Atheist Blogroll

One of the things many atheists struggle with is a lack of other people they know in their everyday lives who share their lack of belief. I declared myself (privately) an atheist in elementary school, but I don't remember meeting another like minded person until I had reached my mid twenties. That's a long time to feel like you are the only one (I didn't think I was the only one, but I couldn't prove that I wasn't either). Thanks to the Penn Jillette Radio Show and the proliferation of atheist books and sites online, I no longer worry that I am alone.

I think being part of a community is important, especially for people who (like me when I was younger) don't have any fellow "non-believers" in their lives. So, in an effort to become more a part of this community, Hit and Miss has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information. There are over 1300 blogs maintained in the blogroll.

I look forward to sharing my ideas and opinions with more people, and also having the opportunity to hear what they have to say.

The "Equality" of Books

I have to get this off my chest. If you watch the news, the following timeline will not be new to you. I provide it for those who may have missed it. On March 20th, an attention hungry pastor of a fringe religious group finally made good on his threat to burn a copy of the Quran. Of course, he video taped it and distributed it on the internet. On March 31st, Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a speech condemning the burning and called for the arrest of the pastor (I am not going to name him..he's gotten enough attention). The day after that, protesters stormed a United Nations compound in Mazar-e-Sharif and killed seven foreign workers. There were more demonstrations across Afghanistan that lead to twenty-two more deaths and many injuries. People are angry (added for those who can't see the obvious).

There has been a lot of moral outrage with regards to both the book burning and the murders. Do we really believe that both are immoral? (Before I answer that, I want to make it clear that I am talking about an individual burning any random book. This is not the same as the government taking books by force and destroying or burning them. That is completely different...and immoral). A book is nothing more than ink covered paper bound together in some specific order. It is a medium by which an author can share ideas and opinions. When you burn a book, all you've destroyed is the book. The idea remains. You can discredit an idea by offering opposition to it and exposing it as weak or faulty, but you can't burn it out of existence. If we could, the first idea that should be burned is the one where we justify the killing of innocent people because someone burned a book (holy or not) thousands of miles away (okay..maybe it shouldn't be the FIRST one we destroy, but I have to believe it would be pretty high on the list of bad ideas). On this issue I would have to consider myself "pro-life" rather than "pro-book", because people (yes..even crazy ones) are more important than their books.

Religion commands so much respect in our society that we don't just condemn the truly immoral act of taking a human life, we also insist that the guy who burned the "holy book" share in the blame. Everyone (Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Jedi, Paul the alien) should be able to stand together and acknowledge that the only people who should be blamed for the deaths in Afghanistan are the angry Muslims who are doing the killing. NO ONE ELSE!! But when I watch the news, I don't see that happening. I see people blaming the book burners AND the murderers.

Most groups or clubs have rules. If you are not a member of that club, you shouldn't have to play by its rules. For example, I am not a Christian, so I don't have to believe in the divine authority of the Bible. That would be silly. To me the Bible is just an object. If I own one (and yes I do) I should be able to do whatever I want with it. That may include using it to balance a wobbly table. It also may include lighting it on fire, either to keep me warm or keep me entertained. The fact is, if I bought it, it's mine. Don't worry about what I use it for.

I had thought about holding my own demonstration. I was going to gather all of my books on science and atheism, take them out in front of my house and light them on fire. I figured this would be safe, as I have never heard of a scientist killing someone for burning one of their books. I also figured if I record it and share it, I might be able to use it as a "get out of violent death" free card when I am confronted by angry Muslims. I decided not to because I think that burning a book is a stupid thing to do (I also am not rich, and wouldn't be able to rebuy all of them). I don't think it is wrong to burn a book, I just don't think it accomplishes anything. And I don't think that it accomplished anything in this case either (other than making a crazy guy in Florida look crazier). And it certainly shouldn't be blamed for the acts of violence that are being committed by crazier people in Afghanistan.

Optimism about magic is INSANE!?!?

There is a quote that has been attributed to several people, including Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain and Albert Einstein (according to Wikipedia, its most likely origin is author Rita Mae Brown). It goes like this:

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

By this definition, you can probably describe my love of the Baltimore Orioles as insane (and you'd probably be right). When I was nine years old (sadly, 28 years ago) the Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1983 World Series. "Orioles Magic" was alive and well. There hasn't been much to celebrate since then. In fact, the Orioles haven't made the playoffs since 1997 (coincidentally, also the last year they finished with a winning record). My son is 10 and he has never expressed much interest in baseball. I am pretty sure that Oriole futility has something to do with that.

But with each new season, I believe this will be the year they will pull themselves out of the AL East cellar (not win the World Series..I'm not THAT kind of insane). And they often give signs that they have turned the ship around. Success usually begins to elude them at the end of May however. Last season though, after they hired manager Buck Showalter on July 29th, the team finished with a 34-23 record (the best record of any AL East team during that span). During the offseason, they added a bunch of decent players, including Vladimir Guerrero, Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy and Derek Lee (there are more, and if they read this I apologize for not listing them).

