6.30.2009

What Michael Jackson Can Teach Us About the Catholic Church

Michael Jackson at the Cannes film fe...
Michael Jackson at the Cannes film festival. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From what I have seen on CNN lately, the death of Michael Jackson appears to be the story of the year. I watched with a sense of building disgust as they rolled out some "singer-songwriter" I didn't recognize and asked her about Jackson's message. In what just has to be a new low point for CNN, she replied, "Well, I did not know him personally, but..." and then proceeded to offer up some drivel about his message to the world. That was when I turned off the TV, picked up The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, and went to bed to read until I fell asleep. I now believe that there is at least one lesson we should take from Jackson's life, and it involves the Catholic Church.

Those of us who remember the birth of MTV remember what Jackson did for the network and for popular music itself. Along with everyone I knew at the time, I had a copy of Thriller and listened to it constantly. I tuned in to see Jackson during his various appearances at award shows, his videos, etc. He was so damn cool.

6.26.2009

Why Do Christians Want Health Insurance?

Blood testing in a medical facility in Ethiopia.Image via Wikipedia

It was almost a year ago that I unveiled my health care plan. Now that the Obama administration is moving ahead on their own plan for reforming American health care, I have a good excuse to revisit it. Instead of merely rehashing it, I'd like to use it to inquire into whether most Christians really believe what they often claim to believe.

Do Christians Really Believe What They Claim to Believe?

One of the things that has always bugged me about Christians is that there often seems to be a massive discrepancy between what they claim to believe and how they behave. Health care offers an excellent example of what I am talking about. For the Christians who claim to believe that they have a personal relationship with Jesus and are cared for by a benevolent god, why do they need health insurance? Why avail themselves of modern medicine at all? Shouldn't prayer be sufficient?

6.24.2009

If You Don't Believe in an Afterlife, Why Be Moral?

24 hour security on duty

Questions about morality always seem to be among the most common sort of questions atheists receive from Christians. I suppose that's not a bad thing. Morality is important, after all. There are many variations of these questions, but the common element would have to be the notion that some sort of gods (and often the Christian god in particular) are required for moral behavior. It is almost as if these Christians cannot comprehend how someone could be good without gods.

As many times as the claim that gods are necessary for morality has been debunked, it continues to surface. The version I most often hear asks what incentive one who rejects any sort of afterlife could possibly have for moral behavior in this life. "If you don't believe in an afterlife, why would you be moral at all?" No matter how many times I hear it, this still strikes me as an odd question.

Here is an example from a comment on another post made by Vance:

Dear sirs you have a lot of knowledge my question is if we die and there is nothing after death why not just be the evilest you can be.To me it does not make sense to help my so-called fellow man and have a temporary life and love people if in the end it means nothing. I want it all and all the evil I could do and try to get away with it without the authorities catching me. What do I care about anything or anyone if in the end it does not matter what I do in this temporary life if in the end I am nothingness it does not make sense to be good and it makes a lot more sense to be evil, no consequences when death comes. Isn't that the bottom line in atheism nothing really matters we die and that is it. What are your comments and thank you.

The crux of the question is quite clear: If I do not believe in an afterlife where I will be rewarded or punished for my behavior, why should I behave myself in this life?

6.17.2009

Did Jesus Abolish the Old Testament?

Old Testament
46 is the earliest (nearly) complete manuscript of the Epistles written by Paul in the new testament. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Have you ever discussed the bible in which many Christians claim to believe with a Christian? If so, the odds are good that you may have asked the Christian about some of what you found in the Old Testament. When you did this, you were almost certainly told that whichever part you asked about is no longer valid (although depending on who you are talking to, some parts of Leviticus may still apply). Somehow, the good parts of this book are still perfectly valid but the bad or embarrassing ones are not. Interesting how that seems to work, isn't it?

Jesus, the Christian might insist, did away with the various bad parts you point out. Of course, the Christian will not be able to show you anything in their bible that makes it clear that this was the case. The Christian just knows it somehow, and you are expected to believe it too.

A reader - I'll call him Jason - e-mailed me a great question recently. It is one I have received several times. In fact, it is one I have asked several times! I am going to post it here, take a stab at answering it and then invite you to chime in. I readily admit that my answer is tentative, as I am really not sure about the most effective way to respond. Let's get to the question.

6.16.2009

This is Christian Morality?

One of the most pervasive myths about atheism is that atheists are immoral because gods are somehow required for good behavior. Of course, the person making such an accusation tends to have a particular god in mind and is willing to disqualify all other gods without providing any justification for doing so. I think I'll steer clear of that tangent for now. Instead, I'd like to stick with the idea that a particular god - or at least belief in a particular god - is the only thing standing between a person and bad behavior. This appears to be a core tenet of the sort of Christian "morality" practiced by fundamentalists and extremists.

When a Christian makes the claim that atheists are necessarily immoral because of our lack of belief in the Christian's preferred god, the atheist typically retorts by asking if god-belief is the only thing preventing the Christian from running wild in the streets. Some Christians will answer in the affirmative, and I'd recommend steering clear of such Christians. Others will recognize the worrisome implications of this and activate their reality-distortion field and engage in a variety of mental gymnastics (i.e., apologetics) in a desperate attempt to escape the question.

