It’s that time of year again for people to cast their votes in the New Humanist magazine’s Bad Faith award. Last year’s winner was Sarah Palin, who’ll win this time around?
Ladies and gentleman, the time has come. For months now, nominations have been pouring in for those most deserving of our prestigious Bad Faith Award, presented each year to the person deemed to have made the most outstanding contribution to the cause of unreason.
To all my readers,
After my latest post concerning matters of religion and my assertion that "pro life" and "pro family" are misnomers, I received positive feedback from half a dozen people in various channels, rude emails from over ten people, and two comments here that included so many profanities and nothing of value I did what I thought I would never do here and decided not to publish them.
People obviously have heartfelt opinions on these issues and many are willing to discuss them in constructive ways, but a disproportionate number seem to be unable to post without resorting to ad hominum attacks on my character. To be blunt, I couldn’t be bothered dealing with these any more.
I am a proudly a humanist atheist and may on occasion relay some interesting sites I find here, but I will no longer be creating new posts from scratch about such material. If you have been offended by posts about religion I’ve posted here, believe me when I say it was not my intention and I apologise.
I’m looking forward to the day when I can have frank and honest discussions about religion and faith without being insulted by religious conservatives or being labelled intolerant by social liberals whom I identify with on virtually everything else. Clearly this time has not yet come.
If you came to my blog here expecting such material, I encourage you to click over to RichardDawkins.net, SamHarris.org, the Skeptics Annotated Bible, the Out Campaign and of course the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Searches for Russel’s Teapot, Occam’s Razor, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, humanism and secularism will also (to borrow a phrase) set you on the right path.
Sincerely,
Ruben
I was reading a book
Well maybe it was a magazine
Suggestions on where to place faith
Suggestions on what to believeBut I read somewhere that you’ve got to beware
You can’t believe anything you read
But the good book is good and that’s well understood
So don’t even question
If you know what I meanBut it’s all relative even if we don’t understand
And it’s all understood especially when we don’t understand
And it’s all just because
Even if we don’t understand then let’s all just believe~ Jack Johnson, "It’s All Understood"
Common sense, we hardly knew thee…
I’m well aware these observations have been made by many rational people before, but I’m just putting them on the record here too.
Everybody has the right to choose what they believe, but that doesn’t mean we should reject common sense. If certain religious beliefs (and conspiracy theories too while we’re at it) are hindering social, moral, scientific and medical progress, it’s time to review them. I know enough moderate religious people who agree with me on this to know it’s possible.
My last attempt at a post like this generated more hate mail than any I’ve ever had before. Hey, as long as people are thinking about these issues I’m (as I always say) cautiously optimistic :-).
I seem to be having trouble with Google Reader this afternoon, it won’t let me comment on stories (perhaps it’s frustrated I haven’t cooked a grilled cheese sandwich in a few days). So instead I’m posting the story summaries here and commenting on them with Clipmarky goodness!
RichardDawkins.net: Bloomington Rejects ‘You Can Be Good Without God’; Lawsuit Underway
Bloomington was first on the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign’s list of places it hoped to run bus ads. However, the city has rejected our campaign’s slogan, ‘You Can Be Good Without God.’ This is deeply disappointing to our campaign’s members; we all love Bloomington and were very much hoping to run ads in our hometown along with many other cities.
I have a hard time believing that faith in Gods is a nesissary precondition to being good. In fact, I’d wager more than a few grilled sandwiches that people who don’t believe are often more moral because they’re not just doing things for a divine reward or because they’re afraid of the divine Hell punishment if they don’t, they’re moral because they they know it’s the right thing to do.
Conversely, I have a hard time believing my religious friends who are moral, honest and caring people would regress into immoral, nasty people if religion disappeared, or that they’re only friendly people because they’re religious. It’s an insult to their character.
What I find interesting is that Christianity uses the threat of everlasting Hell to scare people into believing, but Judaism doesn’t: at least not in the same sense. When I was really studying religion a few years ago I was told that the closest the Jewish faith has to a Hell is "Gehenna" which is more akin to purgatory or a waiting area where wicked people are sent for a definite period of time, measured in months. Judaism also has what I would consider an enlightened, almost Buddhist philosophy that hell is also a mental state where the feelings of shame you have is the punishment itself. I don’t believe in the Jewish faith as much as I don’t believe in any other for the reasons I’ve stated many times here, but it’s an interesting observation.
