PZ Myers!

Well, I actually cut band rehearsal on Thursday night. This is almost unheard of for me. The only times I've ever missed rehearsal, I was either ill or in England. I did have what I consider a really good reason, though. PZ Myers was speaking just down the road at Sierra College!!!

Author of the blog Pharyngula, PZ Myers is one of the top science bloggers AND one of the top two atheist bloggers (the other being the much "friendlier" Hemant Mehta). The Sierra College stop wrapped up a whirlwind eight day speaking tour of mostly Northern California for him that included UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and Stanford. I'm not sure how Sierra College managed to rate a stop, but I'd like to thank the Freethinkers of Sierra College for hosting.

His blog may be strident and snarky, particularly about religious insanity, but in person he really is very soft-spoken and polite. He gave a very interesting talk about creationist's sometimes seemingly deliberate misunderstanding of evolution and the differences in the ways creationists (including intelligent design advocates) and scientists get their points across to the general public.

During the question and answer period after the talk, a creationist in the audience actually identified himself and asked questions. I felt kind of sorry for him. His hands and voice were shaking. It must have been awful feeling as though he were the only theist (he wasn't, actually) completely surrounded by a sea of atheists. Oh, wait. I know exactly how that feels, as I'm sure did all of the other atheists in the audience.

Part of the exchange between PZ and the creationist went something like this:
Theist: Blah, blah, blah, ontological argument, blah, blah (Ok, so now maybe I'm being a little snarky. Oops)
PZ: [reasoned and rational explanation of the ontological argument and why it is based on circular, fallacious arguments]
Theist: No it's not!
PZ: [reasoned and rational explanation...need actual evidence]
Theist: No it doesn't!

PZ is well known for going out for drinks after he gives a talk, and Thursday was no exception. About 30 people met afterwards at a local brew pub (including the theist, surprisingly!), and guess who somehow managed to snag a seat right next to PZ! I'm not quite sure how that happened... Unfortunately, all I had was my phone, which doesn't take the best photos.


Thanks to Brett for taking the picture!

I got the opportunity to tell PZ that, when I first started an "atheist" blog, as I said in this post, my mother was very concerned that religious nutcases would shoot me or burn crosses in our front yard. I told her that there were other far more prominent atheists out there (meaning PZ, among others. Especially PZ) and I would be way down on the list. He's of the opinion that you just can't live your life in fear, and the vast majority of theists of any religion are decent people. It's only a very small percentage of the most radical theists who are actually dangerous.

The famous Crocoduck tie. There were two made, and the other belongs to Richard Dawkins (there are now knock-offs you can find on the internet). I really wish I'd remembered my camera...



PZ was recently interviewed by reddit.com, so you can see how soft-spoken he really is:

WOW! She got it EXACTLY... well, maybe not.

Although PZ Myers already posted about it, I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth.
This woman sums up what a lot of people seem to believe about atheists. Because they know us better than we know ourselves. Apparently.

There are some key factors involved in this thinking by atheists that are not usually published. (Actually, these idiots write about it all the time)

Being the hot topic of the day, any discussion of atheism, should include these 'difficult to admit' points:

Firstly, atheists claim that they themselves are god. They claim they have superior knowledge then* the rest of us by trying to say that they have better knowledge because of their own thinking. They will not acknowledge anyone else to be above them.

I have been an atheist all my life and have never once claimed to be a god or goddess, except in the kitchen and maybe once in the bedroom.** Come to think of it, I may have only used Green Goddess salad dressing in the kitchen, and may have only been called one in the bedroom.

I love PZ's response to this - Personally, I only rank myself as a lesser demon.
*Note, I refrained from correcting her misspellings, but not from making fun of them.
** If you are my father - DON'T READ ANY FURTHER!

Secondly, atheists have been hurt somewhere in their lives, can't understand suffering, and are mad at God — so it is easier to deny there is one.

Um, nope. I'm a generally happy person who has not been hurt any more than anyone else, very happy with how my life has turned out so far, very much in love with my husband, happy that my family is in fairly good health, and happy in my job (except for the potential 20% pay reduction - but at least I still have a job!). I have occasional "down" periods, but those are just part of normal cyclical ups and downs.

