Freethinker Sermonettes
revere | June 8, 2008We do a lot of Christian baiting here. Admittedly the tendency of many Christians to make lampooning easy is a factor. But we need to give other religions a chance, too. So we bring you now Richard Dawkins pwning an orthodox rabbi. What I particularly like about this is the way Dawkins highlights the fundamental wrongness of isolating and indoctrinating children in ways that separate them from the world and their fellow humans. If a cult is a social structure with a dictatorial leader who practices mind control, the rebbe presides over a cult. And also, in my view, commits child abuse:
revere | June 1, 2008Most people are religious by default. Religion is a social custom inherited from their parents, like being Italian or Sudanese. Some people turn to religion for comfort or to help them cope with troubles. I'm not sure how this is different than using alcohol or drugs or Transcendental Meditation to cope. I'll let you answer that. Some people use religion to control others. Make up your own examples.
And some people hope religion will answer their questions:
revere | May 25, 2008Whether in the name of all that's decent or in the Name of God, Bring 'em Home:
revere | May 18, 2008A letter written by Albert Einstein to Jewish philosopher Eric Gutkind just sold at auction for $404,000. That's not the news, though. It's the contents of the letter that have surprised some, although it merely reveals what most of us already knew: he was an atheist. That's only pseudo-news, the result of a concerted effort to portray him as some kind of covert advocate of Intelligent Design. I've been reading Einstein's writings and biographical material about him for almost 60 years. I own first editions of some of his earliest published works (pre-relativity). I sent him a birthday card…
revere | May 11, 2008Let's face it. Tolerance for other religions is bad for religion. As long as people only knew about their own religion (translation: their parents' religion) they didn't question it. As soon as they became aware there were a lot of religions and theirs only one among them, then the question of why this one rather than that one raised its ugly head. Religious instruction is sometimes smuggled into public school under the guise of "comparative religion" but that will only hasten its down fall. Once people know there are not dozens but hundreds of religions, the inevitable question arises. Which…
revere | May 4, 2008Let's stray from the Path of Wrighteousness and listen to some other spiritual leaders close to one of the Presidential Candidates. I don't know who Senator Clinton's God Guru is (I'm guessing that depends on what is most expedient at the moment; the Great God of Gas Tax Holidays seems favored as I write) but we know who Senator McCain courted. He's twice as spiritual as Senator Obama because he has at least two big time religious leaders on board, Pastors Hagee and Parsley (NB: Parsley is his name, not his position in the Living Kingdom). Here are some quotable Words of Wisdom from the two…
revere | April 27, 2008The more things change the more they get weirder. In my day, the only way you could be a Conscientious Objector was to claim that status on religious grounds. If you were an atheist, tough shit. Now if you are an atheist, they don't want you to fight. This is something for all you young folks to keep in mind when President McSame or President Hilary get us involved in a war with Iran and they have to re-institute conscription:
When Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting last July for atheists and freethinkers at Camp Speicher in Iraq, he was excited, he said, to see an officer attending.
But…
revere | April 20, 2008This being a public health blog and all, we thought an emphasis on prevention was appropriate. Here's how to practice damnation hygiene:
revere | April 13, 2008Is a report about aliens less believable than a report that someone rose from the dead? You have to admit, this guy has a point:
revere | April 6, 2008When Mrs. R. saw the Vatican for the first and only time -- as a lapsed Catholic the place had some kind mysterious attraction for her, almost like the swallows and Capistrano except that one trip was enough in her case -- she was aghast and repelled by the ostentatious display of such immense wealth when so many of its adherents were in poverty. Where did it all come from? For that matter how about the huge amount of money flowing from diaspora Jews to Israel? In each case the money is given purely on the basis of religious identity, another form of tribalism. Make no mistake, tribalism --…
revere | March 30, 2008Let's face it. The US education system sucks. The public school system was a great historical achievement, producing high literacy rates, but in the 21st century the US is increasingly at a competitive disadvantage compared to other industrial nations. Instead of investing more we are investing less while promoting privatization, a recipe for mediocrity. This is seen most clearly in . . . anyone? what kind of eduction? . . . science education, where false ideas like . . . anyone? anyone? . . . evolution are rammed down the throats of helpless students, producing . . . anyone? faithless what…
revere | March 23, 2008Some arguments against atheism just cannot be answered. Seriously.
