Patheos challenged its bloggers to write 200 words or less on why they are the religious view they are.
Hemant Mehta shared his[1][2] and a coupleothers[3][4]. Hemant asked if anyone else had one to share, and I thought it would be worth trying. So, here's mine.
I am atheist because I've never known how to be anything else.
I have never needed a god to know right from wrong; and I reject the notion that a god, who condones slavery, can be an arbiter of morality.
Faith is not something I am capable of. I cannot believe something for which there is no evidence. A comforting lie is no comfort and is still a lie.
I am an atheist because I know no other way to be.
I am an atheist because it’s all I am, all I’ve ever been, and all I ever can be.[5]
The Blaze[1] & Big Hollywood[2] are both accusing atheists on Twitter of bullying comedian Norm MacDonald into silence.
MacDonald expressed his faith in a tweet while responding to an inquiry[3].
@normmacdonald is the PGA tour becoming the bible club of pro sports norm?Cuz this guy just said on Nat. TV he read scriptures today! Wtf?
— Kevin sypher (@sypher1960) March 17, 2013
He got some responses to that expression from a few who didn't agree.
Aww man @normmacdonald Streelman is one of those, God, scripture, and peace pussies... Wife was a sexy but that shit ain't cool..#itsabook !
— Rick Nawojski (@dickyboy13) March 17, 2013
“@normmacdonald: I think most people study the scriptures. Most people seem smart to me.”. I like a good fairy tale.
— Dr. Meyer (@Blooeybird) March 17, 2013
Aww man @normmacdonald Streelman is one of those, God, scripture, and peace pussies... Wife was a sexy but that shit ain't cool..#itsabook !
— Rick Nawojski (@dickyboy13) March 17, 2013
@normmacdonald Religion is the worst thing to ever happen to this planet.
— Ryan Maino (@PARecSpecs) March 17, 2013
These are the examples they provided of the "bullying". The idea that these tweets qualify as bullying is weak sauce. None of them threatened him. No one even suggested he should not express his opinion. If they had done so, that sure as fuck would have been included in both articles.
MacDonald would have been just fine if he had left the tweets there. Deleting them was his own choice. Personally, I'm more disappointed that he deleted them than that he said it in the first place. I enjoyed his comedy before this contrived controversy. I don't see how this incident would change that.
The Big Hollywood article that started this ends with:
Atheists and secularists won’t be satisfied until they bully every last religious person into silence. And as Macdonald could tell you, that’s not funny at all.
That's what this is really about. They are determined to paint us a particular way, so they grasp at straws to twist innocuous events to fit that mold. It's horseshit. But, then again, horseshit is what Beck & Breitbart deal in best.
This is how scared they are of us. They make up stupid shit like this. If they want to see truly despicable words, they should see their own comments section.
Or some of the tweets on the issue.
@parecspecs @normmacdonald Really? Hmm. I don't remember Hitler using religion as a reason to wipe out the Jews, just "science" of eugenics.
— HistoryofMatt (@HistoryofMatt) March 17, 2013
And what did the guy who started it all have to say about it?
@iamdce2 norm is awesome and I couldn't agree more. I'm calling out the professionals who thank Jesus for the win. Pretty much it.
— Kevin sypher (@sypher1960) March 20, 2013
Bullying did occur here, but it wasn't by the atheists. This whole thing is an attempt to shame us into silence. It's pathetic and should not be tolerated.
Thanks to a post by George Takei[1], I found Star Trek on Hulu[2] and have been watching The Original Series. I noticed something interesting in the episode, "The Enemy Within"[3]. The premise of the episode is a transporter accident causing Captain Kirk to be split into 2 different halves. One good, one evil.
In the scene at 9:19 Evil Kirk goes to Yeoman Rand's quarters and attempts to rape her.
In scene soon after, at 12:40, Rand is in sickbay with Spock, McCoy, and Good Kirk. At this point, none of them know there are 2 Kirks running around. So, as far as Spock & McCoy are aware, they're talking the victim of a sexual assault with the attacker in the room. Better yet, the accused attacker is in charge of the questioning.
AND: Then he kissed me and he said that we, that he was the Captain and he could order me. I didn't know what to do. When you mentioned the feelings we'd been hiding, and you started talking about us.
KIRK: Us?
RAND: Well, he is the captain. I couldn't just. You started hurting me. I had to fight you, and scratch your face.
KIRK: Yeoman, look at me. Look at me, look at my face. Are there any scratches?
RAND: I was sure I scratched you. I was frightened. Maybe
KIRK: Yeoman. I was in my room. It wasn't me.
RAND: Sir, Fisher saw you, too.
KIRK: Fisher saw?
RAND: If it hadn't been. I can understand. I don't want to get you into trouble. I wouldn't have even mentioned it!
KIRK: It wasn't me!
FISHER: It was you, sir.
KIRK: Do you know what you're saying?
FISHER: Yes, I know what I'm saying.
MCCOY: Back to that bed, bucko. Come on, let's go.
SPOCK: You can go now, Yeoman. (Rand leaves) There's only one logical answer. We have an impostor aboard.
