3.30.2013

Why I Love Zombie Jesus Weekend

Drunk Zombie Christ
"Drunk Zombie Christ" by davidgolbitz (CC BY-SA 2.0)

I have made no secret of my love for Zombie Jesus Weekend and my belief that it should be an atheist holiday. Judging by the number of zombie parades, parties, and the like, many atheists feel the same way.

I'm sure some of the fun has to do with the broader love of zombies, but I'd like to think that Zombie Jesus Weekend also provides a perfect excuse to celebrate our escape from the clutches of faith. That is what makes the holiday so perfect. It is an ideal blend of silly fun, an excuse to acknowledge how absurd the whole Jesus-returning-from-the-dead thing really is, and an opportunity to reflect on our personal journeys to atheism.

The image of a decayed Jesus corpse emerging from a tomb to munch on the brains of believers is a great metaphor. You've got the fun observation that if Jesus came back from the dead, this would make him a zombie. You've got his feasting on brains highlighting how Christianity (and faith in general) afflicts the mind. You have the spread of the zombie virus from person-to-person and the similarities it bears to the viral nature of religious belief. You have the highly resourceful nature of the holdouts - small groups of uninfected survivors banding together to oppose the infected hordes. You get the idea.

3.28.2013

An Atheist in Awe

English: Loch Awe from the A85.
Loch Awe from the A85. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Staks Rosch (Dangerous Talk) recently posted about one of the most puzzling misunderstandings some religious believers seem to have about atheists: that we do not experience every bit as much awe and wonder in our surroundings as they do. My experience has been similar to his in that I have actually found that my feelings of awe and wonder of the universe increased since I set aside god-belief. Yep, that's right. I have experienced the sense of awe some religious believers refer to as part of "spirituality" more as an atheist than I did as a Christian.

Instead of telling myself that the beauty of nature is the work of some sort of god, I am free to consider the science behind it. And while I do not assume this will be true for every atheist, I certainly feel closer to nature and in greater awe of the beauty around than I ever did as a believer.

3.26.2013

Understanding Harassment

Anti-Sexual Harassment Graffiti reading: No To...
Anti-Sexual Harassment Graffiti reading: No Touching allowed: Castration Awaits You (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The word "harassment" is being thrown around quite a bit these days in the online atheist community. I find this troubling for two reasons. First, accusations of harassment are highly inflammatory and typically lead to an abrupt end to any discussion in which they occur, followed by increased polarization by the parties involved in the discussion. When the accusations were truly warranted, this may be unavoidable; however, unwarranted accusations seem to be surprisingly common and can do real harm. Second, harassment has legal implications in that it is defined as a criminal offense in most jurisdictions. Because of this, we should exercise caution about using the term to describe all behavior we do not like and reserve it for the occasions where it is clearly appropriate (i.e., real harassment).

In this post, I will examine legal definitions of harassment, highlight the key components which appear to distinguish harassment from other objectionable behaviors, and begin to explore some of the most common accusations of harassment in the online atheist community to see what should be labeled as harassment and what should probably not.

3.24.2013

Dudebro: Do We Really Need More Gendered Slurs?

English: First reconstruction of Neanderthal m...
First reconstruction of Neanderthal man (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I saw a couple of people on Twitter recently using a term with which I was unfamiliar: dudebro. It seemed like it was being used as some sort of insult, but I was not sure. Since I was not familiar with the term, I asked about what it meant on Twitter. @16bitheretic, the author of Room Full of Crazy (update: link no longer active), informed me that "dudebro" is a term that started on gaming sites as a pejorative reference to men who play games like Call of Duty or Madden, drink beer, and engage in various pursuits associated with traditional masculinity. The term was initially used as a way of criticizing one's taste in video games.

As it was adopted by other groups outside the gaming community, "dudebro" appears to have evolved into what some describe as a gendered slur akin to characterizing men as Neanderthals. I found this fascinating, and I am grateful to @16bitheretic for the information. The next time I see the term being used online, I will have some idea what it means.

3.20.2013

Yes, We Do Make the Choice to Use the Internet

Example forum view, from PhpBB.
Example forum view, from PhpBB. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There was one comment left on my post about taking responsibility for our feelings while I was away that I wanted to address in some detail. This comment seemed to take issue with my suggestion that someone who routinely feels outraged when they spend time online might benefit from spending less time online.

I thought this was an obvious thing to suggest. If someone were to tell me that they spent the last 6 hours watching a marathon of their favorite reality TV show and that they were getting sick of it, I'd probably suggest that they take a break and do something else for a while. But I suppose this sort of solution was not nearly as obvious as I thought, at least not when it comes to the Internet.
Frankly, I find your "we are making the choice to do so" argument re: the internet to be extremely disingenuous. One might argue that people reading newspapers in the 1960s were "choosing" to do so as well. Heck, they even had to go outside to pick the paper up! The internet is the medium of communication now. It's real life. It's not a fairyland where people happen to wander into unicorns.
What I wrote certainly was not intended to be disingenuous. Yes, someone in the 1960s who read newspapers was in fact choosing to do so. Someone in the 1980s who watched television was choosing to do so. I certainly knew people in the 80s who did not own televisions even though they could have afforded to do so. And today, someone who spends time on the Internet is choosing to do so. While these statements are true, none of them gets at what I was suggesting in the post. So here's yet another stab at it.

