If you can, I’d like to hear about it. 

Sniveling Cowardly Christians

From PZ I learned today that MySpace is run by religious bigots who have deleted atheist users, groups and content:

Early this month, MySpace again deleted the Atheist and Agnostic Group (35,000 members). This deletion, due largely to complaints from people who find atheism offensive, marks the second time MySpace has cancelled the group since November 2007.

[…]

“MySpace refuses to undelete the group, although it never violated any terms of service,” said Bryan Pesta, Ph.D., the group’s moderator. “When the largest Christian group was hacked, MySpace’s Founder, Tom Anderson, personally restored the group, and promised to protect it from future deletions.”

What a bunch of sniveling cowards this Christian group must be. Rather than engage in debate with the atheists, rather than show some evidence to back up their beliefs, or even just ignore the atheists, they had to start an organized campaign to have the group deleted. Because Christians only feel safe when no one allowed to challenge their delusions. It’s a sad commentary on their pathetic excuse for a religion that their god is so frightened of a few atheists that even an atheists’ MySpace page can’t be allowed to exist. Remember this the next time you hear Bill Donohue’s professional victim act, or The Christian News Wire whining about some imagined insult. Remember this the next time someone tells the “New Atheists” that we need to be more accommodating to Christians, less aggressive, more understanding of the “moderate” Christians, or whatever. Where are the “moderate Christians” protesting the atheists’ group’s right to exist? This act shows the religious mindset as it really is – intolerant, authoritarian, cowardly and vindictive.

Other Sources

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: MySpace deletes hacked Web site for atheists and agnostics

Wikipedia page on The Atheist and Agnostic Group.

February 2, 2007 – Update

Podblack reports MySpace have restored the group.

.

Extraordinarily Mangled

After I had finished writing Monday’s Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence post, I Googled extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence to see what else had been written about it: had I missed anything or got something wrong? Surprisingly, the first hit was the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (CARM) – with a critique of the way atheists supposedly apply the extraordinary claims doctrine when examining claims of Jesus’ resurrection. Unsurprisingly, they managed to mangle the atheists’ position. Equally unsurprisingly it’s choc full of logical fallacies. It starts with a possibly unintentional statement that the Christian has already made his mind up about the resurrection, whether he has any evidence or not:

In Jesus' resurrection, for example, Christians presuppose that God exists and that He could easily have raised Jesus from the dead. The evidence of fulfilled prophecy, eyewitness records, and changed lives of the disciples is enough to convince many people who believe in God that Jesus rose from the dead. This is a logical conclusion based on the presupposition and the evidence.

The CARM’s position that “Christians presuppose that God exists and that He could easily have raised Jesus from the dead” is circular reasoning: they’re using the resurrection as evidence that Jesus was resurrected (and was therefore the son of God, etc), but their admitted presupposition is that God exists and would have resurrected his son. Of course, if you start from the position that Jesus was the son of God then your “logical conclusion” pretty much has to be that Jesus was resurrected. Who needs evidence?

They then misstate the atheists’ position to accuse atheists of doing what they just admitted to doing themselves:

Atheists, on the other hand, would negate the resurrection by default since their presupposition that there is no God would require that God involvement cannot occur. Therefore, for an atheist the extraordinary evidence would have to be "exceptionally" extraordinary in order to overcome his atheistic presuppositions.

No. It has nothing to do with “atheistic presuppositions”. It is because of the “presupposition” (actually, the extraordinary evidence that exists), that show DEAD PEOPLE DO NOT COME BACK TO LIFE. I’m not talking about people who were technically “dead” for a short while but who were brought back by heroic modern medicine. I’m talking about someone who was really dead, for nearly two days, without modern machinery to keep the organs working, who was resurrected by magic.

I find it telling that the CARM accuse atheists of presupposing their conclusion (they don’t), when that is exactly what the CARM just did. (Projection?) And remember, I used their own actual statement of what their presuppositions are, from their own article – not a straw man version of their presuppositions as they did with the atheists' supposed presupposition.

This is why the skeptic must require "extraordinary evidence." It enables him to retain his presupposition should the extraordinary level of the evidence not be met. Therefore, requiring extraordinary evidence effectively stacks the deck against the claim.

No. The absurdity of the claim – a dead person coming back to life - stacks the deck against the claim.

When debating skeptics, I often ask them to tell me what would qualify as extraordinary evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Generally, nothing sensible is offered. Normal evidence would be written accounts. Extraordinary evidence would be a film, but we know that this extraordinary evidence is not reasonable since there was no film in Jesus' time. Therefore, can the requirement that extraordinary claims (Christ's resurrection) require extraordinary evidence apply to Jesus' resurrection?

