You may recall hearing back in December that the state of Kentucky passed a law in 2006 requiring the Emergency Operations Center of their Department of Homeland Security to post a plaque stating,

The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.

You may also recall the the bill was sponsored by state representative Tom Riner, also a Southern Baptist pastor. Rep. Riner became upset in December because the annual report issued by this agency did not credit his god. The god reference in the original law was struck down last month as unconstitutional, and Kentucky has announced their intention to appeal.

If you are living in Kentucky and the idea of your state spending tax dollars to appeal this court decision bothers you, please let your state representatives hear from you.

H/T to Universal Heretic

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• God No Longer Protecting Kentucky (alan.com)
• Kentucky Judge says Homeland Security isn't Dependent on God (bilerico.com)
• Right-wingers are always eager to dismiss the existence -- and the threat -- of far-right extremists (crooksandliars.com)

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According to Ed Brayton (Dispatches From the Culture Wars), the letters from readers at WorldNutDaily reveal "a constant struggle for dominance between stupidity and insanity." He provides a few good examples of what he's talking about, and I have to agree with his selection of his favorite:

You know, the lawyers and academics that just happen to be running our country ought to think about whom they are messing with. Football fans, NASCAR types, deer hunters, rednecks, honkey tonk bar associations (thanks Garth Brooks) and just common Constitution-loving Americans outnumber them about 150,000 to one. In my opinion, it would be a wise thing for them to get "religion" quickly, or just resign, before these people get really ticked!

Maybe I especially like this one because I am an academic. It does not matter that I am also a football fan, that I grew up in and continue to prefer to live in small towns, or that I love the Constitution too (especially the Establishment Clause). Nor does it matter that you'll never catch me at a play, an art gallery, or a fancy restaurant but might find me wandering in the woods from time to time. It makes no difference that I own a gun or that I think Johnny Cash had one of the greatest voices in all of music. I am still an academic, and so I am going to be despised by these people no matter what else we might have in common.

I often wonder why I represent such a threat to these self-proclaimed "real Americans." I don't run much of anything, much less the country. Happy Labor Day, "real Americans."

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Tags: culture wars, academics

I'm all for the exercise of free speech, but calling for the death of someone has never quite impressed me as the sort of speech that should be protected. Maybe this is because I have spent enough time working with emotionally troubled individuals to know that many do not need much prodding to go over the edge and engage in violent acts. Sure, most high-functioning people are going to be minimally susceptible to such speech, but they aren't the ones we need to worry about. There are enough emotionally disturbed people, those we might describe as high-risk, that I cannot help thinking that repeated calls for the death of someone are probably more dangerous than most people realize.

Why am I bringing this up, and what does this have to do with atheism? Well, it seems that yet another Christian pastor is unapologetically calling for the death of a prominent public figure. According to Americans United for Separation of Church and State,

The Rev. Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church told his Tempe, Ariz., congregation he prays that Obama “dies and goes to hell.” In an Aug. 16 sermon that recently came to public attention, Anderson said, “If you want to know how I’d like to see Obama die, I’d like him to die of natural causes. I don’t want him to be a martyr, we don't need another holiday. I'd like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer.”

Now, it is entirely possible that Rev. Anderson knows full well that his god is a sham and that his prayers have no effect. And yet, I don't think it is any sort of god that we need to worry about. What Rev. Anderson is clearly saying is that he would like to see the death of President Obama. Unfortunately, there are more than a few disturbed individuals out there who might interpret such statements as a command (or at least permission) from someone who knows the mind of a god.

I join Americans United for Separation of Church and State in denouncing Rev. Anderson's calls for violence. I sincerely hope other religious leaders will do so as well. Disagreement is welcome (even encouraged), but the violent rhetoric has to stop before it motivates additional murders.

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The 125th Carnival of the Godless has been posted at a Nadder! just in time for your Sunday reading. Check it out.

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One of the most common experiences reported by atheists is the feeling that they are alone in a sea of religious belief. I can certainly relate, and this is why organizations such as the newly formed Grassroots Skeptics are so important. They help connect those of us in the reality-based community with skeptical groups around the world. If you have a local group, be sure to add yourself to their directory. If you are looking for a local group, be sure to check their list often.

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This week flew by, and it is hard to believe that it is Idiot of the Week time already. Here at Atheist Revolution, a new idiot is crowned each Saturday. So let's get to it!

I may be getting lazy here, but when I heard the following come from Christian extremist Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), I immediately knew she was desperate for Idiot of the Week recognition:

This cannot pass. What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn't pass.

