Birmingham, England is not a little country burg. The Greater Birmingham area has about a million people. It also has a city council to run the place and a computer web access monitoring system to help the people who run the people who run the place "control internet access." Not so unusual. Mrs. R. works in a state health department where they seem obsessed with preventing staff from accessing sites not related to work, although a lot of sites get blocked inappropriately because the filters are "stupid." She has had her access to CDC blocked on occasion because some word triggered a block (e.g., "breast" as in "breast cancer") or a site had a non-standard address. Pretty much, though, it's fruitless and often counterproductive to try to control internet access unless you make access limited to only a few sites strictly related to a particular activity. The Birmingham city council, though, has decided to pick and choose in broad categories. You can go to a site dealing with almost any religion (except, apparently, Wicca) but not to a site advocating atheism:
The authority's Bluecoat WebFilter computer system allows staff to look at websites relating to Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other religions but blocks sites to do with "witchcraft or Satanism" and "occult practices, atheistic views, voodoo rituals or any other form of mysticism".(BBC)
There is a profound silliness in lumping atheism, most often based on an explicitly rational world view, with voodoo rituals, whose character is closer to certain practices involving symbolic cannibalism (don't worry, we won't go there in this post). Unfortunately it's symptomatic of the deluded and confused thinking typical of too many guardians of our public morals.
This is not a huge issue. The Birmingham city council will either change the policy or get sued by the UK's National Secular Society and I am guessing they will not choose to waste taxpayer's money defending such an idiotic policy. My view, though, is that small pains in the body politic like this are emblematic of a deeper cancer within. I'll even be so bold as to coin a term for it: a theonoma. Like a lot of debilitating diseases, theonomas are best prevented rather than treated. We've known how to do this since the Enlightenment -- separate theology from civil political discourse.
But then we know better than to smoke cigarettes, too.
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LOL! I'm going to borrow that word and give it a good workout.
Oh my goodness, things are deteriorating rather rapidly across the pond.
When I saw the headline about this at Pharyngula, I presumed it was about that other Birmingham, thought "well, whaddya expect?", and moved along.
Now I owe the people of Alabama a mental apology. Ouch!
voodoo rituals, whose character is closer to certain practices involving symbolic cannibalism (don't worry, we won't go there in this post)
Vodou is in fact a religion (as irrational as any other, of course):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Vodou
The article is ok, but I just have to comment on the expression "waste taxpayer's money".
You can only talk about that if the taxpayers gave the money in return for a service, like a legit economic transaction. But do you really think taxes are voluntary? Try missing a couple, see what happens!
You can't waste "loot from robbery at gunpoint".
Just semantics, that's all. They probably will avoid getting sued, but not because they give a rat's ass about "taxpayer money".
Some of my family members appear to have developed malignant theonomas. Is there any treatment, or is the victim beyond help?
I've noticed some of the symptoms of malignant theonoma:
1) It acts on the brain, reducing any capacity for rational thought
2) It secretes toxins which demand that the theonoma be stimulated at least weekly. This stimulation is generally in the form of close association with others who are likewise affectd, and produces endorphins which leave the sufferer with a state of euphoria.
3) Severe cases lead to an overwhelming desire to infect as many people as possible, to increase the periodic stimulation and resulting endorphin release
Here is a similar word. From Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: the·on·o·mous \thē-ˈä-nə-məs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: the- + -nomous (as in autonomous)
Date: 1947
: governed by God : subject to God's authority
The virus of religion can be prevented by the double vaccine of common sense and the scientific method, but if it gets to the stage of a malignant theonoma then the only option is to cut it out?
I sent a complaint to the council about this a few days ago, heres their reply:
"Thank you for your enquiry
"Birmingham City Council has no plans to block staff access to any website on the grounds of religious, secularist or atheist/agnostic content.
"The only formal policy we have in this area is the City Council's Internet Use Policy, the latest version of which was approved by Cabinet in March 2007. It lays down the principles of acceptable use of the City Council's Internet facilities, including the terms of the concession offered to staff who have access for work purposes to make limited and reasonable use of the facilities for personal use.
We are currently implementing new software to control access to the Internet and various City Council staff have been discussing the detailed implementation of the controls, but this is purely to implement the policy, not to change it. There has been speculation in the press about our policy which appears to have been based on a misunderstanding of the status and content of a discussion document."
Thank you for contacting Birmingham City Council
contact@birmingham.gov.uk "
Apparently its a copy+paste job as someone else received the exact same.
@Mike: At least that's a reasonable explanation. Hopefully this will be fixed soon without the need of a lawsuit.
Is the etymology OK? I would have thought the term ought to be "theoma", and the disease state associated with it "theomatosis".
Happy to stand corrected... where's a classical Greek scholar when you need one?! :-)
Theonomas: from Greek θεÏÏ (Theós) "God", and Spanish "no más" (no more).