It can and it should. It is not the fault of the atheist that Christians have nothing but lame second-hand anecdotes for this patently absurd claim. The burden of proof is upon the claimant, not upon those who doubt the absurd claim.

It would seem not. Since Jesus' resurrection is alleged to be a historical event, then it seems logical that normal historical evidence and normal historical examination of that evidence would be all we could offer. The resurrection is supposed to be an event of history and since it claims historical validity, then typical criteria for examining historical claims should be applied.

No. Unless the historical claims they refer to also involve raising the dead. Which they rarely do.

They go on to equivocate about how historic claims are judged differently because of the difficulty in testing events that happened a long time ago. But historians are generally evaluating claims such as who won a war, why they won (better tactics, better weapons?), who was involved in implementing legislation, etc. These things can often be inferred from a variety of sources. But they are not, in the main, extraordinary claims. One historian might say a war was won because of a better general; another might say it was bad weather than got the troops of one side bogged down in the mud. One or both of these explanations might be wrong. But neither requires you to accept some new and extraordinary claim such as (for example) that if you accept Jesus you will live in heaven forever. The CARM equivocate about this difference:

Furthermore, we cannot ascertain all things with absolute certainty. We cannot, for example, prove that Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) ever lived by observing him. But, we have ancient writings from eyewitnesses concerning his existence. Skeptics readily believe in Alexander the Great without involving the scientific method and without requiring "extraordinary evidence" yet they will require it of Jesus' existence.

No. They have created a false analogy. When expressed properly, it applies to the atheist position, not the Christian one, as I will demonstrate. As with Alexander the Great, we cannot prove that a historic Jesus actually existed. However, we have ancient writings (not from eyewitnesses, but I’ll let that slide for the sake of argument), concerning his existence. I am prepared to accept that a historic Jesus could have lived, without involving the scientific method and without requiring "extraordinary evidence". What I will not accept is that he died, was resurrected, and now lives in the sky. That, is the extraordinary claim. It is absurd. And there is no rational reason for anyone to believe it.

Huckabee: Evidence Please

From PZ I learn that Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee wants to amend the US constitution so it agrees with his version of God’s standards:

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

Well OK, Mike. Just one thing – show us the evidence that the old book of myths you are relying on is actually the word of God. And remember, Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence, so extraordinary evidence only please, no references to The Bible itself to prove The Bible is the word of God. No appeals to popularity or ancient knowledge. I’m sure you must have the evidence if you’re willing to change the constitution to take account of it. Surely you wouldn’t just say it’s true without having the evidence to back it up? Didn’t you study theology? Well then – you must have found some pretty extraordinary evidence for such an extraordinary claim, otherwise you would have been wasting your time all those years, wouldn’t you?

So the comments are open for Mike, or any of his followers, to post their  extraordinary evidence to justify why we should change the US constitution so it agrees with their holy book. Or to withdraw the idiotic idea. (Although we know they’ll never do that.)

D’Worst List

From PZ I found The BEAST’s 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2007. I have to say I agree with most of them, but my favorite was # 29, Dinesh D'Souza:

Charges: Wrote a book blaming 9/11 on -- who else? -- liberals, because if we didn't live in a free society, then fundamentalists wouldn't dislike us so. Even conservative nuts blasted D'Souza's empathy for poor al Qaeda. Lately, he's been engaging prominent atheists in debates, revealing himself to be a pseudointellectual ass, and then declaring victory. D'Souza's master plan for attacking atheism is the ridiculous Pascal's wager: Atheists could be wrong, and then they'd go to hell, but if the religious are wrong, then they suffer no ill effect -- aside from living their lives in delusion, of course. And possibly going to someone else's hell for believing the wrong religion. D'Souza seems to think that if he speaks more loudly and rapidly than his opponent, he is winning, but his arguments are weak and idiotic, and he never even attempts to truly debate the existence of any god, which is the ostensible point of these debates. Instead, he likes to compare body counts -- Stalin and Mao killed more than the religious leaders of their time -- rather than actually debate whether there is a God, or for that matter a Jesus. This, of course, is because there is no case to be made.

Exhibit A: "[Atheists] are God-haters... I don't believe in unicorns, but then I haven't written any books called The End of Unicorns, Unicorns are Not Great, or The Unicorn Delusion." But what if everyone you met did believe in unicorns, and not only that, but worshiped a unicorn, held a book about unicorns to be the divine truth of the universe, invoked unicorns in political contexts, and speechified about how non-believers were indecent people waging a war on morality, which could only be predicated on the unquestioning belief in unicorns? Then, maybe, D'Souza would think about writing that book. But of course, that's not really true, because if that was the world we lived in, then Dinesh D'Souza would believe in unicorns.