I'm not sure what she means by "can't understand suffering." Suffering is a normal part of life. I know many people who suffer or have suffered both physically and emotionally far more than I have, and I know I've been fairly lucky so far. Suffering actually seems to me to be an argument against the existence of any sort of "loving" god. A truly loving and omnipotent god wouldn't allow it, and would actually be an evil god if he/she/it could stop it, and yet still allowed it. However, suffering has to be explained somehow, so it seems to be a big part of the religions of many cultures.

As for being mad at God - how can you be mad at something that doesn't exist? It's like being mad at the Tooth Fairy or Santa Clause or the Loch Ness Monster. I am sometimes mad at religious idiots, but not at their imaginary friend.

Thirdly, atheists are looking for God for the same reason a thief would be looking for a police officer. They don't want to be accountable to a higher being because of the wrong things they do.

I knew someone would finally catch us on that. Bill and I will just have to stop having sex in the street* and robbing banks. We tend not to do illegal things (well, I speed a little sometimes) not because some magic book tells us not to, but because they are either illegal or morally** wrong.

*I actually had someone ask me what stopped me from having sex in the street. That would be...HELLO! cars and a healthy sense of self preservation. Oh, and not only would it be illegal, it would be WRONG! I'm an extremely private person and wouldn't do it even if it was legal.

This same person then went on to accuse me of having sex with my dog. Now I loved Charlie more than any other dog I've ever had (or possibly ever will have), and we had a very, very strong bond, but if I had wanted to do that, I wouldn't have had him NEUTERED, would I?

** Morals have been around far longer than any present day religions, and the basics (such as the taboos against murder and incest, and reciprocity (aka the Golden Rule), are most likely evolved, while many others are learned depending upon the culture in which you live. Many other animals also exhibit morality, and they certainly didn't learn it from a magic book.

Fourthly, atheists forget that when a person goes to a museum and admires a painting, that there was a painter/designer of that art piece. The art piece is absolute evidence of a painter and not caused by random nothingness.

All of the world, stars, animals, plants, oceans, and mountains are absolute proof of a divine intelligent being (beyond our human ability and thinking) who made these things.

Can the atheist make a tree? It is scientifically impossible for bees to fly (laws of physics) and yet they do. It is impossible for our eyes to see and yet they do. What more proof does an atheist need than their own heart pumping in their chest without them commanding their heart to pump each beat in perfect timing each and every second necessary?

Of course things weren't caused by random nothingness (except maybe this woman's brain). Evolution by natural selection is actually the opposite of random, and over millions and millions (sometimes billions) of years only gives the illusion that something was designed.

Complex, image forming eyes may have evolved up to 100 different times, so obviously they are a handy thing to have. Actually, if you look at the physiology of the vertebrate eye, it is not "designed" very well at all - sort of back-to-front, actually - because the light photons have to travel through all the nerves and blood vessels to get to the photoreceptors, which are pointing backward. These nerve cells and blood vessels all come together at the optic nerve, and create a blind spot. This is exactly what you would expect from something evolved, but not purposefully designed. Cephalopod eyes, on the other hand are "designed" correctly. The photoreceptors are pointing toward the light source rather than away, and there is no blind spot, as the nerves are behind the retina rather than in front of it.

Can the theist make a tree? If not, then why should an atheist be able to?
This interesting article shows it's not scientifically impossible for bees to fly and they in no way contradict the laws of physics. Obviously, SINCE THEY FLY! Duh!

Fifthly, denial is a strong coping mechanism in crisis, but does not serve anyone in the long run. Like an ostrich with its head in the sand, an atheist denies God not because God does not exist—but because the atheist doesn't want God to exist and does not want to see the truth and evidence in front of their eyes.

I would rather believe in God and make sure my life is doing what is acceptable to this Superior Being than to not believe in God and find out I will be accountable to this God for everything I've done after I die. With 84% of the world's population believing in the existence of God, I think the majority rules in this case.

Yeah, actually there is no evidence of a god. If there were, I would believe, but nobody's come up with anything at all convincing or that could only have a supernatural explanation yet. Gods were invented by man to explain the unexplainable. Over the last 1000 years or so, we've been slowly chipping away at things that previously could only be attributed to a god until we will eventually understand every one.