6.13.2009

Why You Should Have an Intense Debate Account

comment balloon
This post is not about installing the IntenseDebate commenting system on your blog (if you have one). Instead, it is about why those of you commenting on this and countless other blogs which use IntenseDebate should create an IntenseDebate (or WordPress.com) account. I know most of you already have such an account, but for those who do not, I am going to give you some reasons to do so.

Here are some of the benefits of creating an IntenseDebate account from the perspective of anyone leaving comments on the many blogs which use IntenseDebate:
  • You get to have a custom avatar.
  • You can set up a custom profile to direct others to your blog, Twitter account, website, or whatever you want.
  • You can leave comments via e-mail.
  • If you use Twitter, you can have IntenseDebate automatically tweet when you leave a comment.
  • Those who value your contributions can subscribe to an RSS feed of your comments on all IntenseDebate blogs.
  • You can develop an online reputation as a worthwhile commenter by letting you build a reputation score based on your comments across the blogosphere. You'll see a number in highlighted yellow next to the avatars of those who have accounts. Those with higher numbers have received more thumbs-up votes on their comments.
  • You make it more difficult for others to impersonate you, leaving comments under your preferred handle.
Want one more reason? Having an IntenseDebate or WordPress account is required to leave comments here at Atheist Revolution. If you don't yet have an IntenseDebate account, it couldn't be simpler to get one. All you have to do is go to IntenseDebate and fill out the brief form.

Update: This post was updated in 2018 to better reflect how IntenseDebate is used at Atheist Revolution.

6.11.2009

Atheist Rocks and Other Absurdities

rock formations

I received an e-mail from someone who was engaged in a debate over the meaning of atheism. He said that his opponent had referenced the definition I have repeatedly used here at Atheist Revolution but claimed that this definition meant that "rocks and other inanimate objects were also atheists." I think I've heard this bizarre claim once or twice before. I did not take it too seriously, and I remember thinking that anyone using it was getting fairly desperate. After hearing it again, I figured the least I could do was address it with a brief post.

When I said, "An atheist is one who does not accept the theistic claim," I assumed that "one" would be understood in the context of this statement as implying personhood. It seems that some people are now trying to pretend that inanimate objects would count as atheists. Maybe that's not a big deal. If rocks are atheists then there are a hell of a lot more atheists than religious believers!

6.09.2009

Another Problem with Rooting Morality in God

Cropped image of a Socrates bust for use in ph...
Bust carved by by Victor Wager from a model by Paul Montford, University of Western Australia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Regardless of their favored argument for believing in their particular god, many Christians seem particularly fond of criticizing atheists on moral grounds. Such Christians often believe that all atheists seek the complete eradication of their religion and are likely to oppose this primarily on moral grounds. Specifically, such Christians claim that moral order is somehow dependent upon their god, or at least upon continued belief in their god. Of course, making such a claim requires them to dismiss or simply ignore evidence that predominately secular societies are not necessarily dysfunctional, but we can set that aside for now to examine an often neglected counterargument. As we will see, insisting that morality comes from their god creates an important philosophical problem for Christians.

Most of you are at least somewhat familiar with Plato and Socrates, even if only by name. Students of Western philosophy may even recall Euthyphro's dilemma from Plato's dialog Euthyphro. Plato presents the following dialog between Socrates and Euthyphro where Socrates is trying to understand a critical implication of that has become a central plank in the contemporary Christian worldview:
Socrates: And what do you say of piety, Euthyphro? Is not piety, according to your definition, loved by all the gods?

Euthyphro: Certainly.

Socrates: Because it is pious or holy, or for some other reason?

Euthyphro: No, that is the reason.

Socrates: It is loved because it is holy, not holy because it is loved?
In essence, Euthyphro's dilemma is this: Is something good simply because god(s) say so, or does god(s) say something is good because of some other quality?

Using Euthyphro's dilemma as a starting point, Bertrand Russell presents us with the following in Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects:
If you are quite sure there is a difference between right and wrong, you are then in this situation: Is that difference due to God's fiat or is it not? If it is due to God's fiat, then for God Himself there is no difference between right and wrong, and it is no longer a significant statement to say that God is good. If you are going to say, as theologians do, that God is good, you must then say that right and wrong have some meaning which is independent of God's fiat, because God's fiats are good and not good independently of the mere fact that he made them. If you are going to say that, you will then have to say that it is not only through God that right and wrong came into being, but that they are in their essence logically anterior to God.
Add this to the many difficulties involved in the common Christian claim that human morality is somehow rooted in their particular god.

6.05.2009

What Do Atheists Think of Christians?

What do you think your looking at ? (9260795121)
By Digital-Designs (What do you think you're looking at?)

We humans are social creatures, and part of what that means is that we find others' opinions of us to be relevant. Anybody who tells you that they do not care what anyone else thinks of them is either a liar or operating on an entirely different plane from most of humanity. Maybe that is too strong a statement, but you get the idea. Most of us care, perhaps even too much, what others think of us. We may pretend otherwise as a form of self-protection, but others' opinions of us typically matter at least to some degree.

It is normal to be curious about what others think of us. Having this information helps us navigate our social environments. It seems that we atheists rarely have to wonder what some Christians think of us because we are often told exactly what they think of us. But how about Christians? It is only natural that some Christians might wonder what we atheists think of them.

My church says that all atheists think Christians are stupid, and that they hate us all. Is that true?

I make no claim to speak for all atheists, but I will provide my response to this question below and let my readers (most of whom are atheists) add as they see fit in the comments.