We've been discussing this at RichardDawkins.net:
Birmingham City Council bans atheist websites.
Oh, looky! I've either uncovered an i18n bug in scienceblogs' software, or made a pig's breakfast of my comment.
In case anyone hadn't figured it out, that was supposed to say "theos" and "no mas".
Arensb, high five! Good work :-)
Arensb, in the same manner, I have a Latin derivative for you:
Politics - - Poly = Many/Tics = small, annoying, bloodsucking parasites.
It would appear that these people are in desperate need of a radical theoectomy. Many (most?) of your commentors seem to have undergone theoectomies in their lives and now appear to be disease free. I wonder if atheists live longer, on average, then theists.
I have worked for many different companies, and I suspect that, like a lot of companies and organisations, Birmingham Council simply uses the default settings supplied by the software supplier (apparently, Blue Coat in this case), subject to specific requests from employees. Most of these web control software companies seem to be USAmerican, and I suppose the defaults reflect US attitudes.
Speaking as one who had a theonoma - fortunately for me and my friends, I had a spontaneous remission - good job!
I'll second what Richard said above. It seems likely that the origin of this is the database of definitions that Blue Coat provided for the Council with it's blocking software. I've looked up the company's website, but it doesn't seem to have much on them, though it does list the management and BoD. Can we find out if any of these characters are connected to right-wing religious causes? It might well solve where this came from and how it ended up in so unlikely a place.
And yes, it is doubtless because Blue Coat is from our side of the pond here in the U.S. that such a definition would be included at all. Sometimes I despair of my country.
Don't these dumbfucks have something useful to do, like, oh I don't know, run their fucking city? The mind boggles at the ridiculous fake-ass shit people devote their attention to.
A perfect term... hope it goes viral!
"Happy to stand corrected... where's a classical Greek scholar when you need one?! :-)"
Right here!
I was also thinking that it ought to be theoma (theo- + -oma, o in theo- drops out before o), as in carcinoma, melanoma, sarcoma, steatoma, ecchymoma. The combining form in those words is -oma, not -noma.
Theonomous is from theos, "god," and nomos, "law."
Ian, Shane: I considered this. I actually studied Latin and Greek in my youth (which admittedly is also a long time ago) but I prefer theonoma, not for etymological reasons but for imagery and euphony reasons: it elicits comparisons with other well known cancer terms (I am a cancer epidemiologist by profession) like carcinoma and melanoma (noted as examples that prove the rule by Ian). While there is a sound etymological argument for using theoma I preferred the non-etymologically correct marketing version. I'm crass.
As an aside, I once had a dispute (via correspondence) with an editor at Merriam-Webster's Unabridged over the plural of octopus, which they had as octopi. I claimed it was incorrect as the root words were Greek, not Latin and therefore should have been octopodes or at least the anglicized octopuses. They defended themselves by saying it came into English via Middle French and was therefore appropriately Latinized. We agreed to disagree, but I mention this to show I have sympathy for your complaint. I am probably a much bigger pedant than either of you.
Blaidd Drwg:
That's from Dave Barry, isn't it? I think he also suggested the etymology
fundamentalist: from "fund", to spend money, "a-", without, and "mental", thinking.
I like this new word - Theonoma (or Theoma depending on your etymological viewpoint of a made up word) - it so elegantly describes a debilitating disease caused by adhering to beliefs in the unbelievable.
PhysioProf:
Or, as a friend of mine once said, "Why don't people with too much time on their hands get off their high horse of morality and start sending me envelopes stuffed with money?"
I'm also spreading this word, indeed into the my small spanish readership at my blog.
Having spanish as my first language makes funnier the "no más/ no mas" (no more) origin, and being an epidemiologist myself I also get the cancer terminology.
Hi. Actual real-life brummie here. Would everyone stop assuming this was deliberate? it comes down to a council employee either being lazy/clueless or deliberately breaking the law to discriminate against atheists. No-one gives a shit about atheists in the UK, but the council is staffed by morons. Which do you think is the more likely explanation, it was a setting on the american blocking software that no-one bothered to check, or the council decided to block it themselves?
NRG: I agree with you. That's why I said it wasn't a big thing but a symptom of something else. Whether the underlying disease is in the UK or in the US software company or both or whatever, there is a pattern to this kind of thing. As a doctor I know that many vague and not very important sounding symptoms can be harbingers of something serious and I was saying this is the case here -- not serious in the UK or the Birmingham city council, per se, but more systemically.
The horrible google strikes:
The Baby Names World website suggests that
Theonoma means "divine name".
One the other hand, "Theoma" does not seem to be taken. There is a www.theoma.org, belonging to the Oregon Medical Association.
It looks like Ian Andreas Miller's suggestion is a good one.
