"Do we have a right to tell people they are wrong?" This was the question recently posed by Richard Collins (End Hereditary Religion) after he encountered it during a public parenting forum. I agree completely with his affirmative response. In fact, I think I'd take it an additional step and suggest that we may actually have an obligation to do this when it comes to religion, at least in some circumstances.
I had been planning to watch the Super Bowl. I don't particularly care who wins, and I don't really care for either of the teams playing. Still, I was planning to watch it because I almost always do. But now that I've learned that CBS, the network broadcasting the Super Bowl, has been working closely with Focus on the Family to produce a commercial opposing reproductive rights for women, I think I'll skip the game.
When Pat Robertson made the recent statement about the Haitian earthquake being a curse from his god, quite a few people stepped up to condemn him. The secular community led, as is so often the case, but I was happy to see many from Robertson's own religious tradition joining the chorus of condemnation. Yes, many Christians did the right thing here by speaking out against Robertson. Unfortunately, this has not stopped others from coming out and praising Robertson or essentially saying the same thing that made him fodder for so many comedians.
Welcome to Atheist Revolution, a blog focused on promoting reason, education, and a reality-based worldview. Whether you are just beginning to doubt your faith and want to learn about atheism or you are a seasoned atheist looking to interact with like-minded individuals, you will find something of interest here.
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I am an angry atheist. It makes me angry that millions of American Christians despise me solely because I do not share their god belief. Bigotry and hatred infuriate me. It makes me angry that believing something without evidence is considered stupid unless the something involves religion at which point such belief becomes virtuous. Transparent hypocrisy of this sort irritates me. It makes me angry to see religious people standing in the way of human progress by preventing stem cell research, depriving our children of sound science education, and and the like. Placing one's religious beliefs or institutions above basic human welfare enrages me. It makes me angry to see American Christians demonize the secular principles on which our country was founded in service to a destructive worldview. This sort of willful distortion of reality makes my blood boil. Subscribe to Atheist Revolution
Health care reform is a worthwhile goal here in the U.S. Universal health care via a single payer system would be better still, but the corporations that own our politicians are unlikely to allow that any time soon. Extracting ourselves from two wars is another worthwhile goal. And yet, it seems that there is so much money being made by some companies from these wars that this may take considerably longer than it should.
I have been fairly disappointed not to hear much more from the Democratic majority about education. I think that it should be a much higher priority. Much like our health care system, the U.S. suffers from a broken educational system. Our citizenry has become alarmingly stupid and misinformed. Perhaps corporate America has something to gain from this state of affairs too.
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The excellent progressive political blog, Progressive Nation, has been following the battle over U.S. history textbooks in the state of Texas, and recently posted some disturbing news. Evidently, the State Board of Education is dominated by conservatives who are pushing educational standards designed to teach Texas high school students positive things about far-right groups such as Falwell's Moral Majority. Worst of all, some are concerned that the board may push the crazy notion that history has shown Sen. McCarthy to be correct in his Communist hunting and worthy of admiration.
“The social conservative bloc is pressing for the standards to turn Joseph McCarthy into an American hero,” says Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network, a group that aims to “counter the religious right.”The post traces right-wing efforts to rewrite history about McCarthy back to 1954. In reading this, I can't help consider that efforts to do this for Bush are already underway.
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I reader sent me this gem, and I had to share it. As someone who does not have children, I have nothing but respect and admiration for atheist parents struggling to raise children in the thoroughly religious environment in which many of us find ourselves. I don't know how you do it, but I'm sure as hell glad you are doing it!
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Convicted murderer Scott Roeder is precisely the sort of Christian who makes many Christians eager to disown him and much of what he represents. And yet, there is little doubt that some conservative Christians will honor him as a hero for killing Dr. George Tiller. "Killing for Jesus" is not exactly a novel concept among Christian extremists, particularly when physicians who provide abortions are involved. The question facing us now is how many pro-Roeder Christians are out there and the degree to which this once fringe phenomenon is acquiring greater acceptance.
Let me be very clear at the outset of this post: atheism is not a religion. It has no core dogma, no "sacred" texts, no leaders, no rituals, asserts no supernatural entities, requires no faith of any sort, and so on. Quite simply, atheism is in no way a religion.
With that out of the way, it is important to acknowledge that some people would like to redefine atheism as a religion, transform it into something like a religion, or even call it a religion when it is obviously not. In this post, I'd like to address two current efforts to redefine (or at least label) atheism as a religion.
