Tales of Ordinary Madness

March 30, 2007 – A belief in God and an identification with an organized religion are widespread throughout the country, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. Nine in 10 (91 percent) of American adults say they believe in God and almost as many (87 percent) say they identify with a specific religion. Christians far outnumber members of any other faith in the country, with 82 percent of the poll’s respondents identifying themselves as such. Another 5 percent say they follow a non-Christian faith, such as Judaism or Islam. Nearly half (48 percent) of the public rejects the scientific theory of evolution; one-third (34 percent) of college graduates say they accept the Biblical account of creation as fact. Seventy-three percent of Evangelical Protestants say they believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years; 39 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants and 41 percent of Catholics agree with that view.

Wow. 1/3 of college educated people accept the biblical account of creation as fact. I assume these same people dismiss gravity as lies, radioactive decay a vast left-wing conspiracy, and the simple machines, specifically that evil lever, as the work of Satan. I wish someone would explain to them that they are “throwing out the baby with the bath water” when they make claims about creationism and talk about a 10,000 year old earth. To dismiss radiocarbondating is to dismiss damn near everything we currently understand about radioactivity and half-life. I guess the Atom bomb was a fluke and electron microscopes are merely hocus pocus.

When I read things like the quote above, I am so disheartened. Sometimes I feel like witch burnings, the flat earth and inquisitions are not centuries behind us, but rather something that we should look forward to. The rest of the civilized world advances and we take steps back. Maybe if we are lucky the Christians in this county will bring back the legislation from 435 demanding the death penatly for non-christians. Or even better, the witch hunts of old, now that we have some real weapons, we can make the 40,000 to 50,000 killed as “witches” in over 300 hundred years of persecution by christians seem like a walk in the park.

Oh and let’s not forget the Anti-Semitism of the Christian faith. Maybe we can get that back too — the Justinian Code of the sixth century could have the dust blown off it and once again make a failure to believe in the Ressurection and the last judgement a capital offense. Not to be out done of course by the Fourth Lateran Council which sanctioned the use of torture on those pesky non-believers and prohibited Jews from owning land.

Sure those things are ugly stains on the past — but with figures like the ones quoted above, I can’t help but think that we haven’t left them that far behind. How can we as a human species be expected to advance when we are so willing to dismiss real science for folklore and fantasy. I don’t think Christianity should be outlawed or Christians fed to the lions, but I do think Christianity should be educated into non-existance. I think education is our only hope.

I received this comment several weeks ago and I’ve written a response to this several times and couldn’t decide if I wanted to make it just a comment or actually an official blog entry. I’ve decided on the latter. The comment is below and was in response to a Richard Dawkins quote on my blog:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2102-2375182.html

even in the UK the book is seen for what it is and he is known as a fanatic. Why work so hard to hate something? Is there an issue which you could help the world with rather than turn it into black and white? and deliver so much hate? do atheists help the poor?

even in the UK the book is seen for what it is and he is known as a fanatic.

First, one review does not make him a fanatic. Not only that, but I also know for a fact that Dr. Dawkins (the “he” referred to) is not a fanatic. As Winston Churchill said “”A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”. Here is my proof; offer any empirical evidence for the existence of god and I GUARANTEE you that Dr. Dawkins will change his mind. And that my friend is how science works and why science is not fanaticism.

Secondly, the reader posed the question “Why work so hard to hate something?”. My response to that is simple. I hate your god like I hate unicorns, the tooth fairy, dragons, faeries, and other things that don’t exist. In other words, I don’t spend one single ounce of energy “hating” your god or your religion. I do however, feel strongly about people being misled, especially when that misleading leads to events like the crusades, 9/11, or hundreds of thousands of people suffering with HIV in Africa because one or two sects do everything in their power to prevent condoms from being distributed and used in Africa.

“Is there an issue which you could help the world with rather than turn it into black and white? and deliver so much hate?”

In my world very little is black and white. I don’t have a religious book that tells me what is right and what is wrong. I have to noodle things through on my own. I have to actually think before I act, review with my own conscience how I feel about each and every action I take. At the end of the day, I do what I do because I have to look myself in the mirror and face myself and my actions. I don’t behave the way I do out of fear of hell or any such silly thing. The accusation of “delivering so much hate” is one that I dismiss completely, I am confident that anyone who knows me would not describe me as a hateful person. A pile of other adjectives may come to mind some good, many bad, but I don’t think hateful would be one.

do atheists help the poor?

Of course atheists help the poor and when atheist do help the poor they do it selflessly, they are not motivated by the carrot of eternal life. They help because they feel compelled by an understanding of the human condition and compassion for human suffering. I don’t deny that Christianity has done much to help the poor, but every time I set foot into a church and see gold and gold plated ornaments, giant statuary and other opulence I can’t help but think about how much more they could have done.

For many people, part of growing up is killing off the virus of faith with a good strong dose of rational thinking. But if an individual doesn’t succeed in shaking it off, his mind is stuck in a permanent state of infancy, and there is a real danger that he will infect the next generation.

Richard Dawkins

God is dead…

and smelling worse.

“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 he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”

Epicurus [341–270 B.C.] Greek philosopher

Not according to the US Treaty with Tripoli from 1796 signed by none other than founding father John Adams — and ratified by the Senate that year. Article 11 reads:

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

These are from Richard Dawkin’s Two Part TV series called “The Root of All Evil?” where Dawkins argues that the world would be better off without religion.

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further”

“The time has come for people of reason to say: enough is enough. Religious faith discourages independent thought, it’s divisive, and it’s dangerous.”

If you are unfamiliar with Dawkins work and have any interest in atheism or Evolutionary Biology, I strongly recommend you check him out.