Frivology

This went out last week or the week before in the atheist community, but I wasn’t really paying much attention as I was getting over a short weekend vacationa nd catching up on work.  I finally got to finish watching it today. 

Apparently the father jumped into the beginning of this thread on RichardDawkins.net, then immediately disappeared.  There’s so much to say about Deborah, I honestly have no idea where to start.  The first of which that caught me so shocking is … is evangelical Christianity just a giant excuse for people to act incredibly superior and judgmental to others?  No wonder she has no friends.  I wouldn’t want to be her friend, either.

Part of the original purpose of this blog was for me to discover what sort of an atheist I am.  It’s all starting to fall into place now, thanks to the authors I’ve read, blogs I’ve read and discussions I’ve participated in.  I think I fall fairly firmly into the arena of ‘New Atheist’, and though we are called a number of anmes, including arrogant, I have to say that I can’t see that there’s any other way to be.  It makes me physically ill to think, for example, of the things that are done to women in the name of religion in the Middle East. 

Thease are not things that I can just sit idly by and say ‘well, they can do what they want’… and I’ll probably go into detail as to why in another post, but Hemant has up a post talking about a book talking about the subject and one paragraph rubbed me the wrong way. 

For one, they aren’t giving people an alternative to religion. If you lose your faith in God, you still may want that emotional high you get every week, and the sense of community you get with a church, and a safe place to go when things aren’t going well for you. The New Atheists don’t touch on these subjects in too much depth.

via What Do You Dislike About the New Atheists? | Friendly Atheist by Hemant Mehta.

I agree that this doesn’t happen, I disagree that it matters, but then I also agree that it matters.  I know… that doesn’t make much sense, but here’s the thing… religion hasn’t been a part of my emotional or communal makeup for a very, very long time.  I think the average agnostic, on the edge of atheist, feels the same way.  We have our friends from various places.  We do things with them, we go to work, we go to various places of interest, we go home… none of it matters.  Dropping God from the whole equation is just a matter of intellectual honesty.  We never believed before, so now we’re just sort of cementing the disbelief.  I quit smoking five years ago and replaced it with nothing.  I quit God about three years ago and also replaced it with nothing. 

However, there’s something that I /would/ like to see.  In talking with Articulett prior to bringing her on as a blogger for Frivology, she sent me a few links to people who were adversely affected by becoming an atheist and standing by it.  These are people who would likely qualify as ‘new’ atheists.  They won’t bow their heads quietly and participate in the Lord’s Prayer just to not cause a fuss.  They won’t just quietly not answer or leave the crowd when religion discussions come up.  They are who they are, and that’s that… and in some places that’s not okay.  For those sorts of people we should have a community, we should have a network that is their safety net.  A safety net that hopefully someday no one will need anymore, but one t hat is still needed right now.  Yet, I don’t think that safety net is the same thing as what a church or an organized religion provides - nor should it be.

I am new to the blogosphere, but I’ve enjoyed posting in assorted skeptic forums.

I was raised Catholic, but I’ve always found religion hard to make sense of and angst producing. I had too many questions, and I couldn’t figure out if I was following the right rubric and believing the right thing with the right fervency so that I could pass the “eternity test”. I also couldn’t figure out why scientists weren’t working on the afterlife issue more–since, supposedly, their ETERNITY was at stake too. I wondered why they weren’t trying to test the assorted gurus and prophets to find out who was the truly infallible one so that they could ensure that they–and the rest of us–had the best eternity possible.

I had Mormon friends, at that time, and was alarmed to hear that they had a whole different “infallible” guy then our “infallible” Pope; they called him “The Prophet”. This caused me to realized that I could be believing the wrong thing and suffer ETERNAL consequences! “Don’t the scientists that ETERNITY means FOREVER?” I’d ask myself, “Isn’t this the most important thing in the world to be working on!?”

My Mormon friends would tell me to read the book of Mormon and pray to know if it’s true. Even when I was fairly young, I could see how that could produce confirmation bias (though I didn’t know the term at the time). At slumber parties the Mormon girls would tell me that I wouldn’t go to the “highest heaven” because I had the opportunity to learn that Mormonism was true, but I didn’t accept it. I think it was the notion of God making the descendants of Cain black as a mark against him killing Abel that ruined my acceptance of the faith– or maybe it was the claim that Jesus really turned water into grape juice and not wine. The baptism for the dead thing was freaky too.

I just couldn’t seem to make sense out of any religion–it caused me endless angst and confusion. I thought it would make sense as I grew older, but I’ve since come to the conclusion that people just learn not to ask questions in order to “keep the faith”. From religion, though, I did absorb this idea that one should have an “inner knowingness” about the truth– it should “resonate” and “feel” right. Religion teaches this notion that “faith” is a virtue, and I bought into it. And so I segued in to New Age beliefs at 19. It felt so much better than all that “Jesus dying for your sins” weirdness. Hey, I thought I could create my own reality if I believed it enough.