The only reason she even reported the attempted rape, by the ship's captain, was the witness. Had Fisher not been there, Rand would have let the assault go unreported. She would have just let it happen without consequence. For the attacker at least. She would have still had the consequence of working for man who had tried to rape her.
Then there's the final scene.
FARRELL: Status report, green.
SPOCK: All sections report ready, sir.
KIRK: Good. Thank you, Mister Spock, from both of us.
SPOCK: Shall I pass that on to the crew, sir?
KIRK: The impostor's back where he belongs. Let's forget him.
RAND: Captain? The impostor told me what happened, who he really was, and I'd just like to say that. Well, sir, what I'd like is
KIRK: Thank you, Yeoman.
SPOCK: The, er, impostor had some interesting qualities, wouldn't you say, Yeoman?
KIRK: This is the Captain speaking. Navigator, set in course correction. Helmsman, steady as she goes.
Actress Grace Lee Whitney was very unhappy about the last scene of this episode, in which Spock asks YeomanRand, if "The imposter had some very interesting qualities, wouldn't you say, Yeoman?". In her autobiography, she wrote: "I can't imagine any more cruel and insensitive comment a man (or Vulcan) could make to a woman who has just been through a sexual assault! But then, some men really do think that women want to be raped. So the writer of the script (ostensibly Richard Matheson - although the line could have been added by Gene Roddenberry or an assistant scribe) gives us a leering Mr. Spock who suggests that Yeoman Rand enjoyed being raped and found the evil Kirk attractive!" (The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, p. 95)
No shit? Praising the attacker, jokingly or not, to the victim is inappropriate? Weird.
It may be a television show, and the incident is fictional. But film is a reflection of society at the time. For a show praised for its diversity[6] and tolerance[7], it really missed the ball on the subject of rape. This is how one of the most progressive shows of its time portrayed rape.
I guess I would feel a little bit better about their failure 50 years ago if we had learned anything since then. But then there's Steubenville[8].
Yay for us. Way to go. Ugh.
Maybe we'll treat victims properly after another 50 years.
Here's the links & tweets to share from the last week. Most were also shared on this Facebook page or retweeted. Please add any fun or informative stories I missed in the comments.
The Boy Scouts were a big part of my adolescence. I learned a lot from my involvement with them. I even remember a few bits of it. While I didn't properly appreciate it at the time, it was one of the ways I spent time with my father. I was involved enough that I was at the 1993 National Jamboree, a trip that I still have fond memories of.
I was bothered by the 12th part of the Scout Law and other references to a god[1], but I never said anything about it, as I was used to ignoring religion in all sorts of places. I had already been not saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school for years. My troop never kicked me out for being atheist. Although, I'm not sure if any of the leaders, other than my father, even knew I was. I was an adult before I learned how bigoted they are regarding atheists[2] and homosexuals[3]. Seeing them be this bigoted has been incredibly disappointing, especially with all the drama of maybe ending their bigotry[4].
This has been the first time, since receiving it, that I've wished I could find my Eagle Scout Medal. So I could send it back[5].
If it weren't for the bigotry, I would probably be eager to donate. But they are bigoted. So, I'm left unable to morally justify supporting them. That's why I like the letter[6]Josh Hyde[7] recently sent in response to a request for a donation.
He even included some quality snark with the stamp[8]
.
Activism isn't just protesting with signs. It's showing people they're why wrong in a variety of ways. While this one letter will not magically make the Boy Scouts be as inclusive they should be, it helps show the bigotry does not go unchallenged. The more of us who let people know that bigotry isn't acceptable, the more they'll know bigotry isn't acceptable.
For those who are 'against' pregnancy termination, would you answer the following questions please?
1) If a woman accidentally gets pregnant (because she is a stupid whore, obviously) do you think she should be forced to carry the pregnancy? How far would you be willing to go to make sure she carried the pregnancy to term?
2) If abortion was illegal and a woman got an alley-abortion and managed not to die, but got caught, what should her punishment be?
3) Would you rather a young woman had access to an early pregnancy termination, or put her newborn baby in a dumpster or toilet?
I have some of my own to add.
How much of a tax increase would you be willing to accept to provide the universal healthcare for pregnant women to keep them healthy enough to prevent the complications that are the reason for most late-term abortions?
How much of a tax increase would you be willing to accept to provide for the care of the children who would have otherwise been aborted?
Have you lobbied your legislative representation to make those changes happen?
If against your taxes going up for programs that would reduce abortions, how do you justify calling yourself "Pro-Life".
Have you ever lobbied to have our military budget cut?
If you support our military spending, how do you reconcile that with calling yourself "Pro-Life"?
Living in Nebraska means putting up with a lot of religion and other types of nonsense from our politics. We're not quite as bad as some other states, but it's bad enough that I have to compare our state to the shenanigans of states like Tennessee[1] or Mississippi[2] to make it seem better by comparison.
He's even caught the attention of The Friendly Atheist[4]. If Nebraska can have one Ernie Chambers, I bet we could have more. We would just need to work to make it happen.
