After watching America: Freedom to Fascism! - It is hard for me to not associate the ignorance of these people with our direction away from the founding fathers.
quality of being brave: the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action.
That is what it takes! I just showed Part 2 of The ZEITGEIST Movie to someone close to me and he asked me, "So what can we do", a very courageous moment, but short lived. He then said, "You know what, I think it's best that we all just live out our lives, there is nothing we can do."
I understand it's hard, so I'll leave it at that. As for me, I refuse to sit idle by. I'm not sure what I can do, but I know I can start by sharing what I've seen and see if my peers see this as something serious. Now that I'm aware of the mere possibility of lies, lies everywhere I can begin to recognize if the lies are truly there or not.
A year or two ago I heard a prominent atheist say that Secular Americans as a society are currently where the gays were in the late 60s right before or right after the Stonewall Riots.
I was very excited to hear this as a homosexual living in America not having the right to adopt or marry. I know how important rights are and how public awareness decreases ignorance and allows people of different walks to stop fearing others around them based on their differences.
Being an Atheist in America can be dangerous depending on where you live. I'm glad I live in a tolerant part of the country.
I see this as the beginnings of a nationwide Freethought, Coming out. I am personally out to everyone I know about my atheism and my homosexuality. I've also helped many people feel confident enough to come out about their homosexuality. I'm so proud :)
As a homosexual atheist I admit I greet anything that makes the Christian Right look bad with open arms. So when Chris Hedges put the Christian Right in the same sentence with the word Fascist, my ears perked up.
This short interview with him on his new book, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, is incredible. Their attempt to legislate their hatred towards scientific fact and homosexuality is just the beginning according to Chris.
Is Jesus the Reason for the Season?: Many conservative evangelical Christians at this time of year want to “put Christ back in Christmas” and insist that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” With these slogans, they hope to remind people that Christmas is a Christian holiday and that without Christ, there would be no Christmas in the first place. Such Christians are offended that so many people enjoy the holidays without any reference to Jesus or Christianity and want it to stop. Unfortunately, they don’t have much of a case.
Pre-Christian Reasons for the Season: If Jesus is the Reason for the Season, why are so many aspects of the season pre-Christian and pagan? Christians took over the Decemer 25th Roman holiday of Natalis Solis Invicti, festival of the birth of the invincible sun, as well as Saturnalia. Christians took over German mid-winter festival celebrations which used evergreen trees and holly as symbols of eternal life. Where is Christ in all of this? How is Jesus the reason for the season of mid-winter festivals that pre-date Christianity?
Pagan Christmas Trees: The most central and recognizable symbol of Christmas today is the Christmas tree — and it has nothing to do with Christianity, Christ, or Jesus. It’s a purely pagan symbol taken from ancient German mid-winter festivals. Even if people hang religious ornaments on the tree, the hanging of ornaments is originally pagan, not Christian. The practice of cutting down trees and taking them home to decorate them with gold and silver is even condemned by God in the book of Jeremiah.
2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
Jesus is not the Reason for the Season: What is most mistaken, and even offensive, about the slogan “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” is that Christians are attempting to claim ownership of and priority over the entire holiday season, not just Christmas. There is, however, no reason to imagine that there would be no mid-winter holidays in the absence of Christ or Christianity.
Modern Christmas celebrations have little or nothing to do with Jesus, the Feast of the Nativity, or the Incarnation. Consider some popular Christmas traditions: erecting and decorating a tree, hanging wreaths, sending cards, drinking eggnog, giving presents, hanging mistletoe...where is Christ in all of this?
Thus we also have slogans about “putting Christ back into Christmas,” but it’s difficult to see how Christ was ever central to Christmas. When Christians celebrated it at all, it was about the nativity of Jesus, not the salvation from Christ. Today, even Jesus has receded into the background.
Our modern Christmas is a large number of ancient pagan practices, a few pieces of Christian traditions, and a large number of modern creations which are almost entirely secular in nature, no matter where they got their inspiration from. I see little room and little need for any “Christ” in all of this - but more importantly, I see little place where a “Christ” could be put back into the mix.
This is why Jesus is not the reason for the season for non-Christians. Whether non-Christians celebrate some form of Christmas or something else entirely, the reason for the season is whatever meaning they invest in their holiday — and that is up to them, not to Christians.
To put it simply, Christians who insist that Jesus is the reason for the season and that Christ needs to be “put back” into Christmas are seeking to assert their cultural superiority over everyone else. It’s yet one more example of attempts to reassert Christian privilege in an America that has moved on to religious pluralism.
I don't deny the existence of god, I simply don't believe that this god exists, in the same manor I don't deny the existence of unicorns, but I don't believe they exist.
So check out this video: These Mormons come by on their bike's preaching about Mormonism to a Christian (believer in Christ as messiah). This Christian totally owns the Mormons. I admire his lines of argument.
He could of been, homosexuals have been documented in our history way before Jesus ever showed his his face in our books. I found this interesting essay on the subject.