Feel the Love! Not to mention the Peace and Joy. QED:
Speaking of Dawkins, the hilarious episode of PZ's expulsion from the screening of Ben Stein's Science Fiction movie, Expelled, is going viral on the net. Don't blame Stein, though. He's doing it for the children:
revere | March 16, 2008Jokes that go, "What do you get when cross a such and such with a such and such" are legion. Jehovah's Witnesses seem to come in for more than their share of these jokes ("What do you get when you cross a Unitarian with a Jehovah's Witness? Someone who knocks on your door for no particular reason."), although it's hard to say what any particular religion's fair share should be. Anyway, here's another one. What do you get when you cross a goombah with a Jehovah's Witness? (No outraged comments, please; I'm married to a southern Italian).
This:
revere | March 9, 2008It was a big quake, 8.3 on the Richter scale. Epicenter: in the Pacific Northwest, Andreanof Island, Aleutian chain. The date was March 9, 1957. Until now, it's actual cause was unknown. Today we reveal the shocking details.
A rock on the bottom of the ocean near Andreanof Island randomly rearranged its molecules to become an octopus:
This was no ordinary cephalopod. This one had a name: PZ Myers.
The world into which PZ so suddenly evolved was not friendly. He was surrounded by "ignorant, deluded, wicked, foolish, or oppressed victims of obsolete mythologies". He fought back:
But the…
revere | March 2, 2008Tuesday, March 4, is another big voting day in four US states. It may decide who will be the Democratic Presidential nominee. There have been two debates recently between the contenders, Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. While many issues were discussed, religion was not. How can we make up our minds if we don't know where these candidates stand on the most crucial issues facing us in the 21st century. So here's a quick recap. If you bring you charged laptop into the voting booth you can just boot it up, surf over to the blog and use this information to cast you ballot. Note that since this…
revere | February 24, 2008This is the Final Word, I guess:
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that God would punish Iranians if they do not support the country's disputed nuclear program, state radio reported.
"The Iranian people openly announce that they will defend their rights... God will reprimand them if they do not do so," state radio quoted Khamenei as saying. (AP via Yahoo News)
Or is this the Final Word?
revere | February 17, 2008August, 1969. I was a young doctor and in those days it was common to lend a hand at mass demonstrations, sit-ins, "sanctuaries", free clinics. Some of it was scary as hell (the Chicago convention) but a lot of it was boring. Some of it had low priority, especially when it wasn't political and there was always more to do than time or energy to do it. So when I got a phone call from a friend asking if I would staff a clinic at a rock concert I told her, "Hell, no. It's going to rain like stink. Do you think I'm fucking crazy?" It did rain at Woodstock that weekend. And I stayed home in a nice…
revere | February 10, 2008Every preacher knows that a Sermon goes down better with a little humor before one gets to the serious stuff. I usually choose between the two. Combining them often gives me indigestion. So the question for me this week was, will it be the ridiculous or the really serious? I contemplated the really ridiculous: Mike Huckabee explaining to Bill O'Reilly [at 2:15] that while he didn't know how God did it exactly, he did believe there was an Adam and Eve and that Eve was created by clipping a rib out of Adam. But that got me thinking that I should maybe go for the really serious, so I opted for a…
revere | February 3, 2008It's the US Presidential election silly season and major voting to help determine who will be the candidates for the two major parties is on Tuesday. We've got one candidate assuring crowds he has worshipped Jesus in a Christian Church for the last 20 years (translation he isn't a Muslim), a Baptist preacher who campaigns with a Bible peddling movie star who's made his dough extolling interpersonal violence, and yet another saying that faith is the basis for Americanism. By the way, this last one's own faith is Mormonism. Most Americans think Mormons are only slightly less odious than…