Skepticism And Local News

I'm not a fan out how media in Omaha promotes woo^[1].  And, of course, all local news stations used Halloween as an excuse to do stories on ghosts.

KMTV, our CBS affiliate featured Omaha's ghost hunter team PRISM, investigating the supposedly haunted Hummel Park^[2].  Fortunately, they Omaha historian Howard Hamilton, who debunked the claims.  Although, they didn't air the actual debunking and left it open for people to believe anyway, despite having just reported that it had been debunked.

KPTM Fox 42 did a better job of it^[3].

Although, I'm probably biased since the 2 skeptics speaking in this video are friends, and the 3rd one is me.

Both of these aired on Halloween night.  It was a fun excuse for them to talk about ghosts, and I commend them for actually giving skeptics some air time.  I wish they'd do it more often.  I wish they'd stick to it

It only took them one day until one of the channels went back to promoting woo, with no correction^[4].  Given the amount of people on KETV's Facebook^[5] who believe this guy enough to give him money, they completely failed in their duty to inform the public.

Unfortunately, I fear being responsible reporters was merely a Halloween costume.  My only consolation was the interest KPTM's Laura Berry showed in potentially doing more debunking reporting.  Only time will tell if she follows through on it and if her lets her do it.

Past experience has me skeptical^[6].

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1.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2013/10/radio-host-gives-psychic-his-due-while.html
2.  http://www.jrn.com/kmtv/news/230152121.html
3.  http://youtu.be/f9UrKVCjtoI
4.  http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/omaha-man-says-he-can-talk-to-the-dead/-/9674510/22748378/-/n09dtnz/-/index.html
5.  https://www.facebook.com/ketv7/posts/10151721523916977
6.  Pun intented

Gender Equality In The Bible

I often see silly claims made about the Bible.  We all do.  It's a silly book.  Today's silliness was on the issue of equality between men & women^[1].

@RedScareBot @Vodkaninja @Braxxet the new testament Of Christ gave woman equal right .. it just took us guys 2000 years to listen
— Tal USAF VET (@talmadgewilliam) September 29, 2013

When I asked him about it, the answer I got was Ephesians 5, specifically verse 21 to the end of the chapter^[2].  Of course, I looked up the part he referenced.  Here's what it says^[3].

Instructions for Christian Households

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

The first sentence says to submit to each other.  But that's the extent of the equality expressed.  It tells wives to submit to husbands as they would to Jesus/God.  It tells husbands to love their wives, as Jesus loves his worshipers.  Note the different words it uses when instructing each.  Women are to respect men as their superiors, and men are to love women as their inferiors.  This isn't equality, it's a hierarchy with women below men and men below Jesus.

But he thinks this is where the Bible states men & women are equal^[4].

@aparticularA @Vodkaninja @Braxxet wife as Christ loves us.. he never said our wife is our property but our equal basically
— Tal USAF VET (@talmadgewilliam) September 29, 2013

I'm not writing this to accuse him of misogyny.  He didn't say anything blatantly misogynist and did express the opinion that men & women are equals.  However, he is ignorant of what it says in the book he reveres.  But's it's not just that.

He's ignorant of what it says, even after actually reading it.  He simply doesn't see the problem with the Bible here.  Probably because he doesn't want to see any problems with the Bible at all.  And that's the problem.

Too many are unable/unwilling to view the Bible critically.  No matter how vile its contents are, it's beyond reproach.  They've given up their ability to reason when it comes to the Bible, so they end up defending it.

Fundamentalists use the book to justify their bigotry, because the bigotry matches what is in the book.  So-called moderates, while actually trying to condemn the bigotry, end up defending it by revering the book the bigotry is based on.

So, which is worse?  Those who are blatantly bigoted, giving people good reason to not trust the Bible, or the otherwise good people who defend a bigoted book because of their own ignorance?  And how do we get the latter to see what the book really says when they've already read the part they should be offended by?

Sadly, none of this is new.  Just like most other problems related to religion, it keeps coming back up.  Maybe that's why so many atheists are so frustrated when dealing with the religious.  It's aggravating to keep dealing with the same errors, that should be easily solvable, over and over again.

Skepticism isn't just about not believing in things that don't have evidence.  It's about persistence in the face of so many people who do.  Maybe it's a never ending battle to fight against belief in the unreal.  But that's certainly better than the alternative.

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1.  https://twitter.com/talmadgewilliam/statuses/384369306164674561
2.  https://twitter.com/talmadgewilliam/status/384390705776304128
3.  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5&version=NIV
4.  https://twitter.com/talmadgewilliam/statuses/384392259946283008

Bricks & Skepticism

I'm still regularly amazed by how often I notice lyrics in songs I've been listening to for years & heard dozens of times, even with one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands.

I've known what Paramore's "Brick By Boring Brick" is about since I first heard it, but I'd never thought about it in context of who wrote it.

Well you built up a world of magic

Because your real life is tragic

Yeah you built up a world of magic

If it's not real

You can't hold it in your hand

You can't feel it with your heart

And I won't believe it

But if it's true

You can see it with your eyes

Oh even in the dark

And that's where I want to be, yeah

The song is about reality being preferable to fantasy.  It's about not believing something without evidence.  It's about putting in the hard work to reality instead of taking the easy route of believing a fantasy.  These lyrics would have made me think Hayley Williams is an atheist if I didn't already known she was Christian.

I've been aware that Hayley Williams was a Christian  for years.  But her religion has never been an issue for me, since I've never seen her use it to justify any hate or to shame anyone, and I've never noticed it in her lyrics.  She doesn't necessarily wear it on her sleeve, but she does wear it on her thigh.  Plus, it's not like it's an out of the ordinary thing for someone to be, especially someone from Mississippi & Tennessee.

 

She's that devoutly Christian but wrote a song that could double as an atheist anthem.  This is far from the first time I've encountered a theist advocating skepticism that should prevent their belief.  But it's an excellent example of something that is all too common.   They often apply proper skepticism to everything except their religion.  The day we figure out how to get them to apply that skepticism to their god(s) will be the day we really see religion begin to crumble.