Scott's Case Files

An Amazing Atheist Post

I was totally blown away reading this post at Greta Christina's Blog.  All the frustration that I feel as an atheist but have been unable to put into words in one place...she's done it.  It's all there.  It's amazing.  It makes alot of sense.  I have to say that I couldn't find a single part that I couldn't agree with.

Here's a quick snippet that I've wanted to shout out loud myself:

"I'm angry that so many believers treat prayer as a sort of cosmic shopping list for God. I'm angry that believers pray to win sporting events, poker hands, beauty pageants, and more. As if they were the center of the universe, as if God gives a shit about who wins the NCAA Final Four -- and as if the other teams/ players/ contestants weren't praying just as hard."

I really will be posting some of my very own thoughts and experiences soon, but these past couple posts from other bloggers really hit the spot, so to say.

Let Them Be Soldiers

I've seen alot of controversy over soldiers and deployments to war zones and whatnot.  In the various wars lately there's been a call to "bring our children/wives/husbands/whatnot" home by the civilian relatives of soldiers.

Though it's not the politically correct stance, and one that I think that many who have never served don't comprehend, I say let them be soldiers and carry out the oath that they swore when they were inducted.  They will come back when their superiors allow them.  And, though war may not be popular and the reasons for it may not be good ones in any given person's opinion, understand that it may very well be that the military and the various intelligence agencies see a bigger picture than you do.  Even if the obvious reason for the recent wars was over oil, is it not possible that there is indeed something deeper going on than you and I are aware of?  Is there a bigger picture that you couldn't even dream of seeing?

As to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines out there you need to let them do what they've sworn, been trained, and ordered to do - whatever that may be.  It is dangerous out there and even those who make it through may very well carry emotional scars for the rest of their lives.  This is, however, what they knowingly signed up for.  You aren't trained to fire a rifle to shoot at targets and knock down cans - you're trained to kill enemy soldiers.  You don't wear camouflage to look cool - you wear it in hopes that your enemies won't be able to do to you what THEY have been trained for.

If taking an objective requires, or will inevitably result in, the deaths of American soldiers, so be it.  That's their job, if necessary.

To any military folks reading this blog, please know that you have my utmost respect.  While I never saw combat when I was in the Navy, I was in serious danger more than a few times and at times am surprised that I am here today.  I know that even that cannot compare to being on the front lines and I only hope that my commentary does not come off as patronizing.  You have a hard, dangerous, underpaid, and unappreciated duty and yet you perform it to the best of your abilities even in the face of your own mortality.  How few would willingly do what you do.  Please take my commentary in the vein that I believe that not allowing you to do as you have sworn would insult that oath and anything that you believe it stands for as well as insulting your maturity and integrity in swearing it in the first place.

Way of the Master: A Study In Logic

In writing out my post the other day, I decided to watch some Way of the Master (WotM) clips to refresh my memory.  I watch the show every now and again, but never had the time like in the clip to take it apart.  These guys are good!  Good, that is, at breaking rules of logic to make their arguments.  Now, don't get me wrong - it's not like it hasn't been done before by much more reputed sources.  Read some Plato and you'll see his representation of the teachings of Socrates do much the same, really.

They are crafty, though.

Take for example an argument from their Atheist show:  Can you say that there is no gold in China?  Well, unless you are able to look under every rock, have dug under every bit of it, and looked everywhere period and not found gold you can't say that there is no gold there for certain.  But if you find one chunk of gold in China (even if that is the only chunk) you can say with certainty that there is gold in China.  So, therefore, unless you know everything you can't say that there is no god.  But if you see any bit of evidence at all for god, you can say with certainty that he does exist.

So let's imagine this dialogue:

Scott: There is a Santa Claus.

WotM: No, there isn't.

Scott: *repeats gold argument from above*  So you've been to the North Pole and looked around every inch of it, have you?  When were you there last?

WotM: I've never been to the North Pole but I know there is no Santa Claus.  He's a myth made up for children.  It's a fairy tale and nothing more.  Such magical creatures don't exist.  And flying reindeer?  Don't get me started!

Scott: Well, since you don't have omniscient knowledge of the goings on at the North Pole, you can't say that he doesn't live there with absolute certainty.  I, however, have seen proof of him - gifts under my Christmas tree every December 25th!

WotM: Your parents put them there.  Here's your mom's credit card receipt that clearly shows that she bought you the life-sized Captain Picard statue and your other Christmas presents.

Scott: No, they definitely come from Santa.

