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POPSMilitary Makes Mincemeat of Church-State Separation--Oh, JEEBUS!
Military Makes Mincemeat of Church-State Separation This is nothing new to Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and a former Air Force judge advocate general who also served in the Rea-gan administration. Weinstein says that he has collected nearly 8,000 complaints, mostly from Christian members of the military tired of being force-fed a narrow brand of evangelical fundamentalism. Weinstein, who co-wrote the book With God on Our Side: One Man’s War Against an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military, has documented how the ranks of our military have been infiltrated by members of the Officers’ Christian Fellowship and other similar organizations. On its Web site, the OCF makes no secret of its mission, which is to ”raise up a godly military” by enlisting ”ambassadors for Christ in uniform.” Weinstein says OCF recruitment is easy in a strict command-subordinate military where the implied message is: If you don’t pray the right way, your career might
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POPSFreedom for All Because of the nationwide special privilege that Christians have come to expect this type of discrimination is common place.
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POPSFacts Do Matter For those Fundamentalists that insist that atheists choose not to believe so they can live a life of debauchery and decadence.
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POPSA Rational Review One can hope that Ben Stein can now be laid to rest as a fraud, a liar, and a snake oil salesman. One would also hope that the mental health profession would lend their services and have counselors on hand after viewing this drivel to reintroduce the viewers gently back to reality.
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POPSBigotry in Illinois Far from being unique, this latest outburst is simply one of the loudest. There is a wide spread prejudice against non-theists in the US that to a large degree is condoned by a large portion of the population. It's only when the bigots become shrill and irrational, like Rep. Davis did, that it becomes news. Maybe this could be a good thing. It brings it out in the open.
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POPSEinstein's Idea Of Religion A crucial point is that Einstein stated categorically that he did not believe in a personal God, of the kind assumed by most practising religious people. Einstein detested the idea of a personal God who rewarded or punished his creatures, or exercised his will by interfering in events. He felt such an idea was intrinsically connected with human selfishness, merely 'a reflection of human frailty' So what was Einstein's religion? He called it 'cosmic religion' and it was a sense of awe at 'the nobility and marvellous order which are revealed in nature and in the world of thought.. Einstein's view of traditional religion was somewhat ambivalent. He detested any idea of indoctrination or fundamentalism, but admitted that conventional religions had a role in setting ethical standards
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POPSThe blog post that wouldn't die I want to talk about atheists and anger. This has been a hard piece to write, and it may be a hard one to read. I'm not going to be as polite and good-tempered as I usually am in this blog; this piece is about anger, and for once I'm going to fucking well let myself be angry. But I think it's important. One of the most common criticisms lobbed at the newly-vocal atheist community is, "Why do you have to be so angry?" So I want to talk about: 1. Why atheists are angry; 2. Why our anger is valid, valuable, and necessary; And 3. Why it's completely fucked-up to try to take our anger away from us. So let's start with why we're angry. Or rather -- because this is my blog and I don't presume to speak for all atheists -- why I'm angry.<< http://gretachristina.typepad.com/
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POPSthe top 10 least religious countries The survey concluded that "high levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita income, and gender equality. In some societies, particularly Europe, atheism is growing. However, throughout much of the world -- particularly nations with high birth rates -- atheism is barely discernable."
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POPSReligious Tests? Once again we're presented with examples of outright bigoted prejudice. Perhaps not surprising if it was put forth from a stereotypical Nascar dad but from a contender to the presidency it seems a bit out of line.
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POPSChris Hedges: (I) Don't Believe (in) Atheists The bestselling author of The New Fascists speaks out against religious and secular fundamentalism as he explores the New Atheists: those who attack religion to advance the worst of global capitalism, intolerance and imperial projects. Hedges claims that those who have placed blind faith in the morally neutral disciplines of reason and science create idols in their own image — a sin for either side of the spectrum. He makes an impassioned, intelligent case against religious and secular fundamentalism, which seeks to divide the world into those worthy of moral and intellectual consideration and those who should be condemned, silenced and eradicated. Hedges shatters the new atheists' assault against religion in America, and in doing so, makes way for new, moderate voices to join the debate. This is a book that must be read to understand the state of the battle about faith. ISBN: 9781416567950 Author: Hedges, Chris Publisher: Free Press
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POPS18 Unconvincing Arguments for God A student asked what would convince me that God exists? I named a few miracles that would at least convince me that something supernatural exists. But the question stuck in my mind and I naturally began to think of what wouldn’t convince me. Thus, if the goal of these students was to evangelize an atheist, it seemed perfectly appropriate that I give them a list of what wouldn’t work, so they could creatively come up with some new arguments, as their class title suggests. I meant this to be educational and in no way condescending, and that is how I hope the students perceive my presentation.
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POPSReligion and Abortion This article makes a cogent argument that religion actually promotes abortions rather than diminishes them. Link to full article for more info.
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POPSAtheist soldier suing Army for discrimination Well, it is probable that this is all a part of the radical religious right and their agenda, but I've got no evidence of any conspiracy or anything. Still, it seems the folks at Fort Riley had a political agenda, at least according to the lawsuit. And I'm not seeing denials about that.
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