I would also put it down to dopiness. England simply doesn't have that sort of problem (outside of a few faith schools). Yes, if you go round talking about atheism all the time you'll probably get a few negative responses, but more because it's considered frightfully unBritish to raise controversial subjects around people who might be bothered/offended. Happy-clappy Christians also get the cold shoulder.
Not to disrespect a greek sccolar, but with a hat-tip to drdave, an alternate derivation of theonomas would be
theos onomas
which was an expression my granny used often -
Name o'gawd!
Corkscrew,
I had forgotten how reserved the POMS are. You POMS have the most fantastic sense of humour, and at the same time you are very reserved and have a very strict sense of social etiquette.
Love the "Happy-clappy Christians".
Wicca is religion of state in GB. No reason to block us. And Wicca has nothing to do with Satanism.There is even a big difference between the 2 religions.Satanism is atheistic, while Wicca is polytheistic.Just to name a difference.
As an ex of mine used to say, "When I was a Christian, they used to pass the offering plate for the pagan babies. Now I have a pagan baby; where's the money?" (laughs)
Stupidity is rampant. I admit happily to being a theist, but I save it til the laundry is finished and hung away and don't get it into my politics except in terms of everyone gets to play.
Theonoma: fantastic meme, I'll start spreading it pronto. Etymology and uniqueness of this application: not to worry, many are the words with multiple meanings, as well as words with imperfect lineages. I agree with Revere that Theonoma carries the right set of subjective associations. And I think this meme will spread like mad once it gets out to a wider audience (e.g. cross-post on Daily Kos, use it in radio call-ins, etc.).
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The problem here is not only that the city's censorware discriminated against atheists.
The problem is that THE CITY IS USING CENSORWARE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
Holy cow, people, don't you get it?
This is like, "Oh, we're sorry that the new surveillance camera happened to be pointing in your bathroom window, we'll just aim it back to the street where it was supposed to be aimed!" and then you say, "Oh, thank you!" when you should be screaming bloody murder about all the G--D--- surveillance cameras in the first place!
What disgusting sheep we have become, what a bunch of spineless Orwellian Outer-Party members who are content merely to be able to turn down the damn Telescreen's constant harangue! We should be smashing the dastardly things with sledge hammers, and doing it quickly enough and in large enough numbers that there won't be enough space in Room 101 for a fraction of us!
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Now a few words about that word "mysticism," as used in the context of "occultism" and so on.
Mysticism, properly defined, is the branch of religious philosophy that is concerned with the direct personal experience of God or the Ground of Being, or with the direct experiential encounter with fundamental mysteries (e.g. ontology, epistemology, and so on).
It has nothing to do with occultism, or with any particular denomination, except in so far as that mystics are found in every denomination and also among confirmed atheists and non-theists. Einstein used the term correctly in his famous quote; the point being that one can come to a mystical sensibility purely through the deep contemplation of nature itself as understood by science. Many are the scientists and engineers who have similar experiences and a similar sense of inspiration for their own work, even those who have no belief whatsoever in any kind of deity.
In a neurophysiological sense, mystical experience is in part mediated by the right temporal lobe of the brain, which appears to be associated with "the experience of deeply-felt meaning in the relationship between the individual and the greater whole." With respect to "the greater whole," the brain does not discriminate between God and Nature: the *content* of that experience can be either, or can be something else entirely, such as the deep appreciation of works of art, music, and so on. The content of the experience (as distinct from its form) appears to have much to do with each person's upbringing (and probably with other brain structures related to language, nonverbal elements of language processing, and so on).
As a matter of comparative religion, mystics are at the opposite pole from fundamentalists (yes, and I understand the irony of the word "opposite" in relation to a philosophy that often embraces non-duality). Mystics tend to be highly tolerant, pluralistic, and have no desire to enshrine their personal beliefs in law. Mystics tend to be scientifically literate, and embrace the findings of science as the best available knowledge about the physical universe. Fundamentalists are highly suspicious of mystics, seeing them as dangerous heretics, particularly dangerous due to their claims that scripture is metaphorical rather than literally true.
For a more recent example of what this looks like in the real world, go look up the philosophical writings of the late Dr. Bakhtiari, who was one of the leading engineers in the Iranian oil industry, and who was also something of a Sufi mystic himself. I first ran into him via his comments on peak oil, and then found his personal website and was amazed (though not entirely surprised) to see where he was coming from. And apparently the Iranian government tolerated him because they have to tolerate the Sufis as a legitimate branch of Islam with deep roots in Persian culture. You can read his bio on Wikipedia. Also go here: http://www.sfu.ca/~asamsamb/sb.htm and click on his essay "Liberating."
Reading the writings of folks such as Dr. Bakhtiari first-hand, should do well to dispel any pejorative notions of the word "mysticism" and the beliefs associated therewith.