This Should Be Interesting

In an attempt to resolve a property dispute in India, an Indian judge has summoned two Hindu gods to appear in his court:

Sunil Kumar Singh has placed notices in newspapers in the coal mining town of Dhanbad, in the eastern state of Jharkhand, asking gods Ram and Hanuman to appear in his court next week to present their arguments.

"You failed to appear in court despite notices sent by a messenger and later through registered post. You are hereby directed to appear before the court personally," Judge Singh's notice stated.

The newspaper notices were published, in keeping with accepted Indian legal practice, after two summons dispatched to the plaintiff deities were returned because their addresses were "incomplete".

While in the US, a contender to be leader of the free world says, in all seriousness, that his recent poll successes are due to Jesus’ help (quote time: “that’s honestly why it’s happened”), it’s good to know that a supposedly less developed country is going to require their gods to actually show up! Memo to God – put up or shut up. And no men in monkey costumes, please.  You’re going to have to prove you’re the real deal.

Here’s some additional outsourcing we could benefit from – let’s get this judge working in the US right now.

I’m # 12

From Shalini I learned Skeptico is the #12 Atheism Blog. Pretty good, since atheism isn’t the main focus of Skeptico. Shalini is #7. Apparently the ranking changes regularly – daily I think – so by the time you read this I could be anywhere on the list.

What a Strange Thing to Do

I was listening to NPR yesterday, and they had someone talking about how the clocks are going back a week later this year. I missed just who this guy was or why we should care about him, but anyway he was saying how he had this smart clock that was programmed to change when the clocks change. Except it was not that smart since it was programmed a couple of years ago and it put the hour back a week early.

The story was that he and his wife were woken up by the alarm with the clock saying 7.00am, and they thought they were on time for a 7.00am start until they went downstairs and found all the other clocks were saying 8.00am. (Of course they would – they weren’t “smart” clocks. Don’t blame me - that’s what he said.) Anyway they were an hour late, and I imagined them rushing around, being late for work, etc. Then, as best as I can remember it, this is what he said:

So we rushed to get dressed, there was no time for the kids to have their pancake breakfast, and we rushed to church.

Aaaah!. Of course – being lied to by a clergyman for an hour is obviously more important than having a leisurely breakfast with your kids on probably one of the few days in the week when you have the time. These people set their alarm for 7.00am every Sunday so they can get up in time to go to church. And it struck me, what a strange thing this is to do. I know what it’s like. I used to be made to do this by my parents when I was a kid, and so I know what a crushing BORE church is. But that was when I was a kid and I had no choice. Here are two grown ups who do it by choice. And apparently it’s so important they couldn’t miss even one week when the clock made them late. They’d rather miss breakfast. And he seemed so cheerful about it. What a strange thing to do.

Dinesh D'Souza is Not Very Bright

This is funny. Via Pharyngula today I found this piece of very poor reasoning from Dinesh D'Souza. D’Souza is banging on about how the spiritual world is of a completely different order from anything we know, and how we have no way to investigate or comprehend it. PZ has the obvious response: “So how does Dinesh D'Souza know anything about it?” Read D’Souza’s whole piece – it’s all bad.

I just had to laugh at one point he made – and it’s that part I want to comment on. Bereft of any arguments of his own, D’Souza relies on an argument made by the philosopher Kant. Briefly, Kant argued that human knowledge is limited by “the limited sensory apparatus of perception” we possess. That is, we cannot be sure our perception of reality shows us what reality is really like. D’Souza goes on to say this (with my bold):

When I challenged Daniel Dennett to debunk Kant's argument, he posted an angry response on his website in which he said several people had already refuted Kant. But he didn't provide any refutations, and he didn't name any names. Basically Dennett was relying on the argumentum ad ignorantium-the argument that relies on the ignorance of the audience.

LOL – argument from ignorance is an argument that relies on the ignorance of the audience? Nooooooo. Can he really believe that’s what argument from ignorance is? No. Argument from ignorance is:

… a logical fallacy in which it is claimed that a premise is true only because it has not been proven false or that a premise is false only because it has not been proven true.

And here’s the funny bit. You see, super duper ironically, that’s exactly what D’Souza is doing when he says that since no one can refute Kant – Kant must be right. D’Souza’s argument is an argument from ignorance. Add the straw man D’Souza started with, and you have a mish-wash of illogical waffle.

Of course, Kant could be right. There could be another reality we can’t comprehend. But just because there could be a different reality we can’t comprehend, that doesn’t mean there is one. And even if there were, there is no reason to believe that it’s anything like the version D’Souza or any other religious nit wits believe in.