Now I really am going to Hell aren’t I? ^_^
Epicurus bust at the Louvre
Ever since my coming out as an atheist and subsequent family events that were made more complex by religion, I’ve been posting occasionally on the topic on Twitter and on my blog here; some have supported me, most have sent hate mail! I find it ironic that some religious people feel they have a right to post comments about their faith, but if agnostics or atheists do the same thing we’re being rude. Ah well, you can’t win them all!
In the years since this self realisation I’ve come to think the term "atheist" is a bit too narrow, and with the automatic angry knee jerk reaction so many religious people seem to have when they see the term, I’ve been looking into others. Think of it as a philosophical quest to save my arse.
For example, as an atheist I assert there has never been sufficient scientific or empirical evidence produced to rationally believe in deities; as an antitheist I believe the religions themselves are the problem given they can be interpreted in so many ways and that the perceived benefits of religions pale in comparison to the corrosive effects on politics and medicine they’re having around the world; as a scientist I reject the disproved and implausible (if not completely impossible) theories of young earth creationism and intelligent design, as well as the stories of Noah’s Ark and so on.
With all this combined, I just feel as though if as much time, money and effort was accorded to real people instead, the world would be a better place. I know there almost certainly isn’t a God or an afterlife, so the best moral guides we have are the universal golden rule, and instead of waiting for a Heaven, we should be trying to create it here.
As it turns out, there is a school of thought that thinks like all of the above, and it’s called humanism. When I read the first paragraph on Wikipedia about it, I felt like leaping out of my computer chair and shouting Eureka!
Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal human qualities, particularly rationality, without resorting to the supernatural or alleged divine authority from religious texts.
The article goes on to explain how morals should evolve and be derived from social necessity not rigid texts:
Humanism can be considered as a process by which truth and morality is sought through human investigation; as such, views on morals can change when new knowledge and information is discovered. In focusing on the capacity for self-determination, humanism rejects transcendental justifications, such as a dependence on faith, the supernatural, or texts of allegedly divine origin.
I also really related to this one line under the Knowledge subheading:
In demanding that humans avoid blindly accepting unsupported beliefs, [humanism] supports scientific skepticism and the scientific method, rejecting authoritarianism and extreme skepticism, and rendering faith an unacceptable basis for action.
I’m usually not a fan of labels because they tend to oversimplify people’s beliefs and views on a subject, but I feel proud identifying myself as a humanist now. It just surprises me that a movement like this has existed for so long and that is identical to my own views and beliefs, and I didn’t really know about it!
It’s also relieving in a way to discover there are other people out there who share my views. I feel much less isolated today.
It’s been a while since I filled in another of these LivingSocial Top Five lists I’ve grown so attached to, so this afternoon I created and filled in a new list entitled My Favourite Heathen Tomes!" I figure at best only a few billion people follow each of the major religions meaning the majority of the people on Earth will be going to Hell including me, so there’s no point trying to work against it right? ^_^
If you’ve been displaying the Scarlet A with pride on your website, I noticed recently that there’s a new so called "fancy version" with a metallic gradient you can use now instead of the previous solid colour. Looking at it on my site with mostly dark colours I think the previous one suited it better, but for the sake of something different I’ve switched. Hard hitting stuff!
For those I’ve lost, check out The OUT Campaign.
As for the devil smiling? Let’s just say I’m being realistic about my future prospects!
Does your
religion offer all this?
- “We are about Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Reality!”
- “Our values are based on Humanism rather than a fictional holy book”
- “We provide a sense of purpose about who we are, why we exist, and how we live our lives. We do so in the context of science and logic.”
- “Welcome to the Real World.”
Hi! I'm Ruben Schade and this is my labour of love blog from beautiful Singapore and Sydney.
I also lurk on Twitter, Flickr, Google Reader and lots more places.