Pascal's wager (better to believe than not just in case there is a god and he gets mad at you) has been done to death. An omniscient god would be able to tell you were only believing in him because you were afraid not to. I would ask her how she knows for sure she's worshiping the correct god? There are so many. What if the Hindus or followers of Shinto are actually right? Maybe the ancient Greeks were. What if she's following the wrong type of Christianity? There are numerous Christian sects. Maybe the Amish or the Mormons are right.

At one time far more than 84% of the world's population believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. Did majority rule make that correct? Up until the latter part of the last century, most people believed that the continents were static and had always been in their present positions. Did majority rule make that correct? And 84% may believe in gods, but does she believe that Mohammad was the true prophet and flew up to heaven on a winged horse? I doubt it. And to which version of Christianity (I'm assuming she's one of the many Christian sects) does she adhere? There were numerous Ecumenical councils where church leaders got together and decided what biblical canon to keep and what to throw out.

Religious thoughts

The other day, a friend of mine was going in to have fairly major surgery. I've known her for quite a long time, but she is a friend from one of the areas of my life where I'm mostly in the closet. The last time she had this surgery done, it didn't go as well as expected and it was a long and painful recovery. We were talking about this as we were leaving, and she asked me to pray for her. I was completely taken aback. I've actually never had this happen before. I wasn't quite sure what to say. I leaned toward her and sort of stuttered in a low voice,"Uh..well, I don't believe in all that stuff."

She said,"Well do it anyway! I need all the help I can get. Just tell him that you haven't done this in a while."

Actually, never would be the operative word.

I felt bad about telling her no, but I felt that it would be worse to lie to her and tell her I would. Should I have just told her yes to make her feel better even though that would be a lie? (She says she's doing much better than last time, by the way)
________________________________________________________________
On another note, the Freedom From Religion Foundation put up one of the Imagine No Religion billboards here in Sacramento! Isn't it pretty? Although FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor got the name switched around in this article. It's Atheists and Other Freethinkers.

Can someone please explain?

In my ~two years of reading "atheist" blogs, I've noticed something interesting. I seem to be one of the few atheists (blogging atheists, anyway) who has never been a theist. Most of the atheist bloggers seem to be originally Christians, although a very few, like Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta, and KafirGirl were other religions (Jain and Sunni Muslim, respectively). Keep in mind, I only read blogs written in English. These are people who had to go through often extremely emotionally painful realizations that god really is imaginary. Many of them have deconversion stories. UPDATE: Andrew from Artificial Habitat pointed out the de-conversion blog. It is amazing that people are able to escape this type of brainwashing. Critical thinking can really hurt sometimes and I am very grateful to my parents that I never had to go through that.

The religious nutcases in this country are desperately trying to take us back into the dark ages. When school officials suspend a kid for witchcraft, and suspend a teacher because he's suspected of being a liberal and an atheist, and we have creationists constantly attacking real science, and trying to get (un)Intelligent Design taught in science classrooms along with evolution, it indicates a huge problem. So far this hasn't always worked, and common sense has prevailed. UPDATE #2: Florida is currently trying to legislate the teaching of (un)Intelligent Design. My mother even asked my why we shouldn't teach the controversy, as it's only fair. People don't seem to understand two things:

1) There is no controversy in the scientific world about whether life evolved. It did. The only scientific controversy is regarding the mechanisms of evolution. The "controversy" about whether or not evolution happened is entirely made up by the creationists.

2) Science isn't fair. Science is about the truth. Science has specific rules that are followed to find the truth. The supernatural has never been shown to exist in anything other than people's minds.

Belief in this nonsense is harmful, even if you say, "Well, I'm not one of those theists! I don't believe that." Enough of you do. Parents already poison the brains of too many of our young people. We cannot allow this bullshit to creep into our classrooms, too. It will be an uphill battle since it is estimated that 47% of Americans believe that the world is between 6000 and 10,000 years old. FORTY-SEVEN PERCENT! I can tell you from personal experience that people in other countries (Ok, England anyway) think that Americans are completely NUTS! (Demographic wikifactoid:United States - 5% atheists, England - 35% atheists.)

