As some of you may have heard, I gave up the “god thing” nearly 35 years ago, and prior to that I was being raised Catholic.
Now, on the one hand, I recognize the importance of accurate numbers.
I’m normally rabid about not buying computers with a Microsoft operating system pre-installed, because I’m just going to blow it away, and install Linux… I’m paying for it, and it counts as a sale for them, but it’s never even booted under my ownership.
It never really occurred to me that I might be on a baptismal roll somewhere, and, as such, counted among the billion-or-so Catholics. It’s certainly something to seriously consider. I don’t know what diocese I was baptized in, and I don’t know if I’m committed enough to the idea to find out.
I suppose if I have nothing better to do on a rainy Sunday… instead of going to church
Is it just me, or does the Christian Right in this country just seem to go further and further out into the weeds with their “Oh, we’re so oppressed!” chicken dance? It really is sickening. With all the deference Christians get in this country, and it’s not enough? Christians already get their two biggest holidays as Federal holidays. Do the Jews? No. Is Kwanzaa a Federal Holiday? No.
Let’s look at the supposed battlefield, shall we?
Fans of such weed-eaters as Glenn Beck and Pat Robertson are out there complaining about how businesses and other people, who may or may not be Christian, wish people “Happy Holidays” in stead of “Merry Christmas”. Is that fair? While, statistically, you stand a better chance that the person you’re passing your season’s greetings to is Christian, as opposed to anything else, that margin of certainty is shrinking. Unless you know someone is a Christian, isn’t it sensible to refrain from assuming he or she is Christian, just because it’s the majority position?
If we’re going to “put the Christ back in Christmas”, shouldn’t we also put the “Democrat” back in “Democracy”? If you’re a Democrat, why not just automatically assume everyone else is a Democrat, and make some blanket statement about how cool it is to be a Democrat to everyone you meet around election time, as if they’re part of your club, and then gasp and recoil in horror, when they say that just because the White House, Senate and House of Representatives all have Democratic leadership doesn’t mean we’re all Democrats.
If Wal*Mart wants to alienate followers of other religions and the unaffiliated (over 20% of Americans, according to a Pew poll) that’s their choice. If you as a Christian (assuming you are one) choose to assume I’m a Christian (a big mistake, and you’ll hear about it, long form, in short order) that’s your business. It’s not the job of the US Government to proselytize for any faith. If the Federal Government of the United States of America is to offer any greetings making reference to religiously significant observances (and I think even that is going too far), it is Constitutionally bound to show no preference to any one religion. “Happy Holidays” and/or “Season’s Greetings” is as far as the US Government can go. For a Congressman or Senator to attempt to legislate anything else is an obvious breach of their Oath of Office, and, I think, grounds for impeachment and removal from office.
As far as what an individual says to another, I think it’s a matter of personal choice. If you are a Christian, It’s up to you whether you want to take the one in five chance of alienating a stranger by wishing them a Merry Christmas. If you’re not a Christian, it seems patently hypocritical to wish someone else Merry Christmas.
This group-offense-taking, which seems to have started in earnest with the Danish Mohammad cartoon lunacy is reaching new heights of idiocy. This “War on Christmas” thing has taken a totalitarian turn, with the notion that the Christians are entitled to force me to think a certain way about their religious observances, and, as a consequence, feel (or at least ape) reverence for their faith above others.
If then-Vice President Richard B. Cheney could tell US Senator from Vermont Patrick J. Leahy on the floor of the US Senate to “fuck himself” without any official retribution, reprisal, or censure, that response is obviously acceptable for use in civilized discourse among decent respectable people. As such, I offer it to these “War on Christmas” crybabies who insist that I, and you, and everyone else, use the phrase “Merry Christmas” as a greeting, irrespective of audience.
I think what I’m going to do from here on out is simply reject the notion that December is any more significant than, say, June, and just greet everyone with a, “Hi,” or, “Hello.”, leave them with a “See ya,” or “Fare well,” and reply to offerings of “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” or “Season’s Greetings” with a firm, but polite, “No, Thanks.”
Thanks to the RDF, Dr. Shermer and all the fine folks who put this together! Well done!