3.06.2013

Taking Responsibility For Our Feelings

Street musician in Amsterdam
Street musician in Amsterdam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I dropped a bit of a bomb in my recent post on hurt feelings on the Internet when I wrote, "I am not saying this to be mean, but I am not responsible for how another adult feels." Because some will find this important truth to be counter-intuitive, it deserves elaboration. After explaining what I mean, I'd like to address a couple of the more common objections and then take a brief look at some of the implications this has for how we interact with one another in the online atheist community.

Who is Responsible For How You Feel?

You and you alone are responsible for how you feel. Nobody else can make you feel sad, angry, upset, or anything else without your agreement. I know we sometimes talk as if other people cause our feelings, but this is misleading.

If you insult me, I may experience feelings of sadness. My feelings are based on my understanding of our interaction and are guided by the whole of my personality and life experience. If I care what you think of me, I may feel sad; if I do not, I may not feel much of anything. It is not your insult that leads to my feelings; it is my interpretation of your insult, the meaning I assign to it, and the manner in which I put it in context. That is, how I feel following your insult is far more about me than it is about you.

3.05.2013

Problems With Jesus: The Character of the Christian God

Jesus Christ figure in London.
Jesus Christ figure in London. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Aside from some of the questionable moral teachings allegedly delivered by the Jesus figure as described in the Christian bible, I have a few problems with the assumption that such a figure existed in the first place. Fortunately, my worldview does not hinge on whether or not someone like the biblical Jesus ever existed. As a result, I am able to take a step back and look at the matter without having a great deal of emotional attachment to either possibility.

The first of my concerns with the possibility of a historical Jesus deals with the character of the Christian god, as described throughout the Old Testament of the Christian bible. In brief, sending Jesus to die for our sins has always struck me as the last thing the evil sort of god described in the Old Testament would do.

3.03.2013

Problems With Jesus: Morality and Family Values

The Portable Atheist by Christopher HitchensOne of the most common claims I have heard from Christians on the subject of morality is that the god described in the Old Testament of their bible is a very different sort of god than the figure of Jesus as described in the New Testament. This claim is typically made in response to my questions about the mass murder and other atrocities in which the Old Testament god appears to delight.

Perhaps they are right. Maybe Jesus abolished the entire Old Testament. But this possibility seems highly controversial even among Christians. After all, many seem quite eager to claim that at least some of Leviticus is still relevant today.

Even if we decided to ignore the entire Old Testament and focus only on Jesus, we find some serious problems with the sort of morality he allegedly promoted. In her brilliant essay, "If God is Dead, Is Everything Permitted?" (which can be found in in The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever), Elizabeth Anderson wrote:
Jesus tells us his mission is to make family members hate one another, so that they shall love him more than their kin (Matt. 10:35-37). He promises salvation to those who abandon their wives and children for him (Matt. 19:29, Mark 10:29-30, Luke 18-29-30). Disciples must hate their parents, siblings, wives, and children (Luke 14:26). The rod is not enough for children who curse their parents; they must be killed (Matt. 15:4-7, Mark 7:9-10, following Lev. 20:9). These are Jesus's "family values."

3.01.2013

The Importance of Self-Awareness

(You discover directly) that your own immediat...
(You discover directly) that your own immediate self-awareness is just this (and nothing else), and that it has an inherent self-clarity, which is entirely un-fabricated. (Photo credit: Wonderlane)
Is the ability to examine oneself accurately (i.e., self-awareness) part of reason, critical thinking, skepticism, or freethought? It seems to me that encouraging one another to think critically about others and examine the merits of others' arguments may not be worth much unless we are willing to do the same with ourselves. In this way, self-awareness could be thought of as a component of reason.

There is something advantageous about developing the ability and willingness to perceive ourselves as we are perceived by others. If nothing else, this should allow us to develop a greater understanding of our own strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, we might be able to make ourselves more effective in accomplishing our goals.

Back in December, I wrote a post called "Atheism and Nonconformity" in which I mentioned an experience I had in a local atheist group listening to a woman complain about her life without realizing that her behavior was almost certainly a contributing factor to many of the things about which she was complaining. I wrote:
It was not terribly long ago that I was listening to a particular atheist woman with blue hair, tattoos, and piercings share how difficult it was for her to maintain friendships here in the South because her friends typically ended the relationship once they learned of her atheism… But over a few interactions, I noticed that she was loud, domineering, self-centered, and rather rude in conversations with others… In any case, I found myself not wanting to have anything to do with her, and I am fairly confident that it was not because of her atheism.
This particular woman stopped attending the group, and it was clear that everyone else had experienced similarly negative reactions to her. She was abrasive, unpleasant to be around, and generally off-putting. Everyone was nice to her, but nobody has missed her. I had nearly forgotten about her, but I've since learned that she's been trashing the group and various people in the group on Facebook, claiming she is going to start an alternative group, etc.