- Do You Really Believe That? (Xenu/Thetans)
The Observatory • December 31, 2008
Although past installments of "Do You Really Believe That?" have skewered absurd beliefs from other sects, I doubt any religion has doctrines as laughably ridiculous as Scientology's beliefs about "space opera". Today's post will explore the most infamous of those.
According to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, Xenu was an alien overlord who, 75 million years [...]
- All Things in Moderation
The Garden • December 29, 2008
In last month's post "Down to Earth", I discussed Thomas Jefferson's ideal of rich simplicity, what Buddhism calls the Middle Way. Rather than the vain pursuit of happiness through the acquisition of power or material possessions, the true source of contentment lies in the simple pleasures of life that are available to everyone, regardless of [...]
- The 30th Humanist Symposium
The Foyer • December 28, 2008
In the fireplace, the flames are burning down to embers, casting flickering patterns of light and shadow on the walls and the wreaths of holly and evergreen that hang there. Outside the windows, the last snowstorm of the year is flurrying down, burying the slumbering earth in a peaceful carpet of white. The falling snowflakes [...]
- The Humanist Symposium Needs Hosts
The Foyer • December 27, 2008
The next edition of the Humanist Symposium will appear tomorrow, Dec. 28, right here at Daylight Atheism (because I haven't hosted since the first one, and I don't see why you lot should have all the fun).
But starting in the new year, our hosting schedule is wide open, and we need volunteers! If you have [...]
- How to Think Critically: Testimonials
The Observatory • December 26, 2008
The testimonial is the favorite tool of pseudoscientists everywhere. Search the internet far and wide, and you'll have trouble finding a cancer-curing scam machine, thermodynamically impossible engine-conversion kit, or obscure psychic website that doesn't feature glowing testimonials from true believers. Eshu of Bridging Schisms gives many more examples, in his post "Testimonials and Research", like [...]
- What I Want For Christmas
The Garden • December 24, 2008
In 1897, Robert Ingersoll wrote "What I Want for Christmas". This short essay was a holiday wish list for humankind in the coming year, one that showcased both the great freethinker's wit and his compassion.
All well and good, but we can now look back at this piece from a century later and see how it's [...]
- New Post on Dangerous Intersection
The Foyer • December 23, 2008
I've put up a new post on Dangerous Intersection, a review of The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.
This is an open thread. Comments and discussion are welcome.
- On Gift-Giving
The Loft • December 22, 2008
Earlier this month, I wrote about how Hanukkah's prominence was the plan of reformist rabbis, seeking to create a Jewish holiday to compete with Christmas just as Christmas was created to compete with pagan solstice festivals. In an ironic sense, this campaign has been both a success and a failure: although the cause of Hanukkah [...]
- A Solstice Sermon
The Garden • December 21, 2008
In past years, I've used the occasion of the winter solstice to deliver a brief homily on an issue of moral importance. This year, I'd like to do so again.
Although nearly every society has put its own religious or cultural gloss on it, the solstice is an event marked and commemorated by all of humanity. [...]
- The Roots of the War on Christmas
The Library • December 19, 2008
This year, as they do every year, the religious right is engaging in its annual bout of paranoia and conspiracy-mongering over the supposed secular plot to ban Christmas. Fox News, Christian-right groups, and other outlets in the culture war publish TV segments like "Christmas Under Siege", books like John Gibson's The War on Christmas: How [...]
- Rick Warren? Shame On You, Obama!
The Rotunda • December 18, 2008
Via multiple sources (Greta Christina, Pam Spaulding, Glenn Greenwald, Americans United, as well as others), this unpleasant news: President-elect Barack Obama has apparently chosen megachurch pastor Rick Warren to give a speech at his inauguration day.
If you're not familiar with Rick Warren, or if you only know him as the author of The Purpose-Driven Life, [...]