Ex-Homosexual Offended

The religious nutbars are at it again. What’s getting them unglued this time is this poster for San Francisco’s Folsom Street Fair:

A predictable response comes from the Christian News Wire reporting on (quote) the Sick Perverts in San Francisco. (Aren’t all perverts sick? Oh never mind.) Here they go:

This year, "Perverts Without Morals" chose to deliberately mock Jesus Christ, Christians and The Last Supper, by depicting half naked homosexuals, leather men and women as the 12 Apostles, and display sex toys in place of the bread and wine.

A bloody fist can be seen in front of the central figure portraying Jesus Christ, possibly representing the vile sex act of "fisting" - where one's fist is fully inserted into another individual's anal cavity.

They seem to know a lot about this kind of thing. More than you’d expect decent Christians to be aware of at any rate.  Wonder how? Wonder no more:

Stephen Bennett, president of SBM and a former homosexual said, "This is the most vile, vulgar and disgusting public display of filth I have ever seen in my life.

A “former homosexual”? Funny, I wasn’t aware you could change. I guess all those “pray me straight” sessions must work after all. Who knew? Anyway, “former homosexuals” are apparently a bit like former smokers – more anti gay (or anti-smoking) than those who never partook in the first place. Repressing your natural tendencies must make you pretty frustrated and angry. Mix that in with religion and we have:

There is no doubt a double standard when Christians and Christianity are mocked by homosexuals and degenerates in such a blatant, vile and sick way. Where is the media outrage over this event? We Christians will no longer tolerate this abuse nor be silent.

Bennett ended, "I call upon the homosexual Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, GLSEN, and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force to publicly condemn this blatant mockery of Christians and Christianity by some within their community, and condemn this sick public display of immoral behavior. I call upon the Miller Brewing Company to pull their endorsement of this event. I call for the organizers of this filth to immediately apologize to Christians worldwide and remove this Last Supper mockery. I also call upon every law abiding official and citizen in America who has any morals to do what they can to shut down this Folsom Street 'Filth' Fair once and for all."

And there, once again, we see the religious in their true colors. Calling for immediate censorship of anything they don’t like, and (of course, you knew this was coming), an apology. Because we all have to apologize when someone makes fun of their invisible sky fairy and they get upset.  And Rick Warren thinks atheists are angry.

I think someone needs a hug. But not in a gay way.

The Drivel Driven Life

TechSkeptic sent me a link to this Newsweek article from April - The God Debate – a debate between atheist Sam Harris and “Purpose Driven Life” author, Pastor Rick Warren. Harris did a pretty good job exposing many of the flaws in Warren’s arguments, but I still found the article depressing reading. To understand why, just take a look at this – Warren’s explanation for why he believes in God:

One of the great evidences of God is answered prayer. I have a friend, a Canadian friend, who has an immigration issue. He's an intern at this church, and so I said, "God, I need you to help me with this," as I went out for my evening walk. As I was walking I met a woman. She said, "I'm an immigration attorney; I'd be happy to take this case."

That argument was actually put forward by a grown man – one who sells millions of books and is listened to and taken seriously by millions of people. Harris called it “a classic sampling error”. I’d call it a classic case of post hoc ergo propter hoc boosted by confirmation bias. All well run studies that control for biases such as those show that prayer doesn’t work. Some studies purportedly show that prayer works, but when examined critically all positive prayer studies turn out to be either flawed or fraudulent. But none of that matters to Pastor Rick. Pastor Rick wanted an immigration attorney, Pastor Rick met an immigration attorney, therefore God exists. It’s the distance this man’s thinking is from any kind of rational argument that’s so depressing.

If that wasn’t enough, Warren actually accuses Harris of being “non-rational”. While this Zen like technique might work for a kung-fu master using his opponent’s strength against him, with Warren it just makes you go “What?” The argument makes no sense.  And at the end of the debate he actually invokes Pascal’s Wager:

[Harris is] betting his life that he's right. I'm betting my life that Jesus was not a liar. When we die, if he's right, I've lost nothing. If I'm right, he's lost everything. I'm not willing to make that gamble.

The flaws of Pascal’s Wager are well known. But this is the lame Pascal’s Wager with a twist of false dilemma thrown in for good measure. He’s saying, either Jesus is a liar or he’s not. And surely you’re not saying Jesus is s liar, are you? Warren is apparently too dumb to see a third option: Jesus didn’t say the things the Bible claims he said. Funny thing – I’m sure that Harris had a reply to this incredibly profound lame ending argument of Warren’s. Probably something along the lines of what I wrote above. Although perhaps a little more polite. But for some reason the Newsweek article ended without Harris’ reply, as if Warren’s dumb argument was the final word. And Warren wonders why some atheists are angry.