I've always been mildly surprised when a scientist turns out to be a theist, but this has happened numerous times. At least one of my college professors went to church every Sunday.* I find it even more surprising when it is a biologist, because they know that there is a much better explanation for life on earth than that some sort of supernatural being created it. As far as I can tell, most of them were indoctrinated early in their lives. I just want to ask them why? Why do you still believe against all the evidence. Or maybe I should say why do you believe in the supernatural when there is no evidence?

I had a scientist say to me once, "Well what about the extra energy? Where does that go when we die?" My reaction at the time, "Uh,.........." I couldn't understand the question, and it wasn't just because I was drunk. Huh? What extra energy? The same thing happens to us as happens to any other living thing on the planet. Do worms have extra energy, too? What about trees? Bacteria? Whales? Dogs? I really have ab-so-lutely no idea what this person was talking about.

Saying "you just feel that there's a god" doesn't answer anything, either. The human mind can imagine all kinds of things. I know someone who "felt the battle" when she went to Culloden and various American Civil War battlefields. This does not mean this person is actually feeling anything, it just means she has a well developed imagination. In fact, she has often exclaimed to me in frustration, "Well, you just don't have any imagination!" Because that's ALL it is. And no I don't. When I feel that there's someone watching me while I go to the bathroom, and feel that there are people who are in a different dimension who can see me, but I can't see them, I realize it is just my imagination and that I've obviously read far too many science fiction books. Ok, maybe I do have an imagination. Or it could be the guys who just installed the new ducting in our house left a camera in the vent. But that's just being paranoid, although it's far more likely than being watched from an alternate dimension or by some supernatural sky daddy who can read my thoughts.

Many people claim that the human body/world/universe is too complex to be explained naturally. Complexity does not need a god. The complexity of the universe can be, and is being, explained non-supernaturally. Just because we don't know all the answers now, doesn't mean we won't eventually, and filling the "gaps" with some sort of god is just silly. I touched on this in a previous post.

There will be no hope for this country to stay a superpower if we don't start doing a better job teaching the general public about reality rather than being respectful of ancient superstitious bullshit. Anyone, especially biologists, believing in iron and bronze-age myths is just not logical. I just want to ask why?

And when you realize why you don't believe in any other gods that man has ever invented, you'll understand why I don't believe in yours.**

/rant

*When this was pointed out to him, one of my atheist professors said, "Well, nobody's perfect."
**Paraphrase of a quote by author Stephen F. Roberts.

I'm a heather! Oh, wait. I misread that.

Daniel Florien over at Unreasonable Faith had a link to this quick quiz so I could test how my morals compare with those of the bible.

Your morality is 0% in line with that of the bible.

Damn you heathen! Your book learnin' has done warped your mind. You shall not be invited next time I sacrifice a goat.

Do You Have Biblical Morals?
Take More Quizzes

Is anyone surprised? (I really did read it as heather. My mind must be warped.)

Church sign

This sign is in front of the church next to my gym. What a wonderful, loving god these people have. If you don't accept our loving god, YOU WILL BURN IN HELL FOR ETERNITY! Nice. They probably don't realize that their god would consign literally billions of people to hell. Do they realize how hateful that is, and what a completely evil god that would be? Do they care? Using fear tactics is always a good way to win over converts, too.

I'm currently reading godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists by Dan Barker. Bill got it for me for Christmas :-) It's extremely interesting so far, but one of the things that struck me was something his mother said. She and his father were born again Christians who raised him in one of the Charismatic churches where they spoke in tongues, and "healed" people. Because of his explanations about why he didn't believe in God anymore both of his parents eventually became atheists.

Within weeks Mom concluded that religion was "just a bunch of baloney," as she told [a] reporter. She felt a "tremendously great disappointment in God." She began to do some reading and thinking of her own, and eventually started calling herself an atheist. "I don't have to hate anymore," she said happily.(emphasis mine)*

Doesn't my new phone takes good pictures, though!
*Pg. 58

Religulous review

Bill and I just came back from Bill Maher's new documentary Religulous. If you haven't heard of it, Bill Maher, who is not an atheist, but is very critical of religion, went around the world interviewing people of various religions. He was non-denominational in his disapproval. He skewered (crucified?) Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, Evangelical Christianity, Creationism, Scientology, Cantheism, and some guy who believes he's descended from Jesus.

