Genesis Explained Scientifically

E. Pluribus Unum

If you care about separation of church and state, though the number of people who do appears to be shrinking, please sign this petition to restore our nation’s motto and to remove the McCarthy era addition to the pledge of allegiance.

From the petition text:

Congress undermined American unity in 1954 when it added “Under God” to our Pledge of Allegiance and again in 1956 when it replaced our 175 year old national motto, E Pluribus Unum (“Out Of Many, One”), with “In God We Trust”, thus demoting to an implied outsider status the agnostics, atheists, deists, polytheists and other citizens who do not ascribe to this theology. Ideological contention is a necessary and desired result of the freedoms that are the real source of our unity and strength. These laws, by claiming that our unity rests on disregarding the reality of such sincere individual disagreement, are self-defeating.

E. Pluribus Unum — Out Of Many, One

Thanks to Overcaffeinated for the tip.

For those who wish to go beyond this one petition, consider checking out the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Horus vs. Jesus

ALERT ALERT ALERT!!! THIS POST IS FALSE!!! I apologize for spreading incorrect information. I believed it to be true when I posted it. Zarove below has proven me incorrect. I apologize for being taken in by an article that actually came up from google scholar. Looking at the footnotes of my “peer reviewed” article should have clued me in. I did not read that carefully. I will not further spread this myth.

Understand that I still do not believe either the Horus myth or the Jesus myth. However, I now also know that it is a myth that the two myths are the same.

Thank you Zarove for setting me straight.

Here for posterity is my original post:

In the spirit of the Bush-McCain Challenge, which shows that most people cannot tell the difference between Bush and McCain, I ask weather you can tell the difference between Horus and Jesus. So, guess which one was:

1. Born of a virgin?
2. Baptized at age 30?
3. Had 12 disciples?
4. Was crucified?
5. Was resurrected 3 days later
6. Was associated with the astrological sign Pisces, the fish?
7. Was known as The Lamb of God?

Top Atheist Quotes

I always enjoy reading things like this list of the Top 50 Atheism Quotes. Since their number one quote is from George Carlin, and it sounds so much better in his own voice, here it is for anyone that has not already watched this segment.

Why do atheists care about religion?

This one is so well done that I have nothing to add.

Thanks to Seth for a great find!

Powerful god protects atheist??!!?

No. That can’t be it. Perhaps the tantrik death spell is just a bunch of horseshit. Yeah. That must be it.

The Great Tantra Challenge

I have to give credit to the tantrik.  At least he was honestly trying to use only spells (for most of the time) without attempting simple physical means like using the knife to cut out the atheist’s heart.

Cult is a Bad Word

It has been said that the differences between a cult and a religion lie in duration and number of followers. This isn’t really a bad way to think about it and points to the obvious conclusion that all religions began as cults. However, in my opinion, we should abandon one word or the other from our normal discourse.

Why do I think so?

Religiosity Makes the U.S. a Third World Nation

A couple of reports indicate that religiosity correlates strongly with violent crime and infant mortality. All of which are things that the U.S. is at or near the top among developed democratic nations. See my full post on Dvorak Cagematch, where, as previously noted, I am doing a stint as a guest moderator.

Thou Shalt Kill

I am an antitheist primarily because of the violence in the Bible and other religious writings, regardless of how much of it actually happened, and because of the violence directly caused by people’s reading of the Bible and/or other religious writings. Many modern members of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religion (deliberately singular) believe that the people that have caused such atrocities are misinterpreting the written words of this religion. Many even claim that religion is inherently peaceful; I believe quite the opposite. I believe religion, or more accurately the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religion, to be inherently violent by design and purpose.

ACLU — Too Liberal?

I hear people state on blogs and at work that the ACLU is too liberal. This is the reason they do not join. Since the sole charter of the ACLU is to defend the constitution of the United States, I tend to interpret such statements as indicating that the constitution is too liberal. However, when pressed for the reasons that people feel the ACLU is too liberal, the number one reason for this belief appears to be gun control.

Here is the ACLU’s statement on gun control. Please read it before continuing.

The Word Scientist Is Already Taken

We need a new word to denote one who believes that for which there is overwhelming evidence and gives credence to that for which there is some evidence and gives no credence to that for which there is no evidence. Scientist might be used as a word to mean a believer in science. However, just as sexist has already been used for another purpose, so can’t be used to indicate one who believes in sex, scientist has already been used to indicate one who actually practices science for a living, so cannot be used to indicate a believer in the tremendous value of scientific evidence.

Atheist is actually a bad word for this because, as Dawkins points out in God Delusion, this defines one by their non-belief. I am an atheist. I am also an athorist and an azeusist and an aodinist and an abaalist, etc. For this reason, I prefer to call myself an antitheist. This works for me because I actually do believe religion is an evil institution and am opposed to all forms of theism. So, for me, this works.

However, we still do not have a good name for one who does not oppose theism, but simply does not believe in it. Skeptic is one word that could accurately describe such a philosophy, but is also overloaded with other meaning both connotations and denotations.

So, the question is, what should we call someone that believes that extraordinary claims, such as an invisible man in the sky, must be backed up by evidence in order to be given credence (other than unelectable for office at any level anywhere in this U.S.)?

Jesus Hates Me!

First, let me make a few things clear to avoid a bunch of misunderstandings.

1. I am an atheist and antitheist. This means I do not believe in any deity, including Jesus, and so don’t really believe my own title.
2. I do not hate Christianity more than any other type of theism. I am writing this post primarily in response to Higghawker who has repeatedly posted scripture on my site, presumably with the intent of converting me. It is my hope to redirect all such replies to this topic and leave non-religious topics free of mythological influence.
3. I believe it is highly unlikely that Jesus ever existed as a human being.

The Crap That Gets Bipartisan Support These Days …

Has everyone heard about this bill?

http://obama.senate.gov/press/061206-congress_passes/

If someone were to owe me money and be in bankruptcy proceedings, I would personally be very upset to hear that they were still giving money to charitable causes. At this point, I’d think they should be giving me the money. If I want to give it to the charity of my choosing, that is my business.

After all, I’m about to end up with 10 cents on the dollar and the bankrupt individual who owes me money is giving his/her money away. This is not a good thing.

Of course, just to add insult to injury, even though it seems to cover all types of charitable donations, it is couched in religious terms, violating separation of church and state. I was not aware that giving to religious organizations was in the bible or any other religious writing as a prerequisite for entry into heaven. If it is, then certainly this is a freedom of religion issue, and also probably time to look for a new religion.

This isn’t about leaving the bankrupt individual with enough to eat. This is about taking the money out of the creditor’s hands and giving it to a charity not of his/her own choosing.

Who’s standing up for the rights of the creditor to be able to pay his/her own bills with the money that is duly acknowledged to be owed to him/her?

One People Divided by Religion

The Hebrew people and the Muslim people are both Semitic groups. The similarities in culture can be seen easily by looking at the written languages and listening to the sounds of each. Clearly the Semitic people are all one group. Further, both the Muslims and the Jews claim descent from a single man, though from different women. Ibu Ibrahim and ben Avraham mean exactly the same thing, son of Abraham.