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Alternative Thought for the Day |
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"The
so-called New Atheists are responding to a
provocation, not mounting an arbitrary and
uncalled-for attack. Instead of turning a politely
blind eye to religion as we all did until recently
(when those with religion had the good taste, mainly,
to keep quiet about it in return), we have chosen to
speak out against the absurdities, distortions and
even dangers that the presence of religion in our
societies cause. For nearly twenty centuries the
religionists have had it their way: what a squealing
they put up now that half a dozen "New Atheists" have
argued back"
- AC Greyling, Dec 2007
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Atheism is NOT a religion
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Hitler WAS
Religious
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“I no more believe that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary
than I believe Krishna was born of the Virgin Devaka, Horus was born of the
Virgin Isis, Mercury was born of the Virgin Maia, or Romulus was born of the
Virgin Rhea Sylvia. As the preceding examples help to demonstrate,
parthenogenesis would not be proof either of divine paternity or of the
truth of any subsequent teaching… Christianity insults our intelligence as
well as out innate morality by insisting that we believe absurdities that
are drawn from the mythology of paganism and barbarism”
- Christopher Hitchens
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Who Loves Designer Vaginas?
Science and nature are mocking America's fickle God. Please,
no screaming.
Mark Morford
SF Gate Columnist
Wed June 20, 2007
What are you gonna do about it?
What are you gonna do about the fact that Mother Nature once again appears
to be thwarting and mocking and then grinning like a wicked divine trickster
at every cute rigid godly idea of how humans and animals are supposed to
move and hump and lick and behave, as loosely and, yes, rather bitterly
delineated in the Bible and by the Bush administration and Focus on the
Family and every other uptight sexually confounded person you have ever
known, et al. and ad nauseam?
What, furthermore, are you gonna do about human knowledge? About how science
insists on marching hell-bent forward with such astonishing speed and with
such incredible dexterity toward some glorious otherworldly nightmare
dreamscape of anima manipulation, a land where we can effortlessly
rescramble our genetic code and reconfigure this none-too-solid flesh as we
"play God" in so many bewildering ways the Christian right can't even figure
out where to aim its hollow, horrified indignation?
Here is the thing you must know: It is all changing with incredible,
butt-tingling speed. It is all fast becoming more than we ever imagined,
with ramifications we are only beginning to fully taste. There is no
stopping it. There is little that can slow it down. There is only the
single, looming question: How will you respond? Will you recoil and gag and
spit, or will you gurgle and swallow and smile?
Example: We are on the cusp of being able choose, should you so desire, the
exact size and length and speed and eye color and specific pleasing fur
markings of ... your dog. And your cat. And your baby (well, minus the fur).
And by the way, we have also invented new drugs to eliminate menstruation
and we can now grow designer vaginas in the lab and plastic surgery is more
common than bad sacrum tattoos and it's becoming increasingly obvious that
males of many species -- including our own -- are largely unnecessary for
procreation (but not, say, parallel parking, the lifting of heavy things or
buying you a nice postcoital breakfast).
Fascinating, that last thing. Have you heard? Scientists are discovering
more and more creatures, from sharks to bees to ants to turkeys to Komodo
dragons to turtles to sea bass, that can reproduce via parthenogenesis
(i.e., virgin birth; i.e., no father) either by actually switching sexes so
as to fertilize themselves, or via storing sperm for years for later use, or
because they're hermaphrodites, or by way of undertaking all manner of
clever unholy gender trickery so as to circumvent their own extinction and
confound creationists and ensure that all humans everywhere will continue to
look around and blink furiously and go, Wait wait wait, didn't we have some
of this figured out already? What the hell happened?
Wait, did I say designer vaginas? Indeed I did. Doctors can now grow new
vaginal tissue in a lab, from the original stem cells, for eventual
replanting (not to be confused with the hot trend in cosmetic vaginoplasty,
by the way, which is an entirely different fascination and has to do with
reshaping the labia for improved aesthetics and, you know, functionality.
God bless America).
Fabulous news for victims of birth defects and cancer and rare vaginal
disorders? You bet. Intriguing implications for all sorts of cosmetic
applications, not to mention what it might mean for transsexuals, not to
mention how close we are to doing the same thing with other organs -- and
even, eventually, entire limbs? One guess.
It is, we can all agree, a lot to take in. It is a great deal to attempt to
process in one tiny and oh-so-fleeting lifetime. The notion of human
eugenics alone is, for many, overwhelming enough, the idea that new parents
will soon have some sort of checklist at the gynecologist's office wherein,
when docs go in to tweak your fetus' DNA to eliminate diseases, you can also
easily choose not only its sex, but also the skin tone and hair color and
eye tint and muscle dexterity and 0-60 acceleration and number of cupholders
and overall genetic propensity toward an IQ that may or may not lead to
voting for aw-shucks warmongering neocon imbecile politicians. Neat! Or, you
know, not.
They are, quite obviously, the sort of advances that open so many cans of
ethical and spiritual worms it shakes us to the very core of what we
believe, of who we think we are and where we fit in and What It All Means.
You know, the good questions.