I really don't know what to say. Not even sure how to approach this. I think the begging question is where do we as a nation draw the line between what we should tolerate when it comes to irrational behavior, religious or not.
Religious belief is irrational by definition and under the protection of privacy and freedom, as it very well should be. Yet, it isn't tollerated when it leaves the realm of privacy which is usually where religious irrationality clashes in our culture.
So let me put myself in their shoes. Let's say that my worldview opposed something, such as the policy prevening gay's from being considered civily equal to heterosexuals in terms of civil union. I would gladly protest on this issue.
So what makes me different than this religious group? Lets see.
I would protest to the governing body responsible for this policy, not a person not responsible for the policy.
My protest would be based on a rational argument that shows at it's core that the policy is unconstitutional and based primarily on religious dogma and no other social predicament.
... just to name a few.
So if your beliefs are not based on something a rational person can understand, that belief should not be a basis for a protest.
Maybe this is too strong a line to draw. It might be too intollerant of me. If so, please tell me how. I know I'm bias when it comes to these topics...
A good friend of mine and I spend 3 hours debating religion after a good few months of laying off such an interesting topic.
I've always been told that God cannot be dis-proven, which I believed until recently. God in the most general terms cannot be dis-proven, but if you define God with certain attributes and those attributes contradict each other, then dis-proving god really becomes as easy as pointing out those contradictions.
In discussing all this with my friend I searched the web for what Epicurus wrote sometime in the 3rd century BCE.
Is god willing to prevent evil but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is god both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?
Incredible stuff, this Epicurus. My friend must of invoked the MWC (mysterious ways clause) a dozen times. I didn't know to call it MWC. LOL.
What did I learn? First, that God's omniscience is incompatible with the concept of free will. God is the creator of all, evil exists, therefore god created evil (suffering). Something a Christian will readily deny.
Finally, I re-enforced the idea within me that I don't believe in god because the concept cannot exist rationally. The same way I don't believe in flying pigs because it isn't possible :).
I found this article that describes many of the arguments I made to my friend. Great stuff!
In my discussion with my co-workers, they made the common mistake of calling a theory, "just a theory", meaning it has no factual standing. They even had the audacity to say that the "theory of gravity" is just a theory, which is true, it is a theory. LOL. It is a scientific theory, which makes a world of difference.
So for anyone reading this with some skeptisism, please check out Theory on Wikipedia
In science, a theory is a mathematical or logical explanation, or a testable model of the manner of interaction of a set of naturalphenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise falsified through empirical observation. It follows from this that for scientists "theory" and "fact" do not necessarily stand in opposition. For example, it is a fact that an apple dropped on earth has been observed to fall towards the center of the planet, and the theories commonly used to describe and explain this behaviour are Newton's theory of universal gravitation (see also gravitation), and general relativity.
I take a personal interest in understanding the universe I live in. There is much I don't know, but I want to know and that is very important to me. I believe I have a higher than average understanding of cosmology, physics and other scientific bodies of knowledge.
This common misconception of gravity is just a theory, minimizing it's scientific value can best be seen on an interesting article I found written by a proponent of Intelligent Design, Warning: Gravity is "Only a Theory". I can understand how someone with limited knowledge of gravity can be easily persuaded in believing the absurd assertions made in this article.
A quote from Baron d'Holbach, a German French Author/Philosopher most famous for being one of the first self-described atheists in Europe.
If we go back to the beginning we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods, that fancy, enthusiasm or deceit adorn them, that weakness worships them, that crudity preserves them, and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interest.
If the ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, the knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them.
Pat Condell has been on youtube only 8 months and he's already a hit, getting honors everytime he comes out with a video. With a new video a few times a month he has over 14,500 subscribers, which is incredible! See Pat's videos.
His video's provide an Atheist perspective to current and political events around the world with a funny and satirical twist. His latest rant is fantasic, more serious than funny and extremly interesting. Makes me think about muslim immigration in Europe and what effects it is having and will have in the future.
My god fearing friend sent me this video, and I thought it was absolutely precious!
A twist of comedy on the old myth of Adam and Eve. He makes us laugh on a story that if given just a small amount of though is completely preposterous if taken seriously, yet many people do.
Charles Flowers, a pastor and director of Love Demonstrated Ministries Christian Boot Camp, is charged with second-degree assault.
So why do I report on this terrible Camp Story? Simple, they are a "Christian" boot camp. The moment you use that term and all its associations, the irony and hipocracy strikes much louder.
Don't get me wrong, this could of happened to any other group, including a secular or even atheist group, but the irony and hipocracy wouldn't be the same. That's all.
Very well written article comparing religion to a stubborn puzzle placeholder that has create a life of its own and refuses to be replaced with scientific understanding.
Ah, another Christian horror story.
Don't get me wrong, this could of happened to any other group, including a secular or even atheist group, but the irony and hipocracy wouldn't be the same. That's all.