This makes me all the more regretful I didn’t muster the nerve to greet Dr. Shermer when I had the chance. He sat not 10 feet from us during the talks on Saturday night. I could’ve throwing-starred a business card right into his forehead… WE were at a VIP table (having plunked down the extra coin), and HE was sitting in the cheap perimeter seats. Not that I had anything to say to him other than blurting out with a stammering palsy, “Hi, Dr. Shermer… Thanks for … doing … what you do.” I get all paralytic and spasmodic around accomplished people whom I admire. I guess I’m lucky I didn’t just faint dead away at the AAI convention.
I recently watched the thunderf00t v. Ray Comfort … encounter … on YouTube.
You can too:
It was interesting, although not especially enlightening or persuasive (for me, anyway, since I’m already firmly rooted in the god-free camp).
It did cause me to think about something, though.
There was a spot in the series (and this thing is about 95 minutes long, and broken up into 10 separate parts, so finding individual quotes really requires more time than I’m prepared to devote right now) where thunderf00t (whom I’ll refer to as TF hereafter) asks Ray whether he believes in demons, and Ray says yes… then TF plows through a list of other imaginary beings, like witches and wizards and so on… to each of which, Ray says “yes”.
At another point, Ray denounces “magic” as being (I’m paraphrasing here) unreal, but, practically in the next breath, declaring miracles to be perfectly real.
Magic, in the sense of witches and whatnot, is practically indistinguishable from miracles, except that a human (or humanoid) is directing it. Magic requires (it seems to me) at least one of the three following modes of operation to be valid:
One or more “gods” exists, like stage hands in black body-stockings, just waiting around to help the conjurer achieve things outside the bounds of natural law
The conjurer is a hybrid natural/supernatural being, able to bend or break natural law at will
What science has revealed as natural law is not really law… more like guidelines, and somehow, conjurers can exceed them, or cause them to be exceeded, with just words, thoughts and gestures
*cough*bullshit*cough*
Put another way, miracles are just magic, except that not only is the means of conjuring obscured, but the conjurer (god) is also hidden.
To buy the concept of miracles, but discount magic, or vice versa, is ludicrous, because they are functionally identical.
To accept the viability of magic or miracles, but also claim that the world operates in accordance with natural laws is dissonant, because the magic/miracle model requires there to be a “trap door” which allows the conjurer to operate “above the law”, but the natural law model insists that the laws simply cannot be broken.
For miracles to be valid, there must be a god capable, with or without prompting, of acting outside the bounds of natural law.
For magic to be valid, the conjurer is a god, or commands gods.
Of course, the idea of saints, angels, devils, demons, gods, and so on (as well as the miracles/magic they perform) requires that these beings depend on the same “Supernatural Physics” as any god requires to simply exist and operate in our universe.
Supernatural physics, at a minimum, has to:
allow energy to order itself without the influence of matter or other energy
allow one collection of supernaturally ordered energy to interact with other collection of supernaturally ordered energy without interacting with the surroundings of either or any intervening spacetime/matter/energy
allow collections of ordered energy to be undetectable (no radiation, interaction with particles, electromagnetic fields, et cetera)
allow a collection of supernaturally ordered energy to be conscious
allow a collection of supernaturally ordered energy to, at will, suspend supernatural physics, and interact with normal matter and energy, but in an undetectable way.
allow sensation without interference (contrary to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle)… its eye casts no shadow.
allow for violation of the second law of thermodynamics, since supernatural activities neither consume anything, nor generate any waste (lest they be detectable and mortal)
allow for faster-than-light communication and transport, which makes no detectable disturbance in the intervening spacetime, matter or energy fields
..AND it has to do all this, while allowing all of us to go about our daily lives catching baseballs, using electrical appliances, cutting down trees, eating food and having sex as if the laws of nature, as discovered and described through the practice of science really worked all the time.
All of this stinks of special pleading.
Without “Supernatural Physics”, there are no gods, no angels, no devils, no demons, no eternal souls, no miracles, and there is no magic.
With “Supernatural Physics”, the universe is a loony unpredictable place, where, today water might freeze at 32 degrees, but tomorrow, it might turn into a chicken at 32 degrees, and there’s no way for you to know how or why it happened, or to predict it next time, or anything… One minute you’re alive, the next you’re dead, and three days later, you’re alive again, as an undetectable “spirit” SOME people can see, but others can’t.