Radio Observatory faces closure

I’ve just been reading this Wash Post story about the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which is apparently the largest and most sensitive radio telescope on Earth:

..among astronomers, Arecibo is an icon of hard science. Its instruments have netted a decades-long string of discoveries about the structure and evolution of the universe. Its high-powered radar has mapped in exquisite detail the surfaces and interiors of neighboring planets.

And it is the only site on the planet able to track asteroids with enough precision to tell which ones might plow into Earth - a disaster that could cause as many as a billion deaths and that experts say is preventable with enough warning.

This is the observatory featured in the movie Contact. If you read the whole article, it describes more of the real science performed there. Unfortunately it faces closure due to a funding shortfall.

The National Science Foundation, which has long funded the dish, has told the Cornell University-operated facility that it will have to close if it cannot find outside sources for half of its already reduced $8 million budget in the next three years - an ultimatum that has sent ripples of despair through the scientific community.

It seems a shame that the only observatory able to warn us of a disastrous asteroid impact (not to mention all the other science it performs), may have to close for the want of only $4 million (that’s million with an “M”). They are looking for other funding, so I’m hopeful it will stay operational.

In other news, federal money given to religious groups is in excess of $2 billion (that’s billion with a “B”) annually. Phew - that’s a relief. Because I’d be concerned if money that could be spent on science was instead being wasted on pointless superstitious nonsense unrelated to anything happening in the real world.

Suck It Jesus

From unscrewing the inscrutable I learn of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ craven capitulation to the demands of the religious thugs of the Catholic League. This is what got them so mad – comedian Kathy Griffin’s Emmy acceptance speech:

A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Can you believe this shit? Hell has frozen over. Suck it, Jesus. This award is my God now.

You just know what came next. The Catholic League’s president Bill Donohue:

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences reacted responsibly to our criticism of Kathy Griffin’s verbal assault on 85 percent of the U.S. population. The ball is now in Griffin’s court. The self-described ‘complete militant atheist’ needs to make a swift and unequivocal apology to Christians. If she does, she will get this issue behind her. If she does not, she will be remembered as a foul-mouthed bigot for the rest of her life.

Griffin “needs” to make an apology? She “needs” to? Really? Er, no she doesn’t. Not at all.  She doesn’t “need” to do anything. You need her to, Donohue. That’s what you really meant. You “need” it, not her, not any atheists. You need it because your silly fairy tale beliefs are so pathetic, vacuous and delicate they can’t stand three critical words from a comedian. In the above paragraph we see the religious mind in its natural state, demanding obsequiousness, respect, censorship and fearful apology, and they demand all this without a hint of embarrassment or self-awareness. This poor downtrodden 85% of the population (his figure) are too fearful to allow the American TV viewing public to hear three words critical of their invisible sky fairy, and they’re prepared and actually proud that they managed to get Griffin’s acceptance speech on TV censored.

Remember this the next time someone criticizes Richard Dawkins for being “shrill” or whatever. Remember the Catholic League thinks things will be OK just as long as we atheists show respect for these arrogant morons and their delusional beliefs, and as long as we remember what we “need” to do to keep them from censoring our words and thoughts. Just don’t get too uppity. From this we get a glimpse of what the Catholic League would really like to be able to do if they got the chance.

Send any emails of support to Griffin’s Agent. Email the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and tell them what a bunch of cowards they are.

But most of all, Suck It Donohue. Yes, and Suck It Jesus.

Adopting Secular Religions (Or Not)

Reader Rob sent me a link to this TCSDaily article by Karl Reitz – essentially a criticism of recent atheist books by Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Chris Hitchens. Reitz takes on the response to the claim the atheist societies (for example fascists and communists), have done as many evil things as religious ones. He quotes Hitchens saying that such beliefs “were types of secularised religion, and as such do not count." Reitz responds that if people became atheists, they would inevitably adopt such “secular religions” in the place of religion:

A world in which everyone stopped believing in God would likely provide fertile ground for such secular faiths. These secularized religions are what we would really have if we somehow got everyone to stop believing in God. Realistically, atheists […] may only have a choice between living in societies that are traditionally religious or ones that have adopted secularized religions.

So, far from "not counting," secular religions must be taken very seriously, and their implications understood, before we preach the benefits of godless society.