The two funniest parts were Evangelical Christian Senator Mark Pryor from Arkansas saying that you don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate, and someone's hair catching on fire. I won't say who, so it won't ruin it if you see the movie, but I will say no one was hurt. I especially liked the interviews with the priests at the Vatican who more or less said that most of the stuff in the bible was obviously all just stories, but what can you do when so many people believe them as fact? The giggling, raspberry blowing priest was actually more than a little weird.

They filmed a reenactment of the crucifixion of Christ at the Holy Land theme park in Orlando Florida, and I, like Roger Ebert, found the people clapping when Jesus fell down and was whipped and kicked by a Roman soldier to be a bit disturbing.

I was a little apprehensive going in because this town is in the mini-bible belt of California. The audience applauded at the end, which I think is a little odd, considering it's a movie. Who's going to hear? I guess they liked it, though.

On our way out, I overheard a conversation behind me.
Man: Well, that wasn't too offensive.
Woman: No, not at all.
Man: I would like to see it again. Actually, I would like to see a part two.

Considering that this town has churches on every other corner - several of them megachurches - chances are they are a somewhat religious couple.

Unfortunately, I think that most of the people who should go and see this movie won't.

Bill actually chuckled out loud in a couple of places, which he rarely does. I give it a thumbs-up, and Bill gives it 3 out of 4 stars. He subtracted a star because it wasn't Sci Fi.

Is it Christian or Egyptian mythology? Apparently sometimes it's hard to tell

I found this on the Atheist Nexus. In my best Arty Johnson imitation - Very Interesting. I have only researched some of it so I don't know if it is all true, but he comes to some of the same conclusions as I did in this post. Sorry if you have dial-up (Pater)...

Watch them in order:
He indicates that the Christian cross is a pagan adaptation of the cross of the Zodiac. I thought it was kind of sick that Christians use a torture and execution device as a symbol of their religion, but given the history, it is more understandable.

Atheist blog challenge meme

This meme originated with Nullifidian, but I saw it first on (((Billy))) The Atheist's site. It was originally called the Atheist Thirteen I think because it originated on Friday the 13th.

If you’d like to take part, copy these questions, and answer them in your own words on your own blog.

Q1. How would you define “atheism”?

The lack of a belief in gods. I would go further and state that I lack belief in the supernatural. The Brights call this having a naturalistic worldview. And then there's my strong dislike of pseudoscience.

Q2. Was your upbringing religious? If so, what tradition?

Nope. Not religious at all, thank god ;-)

Q3. How would you describe “Intelligent Design”, using only one word?

IDiotic

Q4. What scientific endeavour really excites you?

Biology (ichthyology, evolutionary biology, freshwater ecology, ecology, zoology, aquatic botany, herpetology, archeology), geology, paleontology, and astronomy, but not physics. Well, ok, maybe physics, since I'm done with school and don't have to take any more physics classes.

Q5. If you could change one thing about the “atheist community”, what would it be and why?

Fewer rude atheists, because that won't change the creationist's minds - just make them feel justified in thinking that they are right. I get frustrated with the ignorance of the general public in this country all the time, but I think Hemant Mehta has the right idea. You can catch more flies with honey...

Q6. If your child came up to you and said “I’m joining the clergy”, what would be your first response?

I guess sending you to Catholic school was a mistake after all (both of us would be joking, of course).

Q7. What’s your favourite theistic argument, and how do you usually refute it?

I don't have a favourite theistic argument. None of them make sense. Look at the evidence for a god people! There is none. Blindly believing something without evidence is just illogical.

Q8. What’s your most “controversial” (as far as general attitudes amongst other atheists goes) viewpoint?

I'm beginning to agree with Paul Geisert, co-founder of The Brights, that "atheist" is a bad word, but I think we're stuck with it.

Q9. Of the “Four Horsemen” (Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and Harris) who is your favourite, and why?