They have won the first two games of the 2011 season, beating the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2010 AL East Champs) 4-1 and 3-1. The starting pitching (not considered the team's strength) has been OUTSTANDING so far, and today their most highly touted pitching prospect (Zach Britton) will make his Major League debut. All of this seems REALLY exciting.

But I have been an Oriole fan for awhile now. I was excited when they won it all in '83. I got really caught up during the "Why Not" season of 1989. I even may have put aside my pacifism and called for bodily harm to Jeffery Maier when he caught that Derek Jeter "fly ball" (I refuse to call it a home run) in the 1996 AL Championship Series. I've seen too much.

No matter how much I want to, I can't let these first two games get me too excited. That would be insane!

Every Hour

I am writing this having made the assumption that you have heard of Earth Hour. If you haven't, go here. (Somehow or another I didn't post this last weekend when I meant to). I am not big on events that only "raise awareness". I don't know exactly what that means. I can understand events that raise money. I wonder if there is anyone who has not heard of climate change at this point? There are millions of people on the planet who don't have access to lights that they can turn off. For them, Earth Hour is "Every Hour"...and they aren't necessarily celebrating because of it. Playing around for an hour or a day in the dark is not going to solve any "energy crisis" we may have. We will solve our energy issues by developing new technology. And that is not done in caves or in the dark.

It seems to me the only real reason to have an event like Earth Hour, is to give you the opportunity to feel morally superior to someone else. It's like praying for Japan. It doesn't do anything to help, but you sure feel better about yourself after you do it. It's masturbation in public. It also has the side benefit of convincing you that you did your part, and now you can return to business as usual.

So here's the deal. If you are concerned about energy consumption, buy a hybrid car or "green" lightbulbs. (I am not endorsing either of these by the way, just citing examples). The best way to make change is through the market. If enough people start buying these items, companies will make more of them. Additionally, if you really care about helping people in Japan, make a donation. You can do so here or here. A LOT of people in Japan are PARTICIPATING in Earth Hour, but they sure aren't celebrating it. Praying might make YOU feel good, but it does nothing for people who have lost their homes and love ones. Just sayin'.

Is Agnostic Neutral?

I haven't posted in a little over a month, mostly because I haven't had anything intelligent to say (after reading this, you may conclude that I still don't). I have been thinking a lot lately about labels and their meanings. Three in particular; atheist, theist and agnostic. It seems in many circles (particularly ones I travel in), agnostic is viewed as a middle ground between believers and heathens (my team). The feeling is that those who call themselves agnostic have a more reasonable position than atheists and theists. This (quite frankly) is BULLSHIT!!!

Agnostic/gnostic and atheist/theist are answers to two completely different questions. The terms "agnostic" and "gnostic" comes from the Greek word "gnosis" which means knowledge. So when you ask someone whether they KNOW whether there is a God or an Easter Bunny, (etc.), they either know or they don't. If they say that they don't know (the only reasonable answer to that question by the way) they are an agnostic. It is an epistemological question. "What do we KNOW about the universe?"

Atheist or theist is an answer to the theological question, "Do you BELIEVE in god?" It is not about knowledge, but rather the best answer that you can come up with after you have reviewed all the evidence available to you (voices inside your head are not evidence by the way...you may choose to believe because you "hear" them, but they are not evidence). I have seen NO evidence that a god or higher power exists. It seems to me that the only "evidence" that such beings exist are ancient texts written by humans. For theists, that is enough. For atheists, it is not.

There are theists who choose to believe that the complexity of the universe dictates that it have a "designer" or creator. This too is a belief, as they have no knowledge of such a creator. It seems to me a very arrogant position to take actually. "I can't understand how the universe could have come into existence without a designer, and I am extremely intelligent so therefore, there MUST me a god." My apologies for being redundant but...BULLSHIT. By this same logic, wouldn't this designer need a designer? (Yea..now what?) We learn more and more about the universe every day, and with each question we answer, several more questions get asked. It's okay, we may get there one day. We may not. But we shouldn't just throw up our hands and claim KNOWLEDGE that we don't have, just because we can't conceive of an alternative.

I have no problem acknowledging the possibility (however slim) that there may be a god. I can't disprove his/her/? existence. I don't need to. I am not the one claiming to have special knowledge. That is the burden for the other side. And no one has PROVED it. It's a belief and nothing more. A belief that provides comfort to many, but one that is no more TRUE than a belief in Santa Claus. I'm not claiming that this belief is WRONG. Only that it doesn't deserve special treatment and it certainly shouldn't be called science (it's FAITH, if it's yours, be proud and call it such). My position is simply a lack of belief. I'm not claiming knowledge of the non-existence of a deity. Just that I've never seen one, so I have no reason to believe there is one. And I choose to find comfort in my friends and family, and for me that's enough. Because it's all I've got (and all that I need).

So the next time an agnostic claims to have the only reasonable position, call them out on it. They are not answering the same question.