Reitz is presenting us with a false dilemma – humans will either believe in God and religion, or they will adopt false secular faiths such as fascism or communism. But there is a third option – they will adopt critical thinking and the scientific method. I agree that “secular religions” should be taken seriously – that’s why this blog is about skepticism and critical thinking, and not solely about atheism and being anti-religious (although I am both). So yes, of course when and if people stop believing in God, they should adopt critical thinking in its place. Not as any kind of religion (which it isn’t), but as the normal way to evaluate claims. Secular religions are not inevitable.

Reitz goes on to assert that the common factor in both secular and non secular religions, is faith:

I am atheist because I don't believe in faith, which I believe is the common dogma shared by traditional religion and secularized religions.

I agree with him here – the common factor is faith: belief without evidence, and/or in the teeth of contradictory evidence. However, he is missing the important area where most religions differ from secular religions - belief in God. This is important because, although people may feel free to disagree with the tenets of a secular faith, they cannot disagree with God. As I have written before, religion tells us that its rules are the way God says things have to be. You and I can disagree on all sorts of things, but if God is telling us the other person is wrong, ultimately we can’t peacefully disagree. And it’s the certainty that God-belief provides that is the reason religion is so dangerous. Secular leaders such as Stalin or Mao could only stay in power and keep their “faith” alive with an iron fist. Such measures, contrary to the will of the people, are ultimately doomed to fail no matter how brutally they are applied. Contrast that with (for example) Islam. Muslims didn’t have to be forced by their leaders to riot in the streets to protest the Muhammad cartoons and demand an end to free speech; they did it because they believed God wanted them to. That’s why Islam is still going strong after 1,300 years (and Christianity after 2,000 years), while the Soviet Union collapsed in about 70.

Having missed the important difference between secular and non-secular religions, Reitz goes on to highlight an irrelevant one:

The fundamental difference between traditional religions and these secular religions is that secular religions promise us that perfection (heaven) is possible here, on earth, in present times.

So what? If they both promote a false reality they’re both bad. But isn’t religious anti-science worse? The Soviets (and later the Communist Chinese) promoted the anti-science Lysenkoism which resulted in crop failures and famine, as well as the execution of numerous geneticists. But Lysenkoism eventually collapsed under the weight of contradictory evidence. Compare that with the anti-science creationists who want to get their ignorance taught in schools as though it were science, or Christians who reject condom use in Africa as a means of preventing the spread of AIDS. The religious are driven by God-belief to take us back to the dark ages. Unlike with Lysenkoism, we can be sure that such religious anti-scientific beliefs will never be influenced by contradictory evidence. Contradictory evidence only makes God-believers fight harder.

I think that in his penultimate paragraph, Reitz reveals the real source of his disagreement with Hitchens, and shows us the origin of his confusion about religion:

For the same reasons that I don't want religion taught to my [theoretical future] children in public schools, I don't want Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth to be a requirement for graduation. If the First Amendment prohibits the teaching of religion in public schools, shouldn't it prohibit showing that movie? After all, what's the difference between that movie and one that presented a traditional religion in the same way?

What’s the difference? Wow - it’s obvious! Al Gore’s movie was based on actual current scientific research and for the most part, Gore gets the science right. Both it, and the scientific research it is based upon, can be questioned and will be revised as better evidence presents itself in future. Religion is immune to such reality checks. Still, I think the fact that Reitz thinks “An Inconvenient Truth” is a religion, gives us a window into his secular religion – global warming denial. I guess he really did “adopt a secular religion” in the place of religion, when he became an atheist.

Act of God?

God is angry again, and he’s a vengeful God. Via Pharyngula and Effect Measure I learn of God’s apparent displeasure at graven images:

The nuns at Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden were thanking God on Sunday that no one was hurt when a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky and struck their 33-foot statue of Jesus.

The lightning bolt broke off one of Jesus' arms and a hand and damaged one of his feet, sending marble plummeting to the ground during a Saturday afternoon storm.

The message couldn’t be clearer. God is taking time off from sending hurricanes to punish America for tolerating gays, so he can punish these nuns for breaking the second commandment. The faithful though, still don’t get it:

Thousands of people visit the shrine each year to pray and pay homage to Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini […]

Visitors climb the 373 stairs to the sacred heart statue, "praying as they go,"

Not hard enough, apparently.

Seems armless enough.

Hitchens – God Not Great

I generally like Christopher Hitchens. I don’t  agree with everything says – his strange view on the Iraq war (he was in favor of it) being one area I disagree. But I like most of what he writes, especially when he writes about religion. He has a new book out - God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, with excerpts this week in Slate:

…there is a real and serious difference between me and my religious friends, and the real and serious friends are sufficiently honest to admit it. I would be quite content to go to their children's bar mitzvahs, to marvel at their Gothic cathedrals, to "respect" their belief that the Koran was dictated, though exclusively in Arabic, to an illiterate merchant, or to interest myself in Wicca and Hindu and Jain consolations. And as it happens, I will continue to do this without insisting on the polite reciprocal condition—which is that they in turn leave me alone. But this, religion is ultimately incapable of doing. As I write these words, and as you read them, people of faith are in their different ways planning your and my destruction, and the destruction of all the hard-won human attainments that I have touched upon. Religion poisons everything.

