Highlighting Examples of Clergy Abuse is Important

Being an atheist is certainly no guarantee that one will be a moral person. Unlike humanism, atheism does not include any particular set of moral guidelines. Some atheists may strive to be better people, but that's not a requirement one will find in atheism. Of course, being an atheist is also no guarantee that one will be an immoral person. Plenty of atheists are good without gods. Try telling that to some Christians though, and you are likely to meet some resistance. Some Christians continue to insist that only those who are "saved" can be moral, that morality comes from their god, and the like. There are many effective rebuttals, but Mojoey (Deep Thoughts) has been working tirelessly to compile one of my favorites.

Parents Are Wrong to Drag Kids to Church

Throughout the United States, a familiar scene takes place every Easter in which well-meaning Christian parents drag their atheist son or daughter to church with them. The stated explanations for this behavior range from the believable (e.g., "Because it is important to me") to the nonsensical (e.g., "Because it is Easter"). But the outcome is the same. The kid goes to church because he or she has no choice or wants to appease a parent.

I remember this scenario playing out in my childhood home many times. Granted, it wasn't just Easter that it happened; it was almost every week. But I do remember Easter being particularly important to my parents. And I remember not having a choice.

I left church behind long ago. In fact, the moment I had the opportunity to stop going, I took it. But I still remember those days of coercion all too well. If you are going through it now, I feel for you. It is like a prison sentence. You know the day will come when you are free, but it still seems like an eternity.

Happy Zombie Jesus Weekend

This spring has been busy, and I almost ran out of time to make last-minute preparations for the weekend. I don't know why I am so disorganized every year around this time when the stakes are so high. You'd think I would know better by now that it is important to prepare early and make sure I can hold out. But I think I'm all set this year though. I'm not confident I'm ready, but I'm as ready as I'll be.

I have a couple days worth of food and water ready for transport. I replaced some bulbs in the perimeter lighting, adjusted the motion sensors, and mapped an escape route this morning in case my defenses are overwhelmed. I've got the chainsaw gassed up, the axe sharpened, and the shotgun oiled and loaded with buckshot. I guess I'm finally ready for Zombie Jesus weekend.

I hope you made it through your neighbors' puzzling celebration of the brutal death of a fictional character they claim to love and revere because it "saved" them. I also hope you are prepared for what comes next. There's no reason atheists cannot have fun this weekend, so I hope you'll join me in celebrating the fact that you no longer believe any of this nonsense even if you aren't a fan of zombies.

Understanding Republican Atheists

I received an email from a reader who is struggling to understand how an atheist can also be a Republican. Isn't this something of an oxymoron, he asks? How can an atheist possibly support a political party that has been so hostile to secularism over the decades?

I realize I'm not the best one to answer this question. I am not a Republican or a politically conservative atheist, and I've never been one. I know I have some Republican readers, so maybe they'll chime in to bail me out if necessary. I'll try to offer some thoughts to get the discussion going.

I suspect one will find a minority within almost any population that will appear to vote against their self-interest. The reader who raised the question of atheist Republicans compared an atheist voting Republican with a Black person voting for David Duke, the former Klan leader. I understand the comparison, but I suspect there were at least a handful of Blacks who did support Duke. From what I've seen of atheists, the vast majority tend to be on the liberal side of the political spectrum; however, this does not mean that there are not politically conservative atheists. Some of these conservative atheists undoubtedly vote Republican.

Catholic Freethinkers: Oxymoron or the Other Kind of Moron?

An acquaintance - not someone I know particularly well - recently described himself as a freethinker. Fantastic! We certainly need more freethought here in Mississippi. But this particular acquaintance also describes himself as a Catholic. He attends church regularly, had his son baptized, and occasionally makes reference to engaging in prayer. Does "freethinker" not mean what I think it means?

Can someone be a religious believer and a freethinker simultaneously, or does one exclude the other? While I would not be surprised in the least to hear a Unitarian or a Deist identify as a freethinker, I'm having a hard time knowing what to make of a Catholic doing so.

I understand freethought as being more about the method through which one forms one's beliefs rather than the beliefs themselves. To be a Catholic freethinker, it seems like one would have to claim that one came to accept the "truth" of Catholic doctrine solely through the application of reason and without any appeal to authority or religious revelation. That seems unlikely, but I suppose it is possible that someone could make such a claim. After all, some people seem to think that there are Catholic atheists.

Atheist Elitism

Perspicacity's recent post over at Think Atheist, "If you have to be Genius to be Atheist, We are in Real Trouble," is one that every atheist blogger should read. You may not agree with all of it. I didn't. But that is part of what makes it worth reading.

In the post, we are challenged to remember that our audience is more diverse than we sometimes realize and that many of the people we need to reach are being alienated by some aspects of how we present ourselves. This might not be a comfortable truth, but I suspect that it is an accurate one.

...my deeper concern is that most of the current population does not have the opportunity for higher education and because of this, most don't have the chance to become critical/skeptical thinkers. Unfortunately, the tenor and attitudes that some in the athiest community have aren't helping this situation. Instead of being open-minded and debating in a civil fashion, many christians are instead ridiculed and berated by athiests—eventually causing many of them to leave these debates feeling “non-bielevers” are rude, hostile, and arrogant. I see this as a missed opportunity.

Hitler's Christianity is Not Completely Irrelevant

The fact that Adolph Hitler was a Christian is almost irrelevant. After all, Hitler being a Christian doesn't have much (if anything) to do with other Christians. Hitler's Christianity does not mean that other Christians are anything like him. Virtually nobody is like him. In fact, comparing those we dislike to Hitler only minimizes the horrific acts he committed.

So why am I even bothering to mention Hitler's Christianity as all? I'll give you three reasons why I think it makes sense to do so.

First, many contemporary Christians insist that I address Hitler. They do not want to claim him as one of their own, so they pretend that Hitler was an atheist and insist that somehow makes me immoral. So I sometimes address Hitler's Christianity as one way of dispelling this absurd claim.

Second, I am not convinced that humanity has retained the many lessons of Hitler. His reign of terror did at one time serve as an example of why we must remain vigilant to prevent fascist tendencies from re-emerging. It also showed us what can happen when religious and ethnic hatred are paired with military power. But these lessons seem to have faded a bit. And please don't assume that I'm referring only to Republicans in the U.S. when I say that. I wish I had that luxury.

Third, some of the people who truly admire Hitler today possess vast power and wealth. They wear the cloak of Christian extremism while pushing an agenda that seeks to increase the status of those at the top while showing utter disdain for those at the middle and the bottom. They do not have to seize power; they already have it. The rest of us must appreciate the risks of ignoring them.

Your April Fools Day Reminder

Today is April Fools' Day in the U.S. It is not usually considered a Christian holiday, but perhaps it should be. In any case, atheists can expect to hear a line from Psalm 14 quoted by their Christian Facebook friends today:

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

Please don't get mad when you see this on your Facebook news feed. This Christian has just revealed how little they know about their own bible. Instead of getting mad, consider using their bible against them. Remind them of Matthew 5:22, which says:

Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Is their "clever" little insult really worth burning in the hell in which they believe? For more, see my April Fools Day post from 2009.