WotM: Just because you see presents under a tree and assume that a supernatural entity put them there because you can't accept evidence to the contrary doesn't mean that Santa exists.

Scott: EXACTLY!

As you can see, the problem is that gold being in the ground somewhere and the existance of god (or for that matter the existance of Santa) aren't things that share common attributes that can be aptly compared.  See the continuation for more fallacies in WotM.

No Nightmare Here

When you watch this even the steadfastly religious amongst you may think that this is a parody of Creationism, but it is in fact a clip from Way of the Master (hosted by the freak Kirk Cameron) entitled "The Atheist's Nightmare."  I have to say that this clip is not in any way similar to my actual nightmares, nor is their claim difficult at all to refute.  The argument here is that because a banana fits "perfectly" into the human hand, god obviously exists.  That's like saying the fact that humans fit just right into an alligator mouth proves that there is a god (alligators have to eat too, right?).  Or does god not exist because grapefruit do not fit into your hand?

I don't mind shows educating people in religion, even though most present arguments that make me feel jabbing sensations in my brain.  The fact is that they believe that you have to have a certain set of beliefs and moral habits to avoid an eternal, painful stay in hell.  Though I don't share those beliefs - at all - these non-profit groups that put on these shows are pretty admirable in my opinion.  They're doing what they can, at no profit to themselves, using what is obviously the definition of a shoestring budget to see that as many as possible enter their heaven (as far as their beliefs tell them).

Enter Way of the Master - take a nice, close look and you'll see a seriously commercial site.  I called up their customer service line and found that, though the site doesn't say so, Living Waters Publications is a non-profit organization.  My problem with it is that, non-profit or not, Salvation has a price-tag here.  Though you can get some free stuff from the site, they make no bones about the fact that you could really help yourselves better (assuring your place in heaven) if you just bought their products.  Products that they could just as easily put online for free.  Books in PDF format, tapes in MP3.  Are you telling me that there aren't uncountable numbers of churches or other Christian organizations that would gladly foot the bill to put on the (relatively low-budget) show and maintain the site, allowing them to present this "vital" information free of charge to the both budding and long-standing Christians?  Come on!

Needing A Star Trek State Of Mind

One of my favorite bloggers, Wil Wheaton, posted about something that I've given quite a bit of thought to over the years - the Star Trek mindset.  Bear with me a minute here...

Here we are on planet Earth.  As far as we know for absolute positive we're the only sentient life alive in the universe today.  Throughout our history we've carved invisible lines in the ground and called them borders.  We've killed for those invisible lines.  We've killed people with different beliefs than ourselves - we call them infidels and heathens.  We've gone to war over the political systems of other countries for fear of being infected with those ideals.  We still identify each other as "White" and "Black" and elsewise.  We dread Mondays because no matter how interesting our job is, there's something else we'd rather be doing for a living.

Now enter the Star Trek state of mind.  We're just one world amongst thousands - we, as humans, are not the center of the universe and all existence.  We still draw invisible lines but they're drawn over the space of light years (and our end goal is that there be no lines).  Even if you took an hour to study each belief system in the universe, you'd be studying until a nearby star collapsed on itself...so we accept that all belief systems have equal value.  We do fear other political systems, so we draw those invisible lines so that we don't have to fight.  "Race" is recognized as a man-made thing (which it is, for the record) - the color of a person's skin seems insignificant when you interact with people who aren't even bipedal on a daily basis.  We go to work gladly and money doesn't really exist for all intents and purposes - everyone's job is the where they really want to be and they're dedicated to it.

Imagine living in that Star Trek state of mind...

Libertyville - The Irony

Liberty:

1. The condition of being free from restriction or control.

2. The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing.

My buddy The Bratmeister pointed out THIS article, commenting on the irony of the city's name and it's school board's decision.  Basically, the school board of the city of Libertyville, Illinois has voted unanimously that the schools require those who participate in sports or other extracarricular activities in the school sign a pledge agreeing that "evidence of 'illegal or inappropriate' behavior posted on the Internet could be grounds for disciplinary action."

Holy...crap.

Domestic Spying - Are You Scared YET?

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

- Benjamin Franklin

A few years ago, in the wake of 9/11, Bush tried to create a citizen spy network going by the name Operation TIPS.  The goal of this operation was to recruit 1 in 24 American citizens to be domestic spies and report on their fellow citizens.  Any citizen could apply do be part of the operation, but the best applicants would be those that had access to homes in the course of their jobs.  I've looked up the links on this one and it looks like the operation crashed and burned, or at least went less public with it's recruiting and aims (scary).  The Nazi Gestapo used a similar system, their citizen spies called V-men.

