1.31.2013

Prohibition is Alive and Well in Some Mississippi Counties

Another "no alcohol" logo
Another "no alcohol" logo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
You know those ad circulars that show up in your mailbox a couple times a month that are sort of a combination between a small local newspaper and a bunch of ads? Do you get these too? Anyway, I was looking through one of them the other day, and something quite strange caught my eye.

Using public court records, this particular circular published recent arrest records. The name of the person arrested along with their date of birth, gender, race (this is Mississippi, after all), and charges were included. I found this somewhat odd, but not nearly as surprising as what I saw when I looked more closely at the information.

One of the individuals listed here had been charged with many things pertaining to what sounded like a traffic stop for suspected DUI. What caught my eye was this particular charge:
Possession of Beer/Wine in a Dry County

1.27.2013

Church: A Waste of a Sunday Morning

Christian Flag etc Covenant Presbyterian Long Beach 20050213.jpg

My father is not an atheist. He's been a Christian longer than I've been alive. While his attitudes and behaviors have certainly moved away from what most Christians would recognize over the years, he still considers himself a Christian. I suspect this is largely due to a combination of the manner in which he was raised, his distaste for getting bogged down in deep questions, and the psychological and social benefits he accrues from Christianity.

When I was a child, one of my father's expressions I always liked was his description of church as "a waste of a perfectly good Sunday morning." He never seemed to enjoy going to church, and I think he went primarily because my mother wanted to. He may have shared her belief that church was good for me in some manner, but she seemed far more convinced of this than he ever did.

1.24.2013

Do Your Co-Workers Know That You Are an Atheist?

modern architecture

It has been a while since I addressed the subject of atheism in the workplace, but I continue to be interested in this topic. For those of you who are atheists and who are employed, do your co-workers know of your atheism? If so, has this created any problems for you at work? It occurs to me that people doing different jobs may have very different experiences, ranging from atheism being the norm among their co-workers to being fired because of it. I thought it might be interesting to hear how atheists in different jobs have handled their atheism and what, if any, impact they have experienced in the workplace.

How Would They Know?

How might one's co-workers ever learn of one's atheism in the first place? From my experience, that depends largely on what sort of job we're talking about and where one lives. In some areas, one's co-workers would never know because the question would never be raised. This was certainly true for me when I first entered the workforce. I'm thinking all the way back to jobs I had during high school. I was living on the West Coast at the time, and I do not recall anyone at work ever asking anything that would have led me to say anything about my religious beliefs or lack thereof. Politics came up from time-to-time, and I am sure others occasionally mentioned aspects of their own religion, but I don't ever recall feeling pressure to disclose my thoughts on religion.

1.22.2013

Context in the Gun Control Debate

A well-regulated militia I figured it was time to take a look at gun policy now that the Obama administration has announced some of the measures under consideration. I've always been a bit ambivalent on the subject of gun control because I can see both sides of this issue and have been discouraged by the unthinking rhetoric I hear being spouted from the extremes of both sides in the debate. I see little reason to think that we'll ever eliminate guns, and I am not persuaded that private citizens need access to at least some of the weapons to which we currently have access. If we are going to expand gun control in some way, I'd hope we would do so rationally.

The Second Amendment: Different Interpretations

When I read the 2nd Amendment and consider the historical context around it, it seems obvious to me that there are at least two very different ways in which it can be read (probably more than two). Here is what it says:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

1.17.2013

The 'Obama Faked Newtown to Take Our Guns' Theory

Idiot America: How stupidity became a virtue in the land of the free

One of the points Charles Pierce made in his excellent book, Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free, was that we in the U.S. love our conspiracy theories. He traced several such theories over the course of our nation's history, and I suspect we can all think of a few in our present and recent past. One of the newest and most disturbing concerns the mass murder that took place in Newtown, CT, late last year. Evidently, some on the right are now pushing the theory that President Obama faked the entire thing, hiring actors to make it look convincing. And why would he do such a thing? To provide false justification for taking our guns, of course.

This particular theory, like so many others on the right, starts with the conviction that black helicopters filled with ATF agents are going to show up on our property any day now in order to disarm us. "It will be like Waco but on a larger scale!" Sure it will. From the belief that this outcome is inevitable, they work backwards to provide a way in which it could come about. And somehow the UN will be involved. They always are.

1.16.2013

'Rise of the Nones' Likely to End Sooner or Later

Present-day archaeological site of the Salem V...
Present-day archaeological site of the Salem Village parsonage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In a recent post, Hemant Mehta (Friendly Atheist) examined some Gallup data being interpreted by some as showing that the "rise of the nones" about which we've been hearing so much has finally started to level-off. The poll data show only a slight increase in our numbers between 2011 and 2012. It is tempting to interpret this as evidence that our growth spurt may be over. As Hemant correctly notes, such a suggestion would be premature. After all, one data point does not make a trend. Having said that, I do not expect growth among those with no religious affiliation to continue at the same rate until religion is extinct.

As I have pointed out before, the demise of religion in the U.S. has been predicted and then declared many times. Each time, a resurgence (i.e., a "religious awakening") has followed. The influence of religion has ebbed and flowed for some time, and it seems naive to suggest that this pattern will not persist.

1.15.2013

Memories of the Moral Panic Over Satanic Ritual Abuse

Sacrifice of a Christian Child
Sacrifice of a Christian Child (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The flyers were all over the psychology building. Dr. Richard Ofshe, a renowned professor at the University of California at Berkeley who had won a Pulitzer years earlier, was delivering a lecture on the use of recovered memories in psychotherapy. It was the mid-1990s, and I was in graduate school at the time. I knew that Ofshe had become a controversial figure due to his evidence-based criticism of attempts by therapists to recover clients' memories of childhood sexual abuse. I rearranged my schedule so I could attend his lecture. I had no idea how controversial it was going to be.

