Frivology

Wow.  I noticed a link today in my RSS reader to an article stating rather boldly that "Conservative Groups Declare Obama’s Stimulus Bill a War on Prayer".  Now, rightfully, seeing that this was a link to Fox News, I probably should have avoided clicking on it all together, but silly me, I did.  It seems all of the fuss is over the fact that the bill *shock, horror*, obeys the constitution.

According to the bill, which the Democratic-controlled House passed despite unanimous Republican opposition, funds are prohibited from being used for the "modernization, renovation, or repair" of facilities that allow "sectarian instruction, religious worship or a school or department of divinity."

Critics say that could include public schools that permit religious groups to meet on campus. The House provided $20 billion for the infrastructure improvements, of which $6 billion would go to higher education facilities where the limitations would be applied.

Let’s get this straight.  First, the Neocons don’t want us to spend any money in the first place, because spending is bad (though Dubya didn’t seem to believe this).  Then, when it comes out that the stimulus bill actually includes text that obeys the constitution, they start whining that their base - the fundies - won’t be getting some of it.

As if this isn’t ridiculous enough on it’s face, there’s comments on the news story.

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via: Atheist Media Blog

Glenn Beck is my new Public Enemy #1 (Jake Tapper is old news).  Not only is he a jerk, but he’s a fucking ignorant jerk.  As many in the Atheist community know, last week Illinois ruled their school’s “Moment of Silence” law unconstitutional because:

The "teacher is required to instruct her pupils, especially in the lower grades, about prayer and its meaning as well as the limitations on their ‘reflection,’" Gettleman ruled.

"The plain language of the statute, therefore, suggests and intent to force the introduction of the concept of prayer into the schools," he said.

Listen above to how Glenn spins this to make “10% of Americans push around the other 90%”.  He claims and Dobson claim that the kids didn’t have to pray, they could do whatever they want… except that they weren’t, and that’s why it was dubbed unconstitutional.  He also goes on to say that God gave us our rights, and if we take God out of the State, then the State will be the one who gives us our rights.

What country do you live in, Glenn?  The State IS what gives us our rights, and the state IS what takes them away.  If you break the law, it isn’t God who will put you in jail for it – it’s the state!  Common sense, idiot.  I’m so sad that you’ve procreated.  Maybe your daughter will become an Atheist and torture you for the rest of your life.

But here’s a question for Glenn and anyone who disagrees with this ruling.  Is your faith, your belief so fragile that in order for it to exist you have to force it on others?  Is it so delicate that you can’t possibly allow your child to go to school for eight hours without having to have some reminder to believe during those eight hours?  If your belief really is that fragile, if you have to continually brainwash your kids in order to get them to think the way you want them to, maybe your belief isn’t as strong as you thought it was.

Also, if you’re going to complain about this you have no right whatsoever to state that you should be allowed to raise your children the way that you want to. 

Newdow got shot down.  Not really a big surprise in my book, but I maintain that simply filing the suit is a good idea and an excercise of our freedoms.  A lot of people made a pretty big stink to Obama about the Rick Warren deal, which got V. Gene Robinson a chance to say a prayer (the Obama team claims that they were going to do this all along, but I’m not sure anyone believes that - if that were true, I’d think they would have had the brains to announce both Warren and Robinson at the same time).  While Obama has completely and utterly ignored atheists even after courting our votes, we can just hope that this places a little thought inside his head - and that of others. 

Let’s not forget that Michael Newdow started these little fights alone, and he’s now starting to gain ground by being able to sign on more and more plaintiffs.  Eventually, the voice that wants the separation - which doesn’t necessarily HAVE to be solely that of atheists - is going to be loud enough that it can not possibly be ignored.  That’s the key to “winning” this fight - making sure that your voice is so loud that politicians can’t afford not to listen to it.  I really think this is still just the beginning and the more steam and more voices that are picked up the more likely we’re going to win. 

Hat tip: Hemant at Friendly Atheist

Wow, Grand Junction is just a hotbed of editorials these days. One more quick look at one of them before I go to bed. This one matches up their own issues with prayers before their city council meetings with Michael Newdow’s suit concerning the inauguration.