At the same time, it's really nothing new. It's little different than
previous periods of explosive growth in human knowledge that both titillated
and terrified the populace, such as, say, when Galileo pointed out (much to
the church's quivering rage) that not only is man's little spinning blue
spaceship not at the center of the universe, but we're actually so far out
on the fringes, so minute and insignificant in our Copernican swirlings that
we're really nothing more than a wisp of belly-button lint in the giant
laundry hamper of the gods. Talk about your existential angst.
Hence, religion. This (at least partially) explains why so many are so eager
to cling to religious dogma, to some sort of immovable, reliable framework
of understanding, something that can help make sense of it all, even if
making sense of it all involves shutting off your brain and killing your
divine intuition and soaking up giant gobs of blind faith so you don't have
to actually swim in those bloody murky confusing pools of ethics and meaning
and actually thinking for yourself. Mmm, numb groupthink. It's what's for
dinner.
There are only two real options. One is to hold tight to the leaky life raft
of inflexible ideology (hello, organized religion), to rules and laws and
codes of conduct written by the fearful, for the fearful, to live in
constant low-level dread of all the extraordinary changes and radical
rethinkings of what it means to be human or animal or male or female or
hetero or homo or any other swell little label you thought was solid and
trustworthy but which is increasingly proven to be blurry and unpredictable
and just a little dangerous.
There is another option. You can choose nimbleness, lightness, a sly and
knowing grin to go with your wine and your vibrator and your never-ending
thirst for more and deeper information. It's possible.
You can refuse to let your brain, your soul lock down into one way of
looking at the world as you see all the science and genetic manipulation and
designer vaginas, all the insane, incredible possibility as merely more
evidence that we are, in the end, just one big karmic science experiment.
Is this latter choice frustrating and brutally difficult and will it
challenge every notion of self you hold dear? Hell yes. Is it the only way
to enjoy this bizarre circus of a planet without grabbing a gun and cowering
in the corner with your homophobia and your flag and your Army of Christ
brochure, dead certain the terrorists and gays and hippies are coming to eat
your soul for breakfast? Well, probably.
Because, baby, the changes are coming, harder and faster than ever, with all
sorts of juicy, terrifying, delightful implications. Really now, what are
you gonna do about it?
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What religion and the religious fear
most of all is ridicule because what they believe is absurd. Deep down they
all know that. We give far too much credence to 'the mirthless cretins of
jihad'. Much better to point and laugh at all such fundamentalists of
whatever creed. They feed and thrive on our pusillanimous silence and
respect for their beliefs
- Paul Owen, The Times
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Do Christians, Jews and Muslims imagine
that before Moses received the Ten Commandments, he thought murder and theft
were good ideas?
- Johann Hari quoting Christopher Hitchens |
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International Committee Against Christian Calendar Imperialism
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"Secularism
is the constitutional brick and mortar for free religious expression, not
its downfall,
because it protects the free expression of all religions, not just the
dominant one"
- Shaunti Feldhahn and Diane Glass
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KNOW THYSELF (An Agnostic on Mortality)
Astrology, Theology,
Ancestors of Psychology
That new kid on the psychic block
To whom the modern sinners flock.
Where once the gods above the skies
Dispensed forgiveness for our lies,
We now seek solace from a 'Shrink',
Suppress our guilt with pot and drink.
But Ancient Greeks - all mighty smart
Foreshadowed Freud, Voltaire, Descartes
At Delphis Shrine where Truth was sought,
Found Know Thyself Mans wisest thought.
But what is Self that silver thread?
Unseen within confining head.
Not entity - just fleeting scans
Of games and pains and hopeful plans.
A mortal biologic fire
Predestined only to expire,
But twixt the spark and final ash
What fun we had throughout that dash.
- Paul Rattenbury
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Faith's last gasp
Despite superficial appearances of a resurgence in religious
belief, we are actually witnessing the death throes of faith
by AC Grayling (professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of
London)
Prospect Magazine
Nov 2006
On the basis of apparently incontrovertible evidence, commentators of
various persuasions, among them Eric Kaufmann in the last issue of Prospect,
John Gray, writing recently in the New Statesman, and Damon Linker, author
of The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege (Doubleday) are convinced that
we are witnessing an upsurge in religious observance and influence.
Kaufmann relies on the weak argument that demographic trends will turn
Europe into a predominantly religious place, John Gray seems to hope that
this will be so, and Damon Linker is convinced that a theocon conspiracy
has so successfully captured Washington that the US has become a de facto
theocracythe home of faith-based politics, faith-based science
(creationism), faith-based medicine ("pro-life"), faith-based foreign policy
(conducting jihad for American/Baptist values) and faith-based attacks on
civil liberties. Add this to the all too obvious fact of political
IslamIslamismand the case seems made.
But I see the same evidence as yielding the opposite conclusion. What we are
witnessing is not the resurgence of religion, but its death throes. Two
considerations support this claim. One is that there are close and
instructive historical precedents for what is happening now. The second
comes from an analysis of the nature of contemporary religious politics.