- Rapture Bonds
The Loft • December 17, 2008
One of the great virtues of market forces is that they consistently reward investors who can correctly predict future events. Whenever two people disagree about the plausibility of some event, you can create a financial instrument whereby the one who's right can profit at the expense of the one who's wrong.
The Christian community in America, [...]
- On Inerrancy
The Library • December 15, 2008
Pandagon's recent post on Carlton Pearson, and the comment thread there, got me thinking about the question of inerrancy.
Last February, in "The Aura of Infallibility", I observed that the apologist's claim of scriptural inerrancy is really a claim of personal inerrancy. Even if I believe a book to be without error, I must rationally [...]
- Poetry Sunday: Thanksgiving
The Foyer • December 14, 2008
I haven't featured any compositions by the freethinking poet Philip Appleman lately, so with this edition of Poetry Sunday, I intend to address that. This is an especially lovely piece by Prof. Appleman from the November 2007 edition of the FFRF's newsletter Freethought Today, one I've been wanting to reprint on Daylight Atheism for some [...]
- A Glimpse of the Garden
The Garden • December 12, 2008
By way of Pandagon, I came across this incredible story from NPR's This American Life, an hourlong report on, and interview with, the evangelical pastor Carlton Pearson.
Pearson was once one of the rising stars of the religious right: a hardcore Pentecostal preacher, head of an Oklahoma megachurch, a protege of Oral Roberts and a [...]
- Strange and Curious Sects: The Millerites
The Library • December 10, 2008
Today's edition of "Strange and Curious Sects" concerns a now-defunct religious group, but one which has offshoots that survive to the present day. Like the stories of John Frum and Sabbatai Zevi, it's also a lesson in the almost limitless capacity of the human mind to rationalize away disappointment.
William Miller was born in 1782 in [...]
- Take Action: Support Atheism in Washington State
The Rotunda • December 8, 2008
Last week, in "Getting Our Message Out", I wrote about the winter solstice sign that the FFRF posted in Washington state's capitol building. The sign was put up after the state had legally obliged itself to create an open forum by allowing the placement of other privately sponsored displays carrying specifically Christian-themed messages, including a [...]
- Fertile Soil
The Observatory • December 8, 2008
We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements - transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting - profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is [...]
- Announcements and Miscellany
The Foyer • December 7, 2008
• Daylight Atheism reader Juan Felipe has completed Spanish translations of two more Ebon Musings essays, "La sombra del cambio" (Shadow of Turning), and "Un juego de trile cósmico" (The Cosmic Shell Game). Please check them out and be sure to thank him for his fine work. And if you're interested in joining the effort [...]
- Why Hanukkah?
The Library • December 5, 2008
For the sake of the holidays, here's a bit of nostalgia:
My parents came from two different religious traditions - Roman Catholicism on my father's side, liberal Judaism on my mother's side - although neither of them were practicing. Growing up, I had no exposure at all to Christianity, and the extent of my exposure to [...]
- Speaking Truth to Popularity
The Rotunda • December 3, 2008
When the great freethought orator Robert Ingersoll died in 1899, the New York Times eulogized him thusly:
...there is something more in the orator's art than the power of expression. There must also be sympathy in the sense of an electrical connection which is set up between speaker and hearers. And eminently Ingersoll had this. He [...]
- Getting Our Message Out
The Rotunda • December 2, 2008
As atheists grow in political power and begin to exert our influence, we should expect to draw attention from religious bigots who will try to silence us. Three stories from the past three days illustrate this principle, showing not just atheism's increasing assertiveness, but the arrogance of religious groups and individuals who think they can [...]
- New on Ebon Musings: The Pillars of the Earth
The Foyer • December 1, 2008
A new essay, "The Pillars of the Earth", has been posted on Ebon Musings. This essay surveys apologist claims that the Bible displays miraculous foreknowledge of modern science, and sets the record straight as to what these verses really mean.
This is an open thread. Comments and discussion are welcome.