On how Islam is based on the same shaky grounds as most other religions:

… Islam when examined is not much more than a rather obvious and ill-arranged set of plagiarisms, helping itself from earlier books and traditions as occasion appeared to require. Thus, far from being "born in the clear light of history," as Ernest Renan so generously phrased it, Islam in its origins is just as shady and approximate as those from which it took its borrowings. It makes immense claims for itself, invokes prostrate submission or "surrender" as a maxim to its adherents, and demands deference and respect from nonbelievers into the bargain. There is nothing—absolutely nothing—in its teachings that can even begin to justify such arrogance and presumption.

Hitchens then goes into more detail about how the Koran was written many years after the death of the prophet, with the problems of its provenance this raises. I hope he has good bodyguards.

And then, hilariously, on the problems with Joseph Smith and the Mormons.

The actual story of the imposture is almost embarrassing to read, and almost embarrassingly easy to uncover. […] In brief, Joseph Smith announced that he had been visited (three times, as is customary) by an angel named Moroni. The said angel informed him of a book, "written upon gold plates," which explained the origins of those living on the North American continent as well as the truths of the gospel. There were, further, two magic stones, set in the twin breastplates Urim and Thummim of the Old Testament, that would enable Smith himself to translate the aforesaid book.

[…]

A scribe was therefore necessary to take his inspired dictation. This scribe was at first his wife Emma and then, when more hands were necessary, a luckless neighbor named Martin Harris. Hearing Smith cite the words of Isaiah 29, verses 11–12, concerning the repeated injunction to "Read," Harris mortgaged his farm to help in the task and moved in with the Smiths. He sat on one side of a blanket hung across the kitchen, and Smith sat on the other with his translation stones, intoning through the blanket. As if to make this an even happier scene, Harris was warned that if he tried to glimpse the plates, or look at the prophet, he would be struck dead.

Mrs. Harris was having none of this, and was already furious with the fecklessness of her husband. She stole the first hundred and sixteen pages and challenged Smith to reproduce them, as presumably—given his power of revelation—he could. (Determined women like this appear far too seldom in the history of religion.) After a very bad few weeks, the ingenious Smith countered with another revelation. He could not replicate the original, which might be in the devil's hands by now and open to a "satanic verses" interpretation. But the all-foreseeing Lord had meanwhile furnished some smaller plates, indeed the very plates of Nephi, which told a fairly similar tale. With infinite labor, the translation was resumed, with new scriveners behind the blanket as occasion demanded, and when it was completed all the original golden plates were transported to heaven, where apparently they remain to this day.

And grown people believe in this.

Hitchens' book sounds like it would be a good read.

Pope Ratzo – back to the good old days

Pope Ratzinger spoke out against evolution yesterday in a new book that harkens back to the good old days – you know, when the Catholic Church denied Galileo’s heliocentric theory.

Benedict XVI, in his first extended reflections on evolution published as pope, says that Darwin's theory cannot be finally proven and that science has unnecessarily narrowed humanity's view of creation.

In a new book, "Creation and Evolution," published Wednesday in German, the pope praised progress gained by science, but cautioned that evolution raises philosophical questions science alone cannot answer.

Yes, science perhaps cannot answer some of the philosophical questions, but neither can religion. Religion thinks it answers those questions, but in reality it just makes stuff up and pretends these are the answers. This is just another lame appeal to other ways of knowing.

Think the comparison to Galileo’s day is excessive? Check out how Catholic Answers justifies how they treated Galileo, and compare the wording with Ratzo’s yesterday:

Anti-Catholics often cite the Galileo case as an example of the Church refusing to abandon outdated or incorrect teaching, and clinging to a "tradition." They fail to realize that the judges who presided over Galileo’s case were not the only people who held to a geocentric view of the universe. It was the received view among scientists at the time.

[…]

Many people wrongly believe Galileo proved heliocentricity. He could not answer the strongest argument against it, which had been made nearly two thousand years earlier by Aristotle: If heliocentrism were true, then there would be observable parallax shifts in the stars’ positions as the earth moved in its orbit around the sun. However, given the technology of Galileo’s time, no such shifts in their positions could be observed. […]

Thus Galileo did not prove the theory by the Aristotelian standards of science in his day.