If a given interest group turns up the volume, it is usually reacting to
provocation. We view the Victorian era as a sanctimonious period of
improving movements such as self-help, temperance and university missions to
city slums. But prudishness and do-goodery existed precisely because their
contrariespoverty, drunkenness, godlessness and indecencywere endemic:
some streets of Victorian London swarmed with child prostitutes, and were
too dangerous to walk at night. In the same way, todays religious upsurge
is a reaction to the prevalence of its opposite. In fact, it is a reaction
to defeat, in a war that it cannot win even if it succeeds in a few battles
on the way down.
Here is what is happening. Over the last half-century, sections of the
Muslim world have become increasingly affronted by the globalisation of
western and especially American culture and values, which appears arrogantly
to disdain their traditions. Yet latterly, some of these same sections of
Islam have been emboldened by the victory of warriors of the faith over a
superpower (Afghanistans mujahedin over Soviet Russia); the combination
encourages them to assert their opposition to the engulfing encroachment of
western modernity, even by taking up arms.
When a climate of heightened tension such as this prompts activists in one
religious group to become more assertive, to push their way forward in the
public domain to demand more attention, more respect, more public funds
(faith-based schools are one example), other religious groups, not wishing
to be left behind, follow suit. In Britain, Muslim activism has been quickly
mimicked by othersby Sikhs demonstrating about a play, Christian
evangelicals demonstrating about an opera, and all of them leaping on the
funding bandwagon for faith and interfaith initiatives. To placate them,
politicians lend an ear; the media report it; immediately these minorities
of interest have an amplifier for their presence. The effect is that
suddenly it seems as if there are religious devotees everywhere, and the
spurious magnification of their importance further promotes their
confidence. As a result they make some gains, as the faith schools example
shows.
Yet the fact is that only 10 per cent of the British population attend
church, mosque, synagogue or temple every week, and this figure is declining
in all but immigrant communities. This is hardly the stuff of religious
resurgence. Yes, over half the population claim vaguely to believe in
Something, which includes feng shui and crystals, and they may be C of E
in the sense of Christmas and Easter, but they are functionally secularist
and would be horrified if asked to live according to the letter of (say)
Christian morality: giving all ones possessions to the poor, taking no
thought for the morrow and so impracticably forth. Not even Christian
clerics follow these injunctions. This picture is repeated everywhere in the
west except the US, and there too the religious base is eroding.
The historical precedent of the counter-Reformation is instructive. For over
a century after Luther nailed his theses to Wittenbergs church door, Europe
was engulfed in ferocious religious strife, because the church was losing
its hitherto hegemonic grip and had no intention of doing so without a
fight. Millions died, and Catholicism won some battles even as it lost the
war. We are witnessing a repeat today, this time with Islamism resisting the
encroachment of a way of life that threatens it, and as other religious
groups join them in a (strictly temporary, given the exclusivity of faith)
alliance for the cause of religion in general.
As before, the grinding of historical tectonic plates will be painful and
protracted. But the outcome is not in doubt. As private observance, religion
will of course survive among minorities; as a factor in public and
international affairs it is having what might be its lastcharacteristically
bloodyfling.
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"Religion
is the yeast of death cakes. It is the most awful agent on a vulnerable
mind. It is the refuge of alienated and lonely people. It's what people had
before television. It yokes people together into an imaginary world. It is
just people talking to their imaginary friends, at length. I would not mind
but some of the people are world leaders"
- Dylan Moran
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We thought this a
good antidote to the increasingly crackpot Thought for the Day slot.
It is from Matthew Parriss notebook in The Times:
A VICAR who came to stay told me he was shortly to go on a retreat. I
suggested he try an "advance".
Why do people go on retreats? What is there to retreat from? Many of ones
friends would benefit more from a rocket under them than from moping
dreamily around in a meditation centre for a week. People should be
encouraged to go on regular advances, where we would be urged to rise with
the lark, take freezing showers, make whooping noises and bayonet sacks of
straw.
But religion of both the old and the new kind seems to want us to view the
world, and life, as some kind of a problem a howling chaos from which we
need to retreat; a troublesome interlude between birth and death, to be got
over somehow. At a church service last week I noted the hymn:
Drop Thy still dews of
quietness
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress . . .
What drivelling nonsense. Why should all our strivings cease? Why dont
people stop whining about how stressed they are, get up half an hour
earlier and tackle the unfinished jobs that stress them?
Hide me O my Saviour hide
Till the storm of life is past . . .
Storm of life? Look out of your window, my friend, at the blue skies, at
the trees, the hills, the children playing and spare us this whimpering.
Religion peddles consolation when most of us dont need consolation, we need
a good kick up the backside.
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Swedes trust Ikea more than the church
Swedes have more faith in their local Ikea store than in the
church.
Ananova
26 Nov 2006
According to a survey by Dagens Industri, eighty per cent of Swedes
said they trusted the furniture chain.
And though four-fifths of all Swedes claim to be members of the protestant
Swedish Church only 46 per cent of those polled said they trusted the
religious group.
People also trust Volvo (69 percent), Ericsson (59), Saab (57) and even
pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca (47) more than the Church.
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Resigning from Christianity nonsense
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