During my New Age phase I would say inane things like “what does it matter if it’s true or not–it’s how it makes you feel.” I was an affirmation queen ever trying to brainwash myself with empowering platitudes.

But finally it started to dawn on me that it did matter if something was true or not. I’d rather just not know something than to invest in something that wasn’t true. When “belief” didn’t “work”, I ended up blaming myself for not having enough faith or not thinking positively enough or not visualizing with the right fervency. Eventually, I got tired of fooling myself. Wanting something to be true cannot make it true, and faith never has been a means of finding out anything objectively true.

I saw a documentary about this man named Clive Wearing (you can Google his name). His hippocampus was destroyed by viral encephalitis, and he can’t form any new memories. He lives constantly in the now–a very tragic way to live. There’s videos at youtube that reveal his bizarre situation. Clive made me think– if a person can lose so much of themselves by losing a small part of the brain–how can a person be anything without any brain at all? If there is a “soul” what does it do, and why doesn’t it step in when a brain is so damaged?

I stumbled across a Skeptical Inquirer where James Randi was testing those who thought they could use divining rods to find water. I hadn’t thought to TEST this stuff. I thought you just had to have faith, and if it didn’t work it was because you didn’t believe enough!

My husband died of Colon Cancer at the age of 28 despite all our positive thinking, creative visualization, and New Age herbs. I went back to school and studied genetics. I wanted very much to believe he was watching over me as a “soul” or experiencing some other new life… but eventually, I had to admit to myself, that it was extremely unlikely. He was a fantastic human–but he can’t do magic. And the fact that both of us longed for him to have some sort of afterlife and communicate with me, could not make it so. Things happened that I believed to be signs… but as my knowledge of science, genetics, and neurology grew, my belief in souls could no longer be sustained.

And that’s my story in brief for now. I could never make sense of any god to really “let go” of–I mean, how do you know if you really believe in an invisible–seemingly unknowable–person? And how can you make yourself “believe” anyhow? It was my growing understanding that souls were as much of an illusion as gods and demons that eventually lead me to my strong atheist/skeptic position.

Now, I no longer want to be responsible for propping up anyone’s delusion. I don’t want to cater to this wrong idea that “faith” and “feelings” are a means of knowledge. They aren’t. They are just a means of fooling yourself so that you feel like you “know” some “higher truth” for believing the equivalent of a myth… a lie… a delusion.

I am usually silent in real life regarding my beliefs, because people often vilify the messenger of a message they don’t want to hear. But I worry sometimes that my silence may be seen as implicit agreement of a belief I do not share. And so I hope to be able to speak up more. I fear the consequences, but there may be greater consequences in staying silent.

I’m heading out here, to Death Valley for a few days for another little photo safari. The last time I went, it was the beginning of June and scorching hot. This time around is a little better planned for the weather, and hopefully we’ll get to see some wildflowers. I just got a killer set of new extension tubes that I’m just dying to try out on something other than the plants outside my apartment door. The second picture above is a preview of what I can do with my new macro goodies.

It’s really great stuff and a ton of fun. I’ll be returning home Sunday night, but likely not really around until Monday. Until then, I’ve added another blogger to Frivology who goes by the name of ‘Articulett’. I met her on the Richard Dawkins forum and I’ll let her introduce herself, but I find her to be absolutely brilliant.

Until Monday!

I’ve got a whole lot of podcasts to listen to these days… too many, I think. I actually just recently had to give some of them the axe and I brought a few new ones into the fold, thanks to Articulett at the RD Forums, who pointed me to some of her faves, who I’m now picking up on. I’ll be changing my links list to show the changes.

Of them, I have to say my favorites are: The crew at The Atheist Experience and The Non-Prophets and Chariots of Iron. I’ve never felt bored listening to any of these guys. My one wish? That there were some female voices out there. I just recently picked up the Skepchick Podcast, but I’m not sure they update often enough for me. Anyone have any recommendations?

…and cool hair! This is pretty cool, actually. Come to America, Susi! School our school kids.

Dan J tossed this in my comments since it sounds a lot like Jonny-Boy and his atheist apologist friends over at the RD forums.  I have to say that joining the RD forums and actually participating in threads is the single-most best thing I’ve done as an atheist, yet.  It’s made me realize where the lines are drawn in the whole debate about whether or not atheists should be loudmouthed or quiet.  Right now, I’m throwing my lot in with the loudmouths.  Especially when I start reading trash like this… 

With religion, I think atheists have the same dissonance going on. If they really think the world would be better off without religion, they shouldn’t hate religion and call believers fools. Any successful new belief system must appreciate the beauty of what it’s replacing and strive for backwards-compatibility. If Matthew 1:1-16 hadn’t explained how Jesus’ lineage fulfills the prophecy in Isaiah 1:1-5, it wouldn’t have gotten where it is today.

via Big Tent Atheism - Boing Boing .