To believe in a god, you have to believe in “Supernatural Physics”, and to believe in “Supernatural Physics” you have to discount the validity of REAL PHYSICS, the consequences of which are readily observable all around you every minute of every day. To actively, consciously discount the validity of REAL PHYSICS, you have to be an idiot.
The GF and I are in DC this weekend. Tomorrow, we’re heading to the National Air and Space Museum’sUdvar-Hazy Center, then going to he main building on The Mall on Sunday, where we’re going to see Neil Buzz and Mike chat about Apollo 11. Sweet.
I had originally planned to make this stop back in October on the VisionQuest, but this is groovy, too!
Normally, I’m fairly OK with wacky people if they keep their wacky to themselves.
Westboro Baptist Church seems to have a hard time keeping its wacky to itself…
This video shows some WBC members singing “God hates the world” to the tune of “We are the world”.
So… as parody lyrics go, someone did a pretty good job… I mean the content is INSANE… but… from a mechanics standpoint, for the most part, the rhyme and meter fit the music, and the lyric stays on message without a bunch of needless words, or using words like “o’er”.
BUT… There’s the content. I mean… OK, they’ve yet to present anything convincing to support the existence of any gods, yet they are perfectly comfortable singing that god hates the world, *and*… it seems to make them happy. They’re clearly insane. In a way it’s funny. …and creepy. …and scary.
THEN… there’s the poor, unfortunate child at the end who “sings” the chorus for us one last time. I draw the line of tolerance there. That’s not funny. That’s fucked up. …and that’s what I hate about faith-based religion.
In light of all the dying that’s been going on in Hollywood lately, I got to thinking.
Ed McMahon, really was a poster boy for what’s wrong with humanity. Not that he WAS what’s wrong with humanity, but he was afflicted with what is wrong with humanity.
Our society seems to have a collective dream for immortality, but, as a society, we have no interest in supporting the people living the dream. Fifty years ago, if you lived to be 80, that was really something! Now, if you don’t live to 80 people think you were a self-abusive monster.
Poor Ed. He outlived his bankroll, and we all just watched, gasping through clenched teeth as he was reduced to dressing up as a rapper and doing “sell your gold” commercials. It’s sad. Sure, he was living the Hollywood life, and spending with vigor, but there’s plenty of people down here who are stuck on the same treadmill. Forced out of work because of mandatory retirement, but needing to work because inflation and corporate robber-barons Madoff with all their retirement savings. Relegated to minimum wage jobs to pay for their drugs so that can live longer, so they can work more, so they can pay for their drugs, so they can live longer…. Anybody remember that PSA?
What’s the difference?
Then, there’s Michael… always living way beyond his means….and way outside reality. Hmm… what could that be a metaphor for?
Then, there was Farrah. A little bit of Ed, a little bit of Michael, and a whole lot of 70’s living coming home to roost.
Each is sad in their own way, but each is also instructive. Take this chance to see past the tragedy, to the lessons these lives have to teach.
Well, It’s been one month since I voluntarily left the ranks of the employed. Some said I was crazy. Some said I’d get bored in a week and go mad.
I’m pleased to report that I’m healthy, happy, and free of regret.
What have I been doing? Well… I’ve been kayaking, tweeting (as “newsundies”), producing NewsUndies shows, noodling in the studio, working on my house, hanging out with my GF… It’s been good.
I’ve actually been living much more cheaply than I was while I was working. I’m losing some weight, and feeling a lot better about myself and my situation.
Still smoke-free (six months, now). That was a concern, given how everyone said I’d get bored and go mad.
The only thing that could be better from my perspective is the weather… but I’m guessing that’ll improve as the season wears on.
As it is, I’ve kayaked close to 50 miles since leaving the working world, and almost couldn’t be happier. Of course, hitting the PowerBall, and never having to return to the “working world” would be cause for celebration… but … so far, no complaints
So, I’ll be continuing with NewsUndies (although I’ll be taking a couple weeks off from even THAT, this summer), which you can see at www.newsundies.com, and you can follow me on Twitter.
