The Damned

Jerry Coyne has posted on the continuing problem within Christianity regarding reconciling the Bible and science. Good luck with that!! This blogger can feel the twisted logic popping brain cells. Metaphorically, of course.

Check out this comment for clarification of this blogger's opinion. Thank you Airstrip One. Actually, many of the comments on this post are spot-on.

Austin Cline has posted on the relationship between culture and Christianity. There is no doubt in this blogger's mind which one has the greater influence over the other historically and geographically.

Austin Cline has posted on Christian home schooling and the type of individual it produces. The political implications are also addressed. Scary.

Jerry Coyne has posted on the trend away from religion in the USA, especially involving the young, and analyses the reasons why this is happening.

Hemant Mehta has posted a very interesting interview by Bob Woodruff of Margaret Downey, a prominent atheist leader who had a near-death experience. This blogger thinks that Ms. Downey did a very good job presenting what such experiences really are about.

via Joshua Deaton

While watching the Symphony of Science video series,  I feel the same inner physical thrill I used to experience when attending prayer meetings and discussing spiritual and theological topics with friends. What these scientists say is true: What is real and knowable is fascinating, arresting, and remarkable. We need not dream up anything else.

To devote our lives to understand this universe using science and reason is a profoundly high calling.

Make sure to view the rest of these wonderful videos here.

A former coworker of mine just lost his sister to cancer after years of riding the rollercoaster of hope and fear. His love for her inspired me, and it reminded me acutely of what it was like to watch a family member die from the disease.

I have only experienced fresh grief as a Christian. My father died in 2003, and I sought comfort and peace in the hope that he was “in a better place” and free from pain, experiencing the joy and bliss he always desired in life. He was a very passionate believer, and he would always tell me we’d “be together again” when my time was up. I found this to be very soothing and helpful, because I didn’t want to let him go. I wanted more time with him, and I desperately wanted him to be healthy again. I was so fearful of being separated forever. Magical solution? Heaven. Duh.

I’ve never lost a loved one as an atheist, so I honestly can’t speak to what it feels like to say goodbye to someone knowing we will never be together again. I imagine this could be a healthy, helpful way of letting someone go, processing the loss, and moving forward. Is that so?

What matters most to me now is understanding someone’s role in my life and how that helps me be a better person. That way, they live on in me, through me. My father is part of me down to my very DNA. He’s gone, but he has a legacy that affects me and every single person I encounter. I am very fortunate to have had such a great life with him while it lasted. Isn’t that what grief should be about?

What about you?

We can all can talk a good game about how great it is not to be oppressed by the burden of hell, yada yada… but only someone who has actually experienced a loss can talk about what grief is like.

Has anyone out there experienced intense grief as both a faithful religious person and as an atheist? How did your experiences differ on a personal level? Could you share with as much transparency as possible (as you feel comfortable)? Were both healthy experiences? Was one more comforting than another? When someone says “It doesn’t matter if so-and-so has faith in Heaven if it comforts them,” do you agree or disagree?

PZ Myers has posted on the two main concepts of god. Interesting how apologists and other defenders of theism use the two concepts interchangeably, according to their needs. Consistency is not one of their strengths.

Epiphenom has posted on an interesting analysis of religion and economic inequality.

The Atheist Revolution blog clarifies that there is nothing "new" about the "new atheism."

Paul Rosenberg has posted a lengthy article exposing the religious movement behind Gov Rick Perry's theology. The USA ignores the impact of this and other groups who wish to remove the wall of separation of church and state at its own peril.

This blogger would like to take this opportunity to summarize what religion is and what is dangerous about it. Evidence shows religion to be man-made superstition based on myth that can be a force for good or bad. When Christianity first began and was a minority with no political power it was benign. When Christianity became the major religion in Western civilization and obtained political power, that force was used for bad (i.e. the Inquisition, the Crusades, etc.). The Enlightenment and the emergence of science within the culture of Christianity attenuated its negative effects. Islamic culture has not had a period of Enlightenment, thus, nations under the political dominance of Islam have no constraint against bad actions.

The lesson of the above is that when religion is private and not the major political force, culture thrives. There are religious groups within the USA who wish that it was a theocracy under their particular brand of Christianity. History clearly shows that if one of these groups actually achieves its goals, the USA will be a less free, less good and more repressed culture.

Mano Singham has posted an excellent encapsulation of the relationship between humans and the rest of life.

Hemant Mehta has posted an excellent commentary on the state of the USA politically, economically and theologically.

Austin Cline has posted a clear view of the full scope of the effects of the Tea Party.

PZ Myers has posted a lengthy, but important, opinion on the relationship between the skeptical movement and atheism. In this blogger's opinion, unfettered use of the tools of skepticism leads to the conclusion that there very probably is no god. Thus, atheism is a necessary result of skeptical inquiry and it should not be attenuated in any way.

As PZ concludes:

Any skeptical movement that tries to exclude atheism and religion from its domain is diminishing itself in arbitrary and self-defeating ways. Suck it up, guys; atheism won’t be the whole of skepticism, but it should be recognized as a respectable and important part of the whole.

Hemant Mehta has posted a guest post by Jessica Ahlquist. Clear-thinking young people give this blogger much encouragement.

As commenter Mike Lemieux quoted: "The very concept of sin comes from the bible. Christianity offers to solve a problem of its own making! Would you be thankful to a person who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage?" - Dan Barker

Steven Novella has posted on what is known about the effects of prayer and faith.