Beyond getting the history of ’so help me god’ showing up in inaugurations completely wrong, Mr. Wagner seems to have figured out why it is that atheists have such a wedgie about separating church from state:

What hurts for people like Newdow is the idea that there’s someone more important than themselves. Believing that there isn’t seems less like being an atheist and more a victim of narcissism. Indeed, the rage some seem to feel at the mere mention of religion, particularly by public officials, no matter what the context, seems outsized to the offense.

via:  Narcissism may drive opponents of religion as much as atheism

Okay, Mr. Wagner.  Here’s a quick lesson for you.  Believing there is no god does not equal believing that there isn’t someone more important than ourselves.  In fact, I’d turn the gun of narcisism right back around onto you, Mr. Theist.  When you pray, are you not often praying for something for yourself?  If you pray to, say, win the lottery, are you not presupposing that you are so very special to your god that you - above all others - should have your prayer personally answered?  As atheists don’t believe in that tripe, atheists don’t consider themselves above anyone else.  We are, in fact, made of the same matter as even you, Mr. Wagner.

Secondly, what is so wrong with each of us patting ourselves on the back every now and again?  When I was an evangelical, I had a very hard time watching people attribute some amazing feats that they did to God.  There were plenty of people who gave up drugs or alcohol and built better lives for themselves, and they never gave themselves credit for having the strength of will to do it.  They always thanked God for doing it for them. 

As humans, we are an amazing race, Mr. Wagner.  We are capable of beautiful and wonderful things, and by insisting that we could not do the beautiful and wonderful things we do without the hand of God, we are denying ourselves the simple pleasure of being amazed at nothing more powerful than each other.

So let’s say you’re fifteen years old.  Remember back to that time in your life.  You’re adult enough to question the world around you, but not adult enough to really have any of your own rights.  Your parents still, by and large, control what it is that you do, down to your religious beliefs.  Then, you get sick… badly sick… and your mom, instead of getting you medical help, reads you scripture and prays with you - until you die.  That’s what happened to Jessica Crank in 2002. 

Jessica Crank had a tumor the size of a basketball on her shoulder when she died.

In her mother’s own words, Jesus Christ was Jessica’s medical treatment. Jacqueline Crank testified she would read scriptures to her daughter and pray with her, and that Jessica was on multiple prayer lists.

“Did you take her to the hospital?” prosecutors asked.

“I took her to Jesus Christ,” she answered.

Ms. Crank’s attorney asked she could go back in time to 2002 and do it all over again, if she would change her response to her daughter’s illness. She responded that she would again rely on her religious faith.

via: Mother testifies in criminal case over daughter’s cancer death

She’s being brought up on charges of neglect - a misdemeanor - and just lost a motion to have the case dismissed.  It’s being sent up to the state on the basis of whether or not this is constitutionally permissable considering a law that allows these sorts of things to happen.   It’s this sort of thing that makes Atheist’s the world over say that religion is harmful to people.

More from across the pond.  Madeleine Bunting of The Guardian seems to be trying to make a point, but she only really succeeds in insulting the intelligence of her fellow man: 

Then I thought about how it might look through the eyes of some of the people who travel on the buses I use from Hackney. The ones who look exhausted returning from a night shift of cleaning. Often they have a well-thumbed Bible or prayer book to read on their journey. And along comes a bus emblazoned with that advert. A slogan redolent of the kind of triumphal atheism only possible when you have had the educational opportunities, privileges and material security of the British middle class. The faith of this person is what sustains their sense of hope and, even more importantly, their sense of dignity when they are confronted every day by the adverts of affluence that mock them as “losers”, as failed consumers. Ouch, I winced that we can be so blindly self-indulgent to this elitist patronising.

via Madeleine Bunting: Religions have the power to bring a passion for social justice to politics | Comment is free | The Guardian .

Hang on, so … let me get this straight.  Society has made a huge gap between the rich and the poor, nearly canonized consumerism and, in general, failed to educate a huge swath of people… and to Madeleine… the answer is not to give people education, livable wages and reasonable jobs that don’t wear them to the bone.  It’s to give them the false hope that eventually they’ll die and thus get to live in eternity forever?  Not very nice. 

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