Of course, science doesn’t “prove” theories, but where the evidence is overwhelming, a theory is given pretty strong provisional acceptance. The evidence for the heliocentric theory was good, the Catholic Church just didn’t want to hear it since it conflicted with what was written in their magic book. Make no mistake, if they could suppress evolution the way they were able to censor Galileo – they would. Ratzinger has shown where he would like to take his church if he could – back to the dark ages.

Act of God?

God has such a sense of humor:

Crowds lined the pews and aisles, the incense and choir voices filled the air, but a distinct voice was missing on Easter Sunday in Chicago's Holy Name Catholic Cathedral. Cardinal Francis George, who has presided over the holiday masses each year since 1997, was home nursing an injury suffered in a fall Saturday.

[snip]

On Saturday, while blessing Easter baskets at a Northwest Side church, the cardinal slipped on holy water that he had sprinkled on the church's marble floor, falling on his hip and fracturing the top of his right femur. [My bold.]

And winning the week’s irony award.

Right Decision Wrong Reason

A French cartoons editor has been acquitted of insulting Muslims by reprinting cartoons of the prophet Muhammad:

A French court has ruled in favour of weekly Charlie Hebdo, rejecting accusations by Islamic groups who said it incited hatred against Muslims.

The cartoons were covered by freedom of expression laws and were not an attack on Islam, but fundamentalists, it said.

The case was seen as an important test for freedom of expression in France.

Except this wasn’t a victory for free speech. According to the article, the editor was acquitted because the cartoons criticized only fundamentalists, not Muslims or Islam in general. So presumably criticizing Islam would still be a crime. The accused editor (perhaps unknowingly), summarized the situation correctly:

… the ruling was a victory for secular French Muslims.

Yes – this was a victory for religious apologists of all stripes. Implicit in the judgment is that it is not OK to make fun of a religion; it is only OK to make fun those who use religion to justify terrorism. If he had been found guilty merely of making fun of Islam he could have faced a maximum fine of nearly 30,000 euros ($40K) and a jail sentence of up to six months. Just for criticizing a religion.

As I’ve written before, religions should be the first thing we are allowed to criticize. Religious beliefs are not generally backed by evidence, and are frequently contradicted by overwhelming evidence and common sense, and yet they expect special privileges, they expect to be accorded a special level of respect they haven't earned.

And don’t think that even this lame acquittal on these narrow grounds (still acquiescing to the need to respect religion), will keep the theocrats happy. Lhaj Thami Breze of the fundamentalist Union of Islamic Organizations of France, one of the groups that brought the suit, said he would appeal the decision. That’s how much these religious nuts respect the free speech and rights of anyone who doesn’t subscribe to their invisible sky fairy story as written in their magic book. Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.

It’s good that the editor was acquitted. It’s a pity the acquittal wasn’t because it’s OK to make fun of religion.

Still no evidence prayer works

You may have read recently about a new meta analysis that purportedly shows that intercessory prayer works. If you had read my posts on intercessory prayer you might have been surprised by this since other good studies have shown that prayer doesn’t work, and prayer still doesn’t work.

Steven Novella at NeuroLogica Blog explains why this prayer meta analysis is bogus:

But meta-analysis is tricky business. First, it should be pointed out that it does not represent new data – it is just taking a fresh look at old data. It can be useful but only when it is very carefully applied. For example, the studies that are lumped together should have very similar design, they should be looking at the same type of subjects and should use similar outcome measures. The results of a meta-analysis are only meaningful if data from the different studies can be reasonably combined.

Also, a meta-analysis does nothing to address the quality of the studies being looked at. The old adage of “garbage in-garbage out” still applies. If you lump together 10 bad studies, you don’t get one good study, you get a useless meta-analysis. For these reasons meta-analyses have a poor track record of predicting the ultimate outcome of a question, once definitive studies are done, failing over a third of the time.

A meta-analysis is not always the best method for coming to an overall conclusion about an area of research. There are aspects to the pattern of results that are important to consider, and are white-washed in a meta-analysis. For example, what is the trend between study quality and size of the effect? If we see a real tendency for the better studies to have a smaller effect (which we do, in my opinion, in the intercessory prayer literature), that strongly suggests that the effect is not real. By combining these studies, however, these differences are erased. In effect, the good data is diluted in bad data.

More at the link.

Unfortunately, as Novella laments, this study has already produced headlines of the “new study finds prayer works” kind, while the later retractions, as the data is analyzed properly, will get little airtime.

Ironically, Paul Kurtz of the skeptical Center for Inquiry will be undergoing cardiac surgery today. I wish him well, and I won’t be praying for him.