Personally, I think Boing Boing is an utter piece of steaming shit.  It’s the kind of place that people should go to learn what NOT to blog about.  It’s the Paris Hilton of blogs.  It doesn’t do anything well, isn’t terribly attractive, says a lot of really stupid shit and still manages to dry hump everything out there.  This is another example of why I can’t stand the place or anything like it. 

This doesn’t even make sense. 

I think closeted atheists who participate in other religious activities are the future of atheism. They know that prayer feels good without a needing brain scientist to tell them, and they know you don’t need God to want to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and provide homes for the orphaned. What if they simply stopped reciting the words that they didn’t agree with during religious services, without calling attention to it? In many places I don’t think they would be kicked out or turned upon and beaten just for that.

Let me fix that for you… 

I think closeted homosexuals who participate in heterosexual activities are the future of gayness.  They know that heterosexual sex feels good without needing a brain scientist to tell them, and they know you don’t need heterosexuality to have a family, raise kids and be a good parent.  What if they simply married heterosexuals and just quietly didn’t recite ‘I do’ during the wedding vows without calling attention to it?  In many places I don’t think they would be kicked out or turned upon and beaten just for that. 

See what I did there? 

That’s just stupid.  Deny what you aren’t so that you can fit in with the masses, atheists.  Apparently, that’s the only way atheism is going to do anything.

I’ve been learning how to use my D300 and how to take better shots.  Yesterday, I went for a walk with my camera and left it on manual the whole time.  I’m starting to feel more and more comfortable with my photography, especially with this complex of a camera, and, not surprising, the more I learn the less complex it is.  I’ll be heading to Death Valley in a week and a half for one of my photo vacations, my first with the D300.   Hopefully it’ll turn out well!

There’s a bit of a kerfuffle going on at Pharyngula, and I specifically use such a silly word because it’s a pretty silly discussion.  Luckily, PZ is taking it just as silly as it really is.  Short version - he linked to a site that had a poll going on, which ended up getting that poll around 4,000 new votes skewed toward his reader’s views.  The owner of the site threw a hissy fit about it and some guy - not even the site’s owner - is now threatening to tell PZ’s college and ISP what a naughty man he is by allowing people to make fun of others and use naughty words in comments.  Yeah, not kidding.  Kerfuffle.  I got involved in the tangle when the kerfuffle-starter, Jon, showed up at the Richard Dawkins forums and started to talk down to everyone around.

First… we aren’t good enough Atheists:

In my own life, I’ve spent nearly 24 years out of 40 contending with religious bigotry in my own family (and being ostracised for it), campaigning against religiously motivated politics, actively supporting pro-choice groups in Ireland, giving money and time to UK secular organisations and more recently co-ordinating with atheists locally on an arts-based music project. I’m not some silly, zeitgeist-jumping little twerp (who would probably sign-up to Christianity if it could promise to cure acne) that recently bought a t-shirt and read a book! I care passionately about atheism and humanism and I’ve had to take a real stand for both. Watching them get wrecked will not be a welcome end result.

Then, later, we see his supposedly final post in the Pharyngula comments where he insults World of Warcraft players (of which I am one) and anyone who would dare to shed insults at him (though he seems impervious to the claims that he’s giving because he doesn’t use naughty words when he insults people), all wrapped in a neat bow of implied violence. Oh yes, and lest I forget… there’s another jab at anyone who’s not as strongly atheist as he is.

Final point – a colleague at work used to play World of Warcraft and I asked him about it once. He said it was full of little dweebs (mostly kids) playing at being tough demonic-style warriors, whereas for him he had a bit of a laugh playing as a nature loving elf. Basically the characters people chose generally reflected something they didn’t get a chance to be in their lives—which kind of makes sense.

Now, that guy and myself both work as psych nurses. We’ve both earned extra money as doormen and we’ve both – a few years back—been known as people you really shouldn’t cross until we started to get a clue, calm down and grow up a bit. Consequently I think the Warcraft rule applies here. I know you daring, offensive, shocking little tykes would love to sound really brave and come over as ‘edgy’ (lol), but I also know you probably wouldn’t dare to say boo to me if you met me. Such is the unreality of the net.

If you want a real shock take your little play atheism onto the street and see what happens I’ll bring the band aids and a video-camera.

It’s all a bunch of stupidity, but the reason that I call attention to it is that wrapped up within the moronic sentiments, there is a very real and worthwhile conversation … it’s a much more strident conversation on a subject than I think I’ve ever seen - much less had the chance to participate in.  That conversation is… should atheists be loud and proud, or should we be quiet and “respectful”.

I’ll sum my position up by paraphrasing something Matt Dillahunty said on Non-Prophets Radio last week.  There are a group of people that seem to think the only way to have intelligent discourse is to shut of your distate for any position that you find stupid in the name of “respect”.  However, truly retarded positions don’t call for any respect - don’t need respect - and shouldn’t HAVE respect granted to them… period.  What kind of world would we be in today if no one ever openly scorned and ridiculed things that were stupid?