Richard Dawkins. I've had a case of hero worship ever since about 1986 when I first read The Selfish Gene. I've seen him in person twice, which is the same number of times I've seen my favourite musician, Billy Joel, in concert. I don't always agree with his methods, but I do agree that atheists need to speak out if only to stop the creationists from imposing their agenda onto the sciences. This fight has been going on for decades, and each new generation needs someone to step up. I saw a bumper sticker yesterday: Keep your Theology off my Biology. Someone is picking up the gauntlet.

Q10. If you could convince just one theistic person to abandon their beliefs, who would it be?

My stepdaughter. She wasn't raised in a religious household and I thought she was more sensible than that. I blame her mother (there I go being rude. Oh, well. I'm only human).

Now name three other atheist blogs that you’d like to see take up the Atheist Thirteen gauntlet:

Anyone that wants to.

Very well said

Or maybe it's just the English accent...

This was posted on the Fleeing Nergal, Seeking Stars website back on March 22nd, but I think it's worth re-posting.

God botherers

Sheesh! Two in one day.

I was in a meeting at work today, and this was on a giant post-it note on an easel in the corner of the room.
It reads:

Thank You for being
a blessing for me
May this beautiful Easter Holiday
remind us all to have Faith
I Love You!!
your co-worker

It isn't a great photo because I sneaked back into the room after the meeting and took it with my cell phone. Obviously it has been there a couple of weeks, though.

I work in a government office where this sort of thing usually doesn't happen. The State of California is pretty secular. People don't very often even have overtly religious things in their cubicles. Large photos of Dubya and Laura Bush, yes (I don't care how much you like him, having a photo of the president and first lady in your cubicle is just weird!), and the occasional Governator photo. I sometimes think I should take down my little red letter "A" and "The Brights" pins I have stuck in my cork-board. Very occasionally, there is an e-mail with a religious message in the signature line. I'm pretty sure I know who this person is.

Also today, while at the gym, I had a woman randomly yell across the room at me, "God wants women to have long hair!"

I recently got all my hair chopped really short as I do occasionally. Apparently she felt strongly enough to later move over to the machine next to me and suddenly turn and say, "God loves you! You should let your hair grow and smile more!" I just smiled at her and kept going. From some of the things I heard her tell other people, it was pretty apparent that she wasn't all there, so I wasn't about to start a conversation that could come back to haunt me every time I go to the gym. I don't need that stress. Hmm. Maybe she's right about the smiling part, though...

This explains a lot

Moses was high on psychedelic drugs.
What more needs to be said? Really?

Did Jesus even exist?

I had an argument with my friend David the other day. I seem to be having a lot of arguments lately. I think I'm just getting obstreperous in my old age. We were at a party, and our son (David is my ex-husband AND a very good friend) had just had a minor altercation with David's born-again Christian sister. After we had both given our son the high five (neither of us would have dared get into an argument regarding Christianity with her), and David's sister was out of earshot, I mentioned that Jesus probably hadn't even existed.

David said, "Yes he did."

I said, "No, I don't think so."

He said,"Yes he did."

I said, "No, there isn't any evidence that he did."

He said, "Yes, there is."

I said, "No, there isn't."

It went on like this for a while.

His point was that although he believed that Jesus more than likely was not the son of God, he believed he was a "minor" historical figure and that he had probably been a rabbi (in the sense of a Hebrew title of respect for a Jewish scholar or teacher). He also pointed out that Jesus is considered a minor prophet in both Islam and Judaism.

Honestly, I had always thought that Jesus was a real person until I started reading a little about it. I mean, we live in 2008 Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, right? I certainly never believed that he was supernatural in any way, but I assumed he had existed.

The trouble is, there is no evidence that he existed at all. He supposedly lived for thirty some-odd years and did some pretty amazing things, but there are no contemporary (to his time) writings that even mention him. The first writings about him - The Gospel of Mark - has been dated to 30 to 80 years after he died. Granted, it was 2000 years ago, but there are many surviving writings about and by many people who DID live at that time. If he did exist, he certainly didn't do anything extraordinarily noteworthy.

As for the assertion that Jesus was a minor prophet of Judaism; some people believe that the Yeshu mentioned in the Talmud is actually Jesus. According to Judaism 101 website, the Talmud (oral Torah), was not written down until about the 2nd century C.E. In addition, Jesus is considered a minor prophet of Islam, but Islam didn't even exist until well over 600 years after Christianity. As Jim Walker says in his article Did a Historical Jesus Exist?, "after-the-event writings [cannot be used] as evidence for the event itself."