I assume that my readers are familiar with the term moral panic. Notorious examples of moral panics in the U.S. include the Red Scare, Salem witch trials, and the so-called "Satanic panic" that emerged during the 1980s over fears of Satanic ritual abuse. The idea that there were Satanic cults operating in nearly every town throughout the U.S. caught on in a big way and would not begin to fade away until the late 1990s. It was a fascinating period to have lived through, and I sometimes have a difficult time believing that it happened at all.

1.14.2013

Susan Jacoby on the 'Blessings' of Atheism

Cover of "The Age of American Unreason"
Cover of The Age of American Unreason
Susan Jacoby's recent op-ed in The New York Times has been receiving quite a bit of attention around the atheist community, and for good reason. I have read two of Jacoby's books (Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism and The Age of American Unreason), was impressed with both, and have enjoyed almost everything I've heard from her. My reaction to her recent op-ed is mixed though, and I'd like to share it here.

Jacoby's thesis appears to be that atheists should work to change public perceptions by emphasizing our empathy and kindness as well as our intellect. She believes that the primary obstacle holding us back from achieving greater influence in society involves the widespread perception that we have nothing positive to offer.

1.11.2013

In Defense of Greta Christina

No shoes
No shoes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am going to keep this brief because I am attempting to minimize the time I spend on the Freethought Blogs/Skepchick/Atheism+ stuff. It has come to my attention that a handful of people opposed to this group are upset because Greta Christina spent some of the money donated to her on a pair of shoes. Some have even taken to calling this "Shoegate."

Greta Christina, a talented atheist blogger at Freethought Blogs, was recently diagnosed with endometrial cancer. She asked for financial help via online donations and raised more than enough money to cover her mortgage and other expenses while recovering. She spent some of the money on a pair of shoes, and this somehow became the latest controversy to sweep across the atheist community.

1.10.2013

Before You Link to the Huffington Post

Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dear members of the reality-based community:

Based on the available data pertaining to the political preferences of our community, there is reason to believe that your political leanings are likely to be somewhat left of center. There are certainly exceptions. But if I know nothing about you other than your preference for reality over superstition, I would be wise to predict that you are more likely to lean left than to lean right. We also know from a wealth of psychological research that we humans tend to seek information that confirms or validates our positions and pay more attention to it than we do with information that disconfirms and invalidates them (i.e., confirmation bias). If I put these two pieces of information together, acknowledging that they are general statements that will not apply equally to every individual, I should expect you to consume media that could be described as more liberal (or progressive) in orientation.

What I would like to convince you of today is that not all of these media sources are equally valuable and that at least one of them should be actively avoided. In particular, I'd like to persuade you that no member of the reality-based community should promote The Huffington Post (HuffPo) by sharing links to it on websites, blogs, or social media. The next time you are tempted to tweet a link to HuffPo, I hope you'll think twice.

1.08.2013

How to Discuss Feminism in the Atheist Community

FeminismThis one requires just a bit of context, so let me to set the stage for you. Ed Brayton (Dispatches from the Culture Wars) wrote a post last month in which he scolded Al Stefanelli for a video criticizing the behavior of 4-5 bloggers on the Freethought Blogs (FtB) network. I am not planning to address the content of Brayton's post here, as I want to focus instead on a comment on his post left by Greta Christina (Greta Christina's Blog). She posed what I consider to be a brilliant question that has helped to show me that I've been missing something important about the role of feminism in the atheist community, how we discuss it, and the ongoing controversy surrounding Freethought Blogs/Skepchick/Atheism+. I feel like my eyes have been opened, and I am kicking myself a bit for not fully realizing this on my own.  

Greta Christina's Question

Greta's comment was in response to a reader who complained, "The treatment that anyone who isn't a feminist encounters down here is beyond reprehensible." Part of Greta's response included the following question:
How would you respond if someone said, “The treatment that anyone who’s a racist encounters down here is beyond reprehensible”? Or, “The treatment that anyone who’s a homophobe encounters down here is beyond reprehensible”? Have you considered the possibility that you’re treated the way you are because not being a feminist is reprehensible?
I know that some of you may be tempted to dismiss this out of hand. Please do not be so hasty. I think she's on to something important here.

1.07.2013

Atheists in the Heartland

Barn HDR
Barn HDR (Photo credit: little.tomato)

It may have been the title of Dan Denvir's article for Salon.com that first caught my attention, "There really is a war on Christmas!" However, the article's tagline is what got me thinking and inspired this post: "And it's being fought by some of the bravest atheists in the country, nonbelievers in rural areas and the heartland." No, this is not another post about Christmas or the imaginary war on Christmas. Instead, I'd like to take a look at Denvir's thesis that those wanting to find the angriest atheists will do so in small towns located throughout the central U.S. rather than in big cities on the coasts.

Here is how he put it:

Forget Hollywood and the Upper West Side. The angriest atheists are from the American heartland, where they live surrounded by the faithful.

Denvir cites Pew data from 2007 showing that rural atheists were more likely to report a conflict between the religious and non-religious than urban respondents. This is something I hadn't thought much about before, but it does make sense. Where an atheist lives, at least in terms of the implications this has for the manner in which the atheist encounters religion, probably has something to do with how the atheist feels about religion.