Way to inject your ridiculous religion into the health care debate! I suppose that spouting nonsense like this is easier than trying to explain how you are opposing reform simply because your political party wants to make the President look bad.

H/T to Dispatches From the Culture Wars

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What is it about atheists that makes us so difficult to organize? Could sociability have something to do with it? Read the following statements and take a moment to consider the degree to which each applies to you ("not at all" to "a lot like me").

1. I am more comfortable being alone than most people I know.
2. I do not need a large circle of friends to be happy.
3. I prefer smaller gatherings to large parties or social events.
   

I just made these questions up off the top of my head, but their content is similar to many psychological tests of sociability. We're not going to learn much of anything with only three questions, but imagine that there were several more along these lines, and you get the idea of how we might measure sociability.

My hunch, based on little more than my personal experience and interactions with other atheists, is that the average atheist would score a bit lower on such a measure than the average Christian. That is, if we had a complete and valid measure of sociability that I administered to 100 atheists and 100 Christians, I would expect that the average score from the atheists would be somewhat lower than the average score from the Christians. Note that this in no way implies that some atheists would not score higher than many Christians or that some Christians would not score lower than many atheists.

Who cares? Well, I think that answering questions like this might have some interesting implications. Assume I'm right and atheists tend to score lower on sociability. What might that mean? Do less sociable people tend to gravitate toward atheism, or is there something about the experience of living as an atheist that leads people to become less sociable? We wouldn't know this simply by finding a group difference, but we'd probably be more motivated to pursue such questions. Findings from such studies might also inform efforts at organizing atheists.

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Tags: atheists, sociability, psychology, atheist, Christian, atheism

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Back in 2005, I began an initial deconstruction of Christian extremism (see Deconstructing Christian Extremism). It was helpful in figuring out exactly what Christian extremism is, how to identify it, and how it differs from fundamentalism. It was a reasonable starting point. Now I want to turn the light on the atheist movement itself. Some deny that it exists at all, and others argue that it should not exist or be a desirable goal in any meaningful way. But what exactly is the atheist movement? Does it exist, and if not, should it be created? Let's begin.

This is intended to be an introductory post in a multi-part series on the subject of deconstructing the atheist movement. As such, it provides an ideal place to specify some of my initial assumptions:

• I believe that it makes sense to talk of an atheist movement as long as we acknowledge that it is in the very early stages and remains as much a potential as a reality.
• I believe that it is possible to deconstruct the atheist movement into component parts and in so doing, we may learn about the nature of the current movement as well as the unrealized potential it holds.
• I believe that some of the component parts we reveal are dead ends that serve a temporary purpose but will not be successful over the long-term.
• I believe that other components, currently undervalued, may be of critical importance in sustaining or expanding the atheist movement.
  

I would not be surprised if additional assumptions reveal themselves across this series, but these are the ones of which I am aware at this point. They provide a reasonable starting point.

So, what are the components of the atheist movement, and which ones may hold the key for the longevity of the movement itself? What challenges does the atheist movement face, and how can we overcome these challenges? These are precisely the questions that future posts in this series will address. Stay tuned.

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Tags: atheist, atheist movement, Christian extremism

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When one of the roughly 2,000 people reported to be in attendance at one of Rep. Wally Herger's (R-CA) town hall meetings stood up and described himself as "a proud right-wing terrorist," the media took note. Their focus was on Rep. Herger's troubling response:

Amen, God bless you! There is a great American.

The story deserved coverage and received it. One small problem. As wildly inappropriate as Rep. Herger's handling of the situation was, I am even more disturbed by the loud cheering from the other audience members.

As the anniversary of Sept. 11 nears, we have a room full of Americans, many of whom probably see themselves as patriotic, cheering in response to a declaration of terrorism. Have the lessons of 9-11 already been forgotten?

Of course Rep. Herger should have handled the situation differently! But that is only part of the story. The rest of the story concerns those in attendance who cheered at such a statement. What is wrong with these people? What should the rest of us be doing to reach them and those who share their twisted worldview?

H/T to Think Progress

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As you can imagine, I receive some entertaining email from time to time. Here is a recent example, unedited for your enjoyment:

GREAT GOD SAY IN QURAN : THERE IS A ETERNAL TO BURN IN HELL FOR DENIAL PEOPLE .

WHY YOU MAKE OF DENIAL THE GREAT GOD

THERE ARE ARTS OF THE GREAT GOD IN EVERY AREA .
VERY GREAT PAIN OF GREAT GOD ! ! !

You have to love those threats of hell. Doesn't sound much like a religion of peace, does it?

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