Many people believe that the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John are eyewitness accounts. Jim Walker and Earl Doherty do a very good job of explaining why these are not reliable sources.

I don't think it is possible to know for sure whether he existed or not, but 2000 years ago, if you wanted to make up a superhuman figure who would awe superstitious, gullible people, setting the story 50 years B.P. makes sure you are not likely to have anybody alive to contradict you. Nobody will stand up and say, "Hey! I knew Jesus, and I don't remember him walking on water, turning water into wine, etc." Or, "I lived in that town and I don't remember this Jesus guy." Your assertions are pretty safe. The stories only get better and more amazing over time.

I've been Touched by His Noodly Appendage!

Well, I've been toying with the idea of joining a religion for some time now. I just have this hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I looked at Christianity. Nope. Too many reasons to list. Very anti-women for one thing. And there's no evidence that Jesus actually existed. Original sin? Whatever.

Judaism. Nope. My mother isn't a Jew, and they discourage converts (not a bad thing!). Also, it's too barbaric. I would never circumcise my son for any reason. I think he might object now, anyway.

Hinduism. Nope. Too many deities to keep track of.

Islam. Nope. Although I don't normally show a lot of flesh, covering everything all the time just sounds too hot. And as for the circumcision thing, in certain parts of the world they often even circumcise girls - otherwise known as female genital mutilation. Talk about barbaric. I thought Christianity is anti-women... Actually, in Northern Africa, parts of Asia, and the Middle East, female genital mutilation is practiced by other religions, too. Including Christians.

Rastafarianism. Nope. I'm not black or a vegetarian (I'm actually not sure that you have to be either). Although I don't mind reggae music and could probably get into that "holy herb" thing, especially since they frown on drinking alcohol.

All of these rely on blind faith. Being a scientist, I have to have some evidence.

Pastafarianism. I finally found one that I think can really satisfy my hunger! The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster! There are millions if not thousands of believers around the world! This is what finally convinced me:The statistically significant inverse relationship between the number of pirates and the average global temperature over the last 200 years.

The Church of the FSM is a tolerant and peaceful religion. No Pastafarian has ever killed anyone over their religious beliefs. Just think to yourself WWFSMD.

The only thing I wasn't too hot on was the beer volcanoes and stripper factories in heaven. Then I read The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and found that there "[are probably] male strippers (whew!), but they are invisible to the non-homo guys." Maybe there's a Long Island Iced Tea* or Gin and Tonic volcano thrown in somewhere. I can always hope. By the way, The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster only took about three hours to read as opposed to some other religious texts like the bible that I won't name.

Even the fundamentalist Christians have accepted that the Pastafarian god has bigger balls than theirs. His noodly goodness is just one delicious god! I'm logging off now. I have to go out and get my full pirate regalia. Aaarrrrrrr and RAmen.*For my British readers reader, Long Island Iced Teas are the nectar of the gods FSM. On two trips to England, I've only found one bartender who knew how to make one, and definitely not for lack of trying. He worked at Finnegans Wake in Ealing.

Pope Benedict

Ok, my father sent me this link from the BBC that really "chaps my hide." It states that Pope Benedict has attacked atheism in his latest encyclical. The Pope says atheism is responsible for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in history. Apparently, he has decided to completely ignore the Crusades, the Inquisition, much conquering, enslavement and murder of new-world Indians, and the Roman Catholic Croatian massacre of Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Jews, gypsies, and Communists during WWII. Maybe he just means more recent history. Oh, wait. Apparently he doesn't consider the molestation of children by men they were taught to trust from infancy cruel OR a violation of justice. Maybe that explains why the Catholic church covered it up for as long as possible.

And those are only the Roman Catholic church. I won't even go into Catholics and Protestants killing each other or things that have been done in the name of other Christian denominations (of course many Christian fundamentalists don't consider Catholics to be Christians).

Alternately, I would like the Pope to name ANY cruelty or violation of justice caused by atheism.

Click here to view the actual encyclycal (in English).
Now I can't get Mel Brook's song, The Inquisition out of my head...