The Patriot Act kicked in and has been misused in every way possible.  I've posted on this a while ago, so I won't go over this much again.  Suffice it to say that, in essence, the Act has allowed the American government to rob people of their civil rights without question and without an oversight group to counter a decision made by an agency acting under it's guise.

Then there's Echelon, which technically may or may not exist.  But let's face it, it does.  Your Emails and faxes are being monitored for key-words and the data stored.

And now our phone records.

Is it just me or is the government becoming more of an autonomous beast than it ever has been in the past?  That is to say, do you feel like no matter who you elect, what you protest, who you write, or what you do the government has it's own plan and will follow it no matter what?  And this plan involves slowly edging away our civil liberties and freedoms.  Whenever I hear the National Anthem, inwardly I cringe these days.  "O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave."  Hm.  Not really anymore.  We're the land of the monitored and the home of the accepting.

Are we really that far away from someone in the government reading this blog post, making a call, having the door of TypePad kicked down, and both me and my blog disappeared?  I know a slippery slope argument is not logical...but we aren't a land of freedoms anymore and haven't been for a very long time.  We aren't what we once were or would like to be.  Our liberties and rights are being eroded every day and at the end of that day there's not much that any of us can do about it.  That's troubling to me.

As much as I think that the present day American militias don't have their priorities straight and have more than a few screws loose, they do remember another good quote from a Founding Father:

"Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master!"

- Thomas Jefferson

Patty Followup

Patty, Patty, Patty.  Even though I knew it was coming it still cracks me up to see it.  After most of the civilized world slammed Pat Robertson for his claim of divine retribution on Sharon and then Israel kicked him out of a deal to create a theme park in the holy land he of course apologized.  You can check out the article HERE.

As truly amusing and entertaining as I find Patty, I can't see how a single person in the world could respect him.  He follows the party line at every turn.  It's one thing to make an outrageous comment and stick to your guns - even if you're a moron there's something to be said for saying your piece and sticking to what you believe in.  It's another thing to make an outrageous comment and if people like it stick to it and if people don't like it to retract it.  If anything Robertson is famous now for the ludicrous comment followed soon thereafter by public criticism and a retraction on his part.

This all wouldn't be at the level of despicable if it weren't so obvious that his motivation for this retraction was based on him being kicked out of the deal to erect Jesusland, a religious theme park in Israel.  Other Christian leaders are still included, but Robertson's contribution is no longer welcome.  So he's losing money.  As if televangelists and their ilk weren't already so obviously in it for the money, Robertson seals the deal...

Patty, Patty, Patty

I just can't help myself - have to post about this one.

I've been saying it for years.  The 700 Club is probably the best show that an Atheist can watch to really reinforce their beliefs.  And Pat Robertson just never fails to come through for me.  This guy cracks me up.  His claims and statements are generally so incredulous that they freak out even his co-anchors.  Here's a good one: "Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."  Um, yeah...right.  I'm sure that Patty would prefer that women learn there place, which is of course in the kitchen and as far away from voting booths as possible.

His latest claim is that Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's stroke is retribution from god for dividing the holy lands.  Gotta love it.  If Sharon had gotten a speeding ticket or had a bad golf day, Patty would probably have claimed divine retribution there as well.  That's the thing, I believe, that The Bible has lent to people like Patty - it's written so vaguely and open for interpretation that you can make it into anything you want it to be.  So Sharon's stroke was god's punishment, apparently.  Is everyone that gets a stroke being punished by god or is it more likely that the stroke victim just liked eating fatty foods for their whole life?  Even Biblically, bad things happen to good people - read the book of Job.  Are you going to second guess god?  I mean, really, don't pervert your sacred religion to make your own points and further your own ends.  I'm not even Christian and I'm insulted.  Patty has his own political stance and agenda and I don't think either is very Christian, as I understand it.

I'd be interested to hear how any Christian readers feel about Patty as well as his statement about Sharon.  So feel free - I promise no flames or rebuttals.  I just want to hear opinions from the other side of the fence.

Narnia Is Just A Story These Days

As I discussed with my buds on the last guy's weekend I cannot claim to respect my friends' religious beliefs and then present my own Atheist beliefs on this blog or elsewhere which are in direct opposition to those beliefs in the fashion that I do.  It's not right.  So, except in special circumstances (as I deem them), I'm going with an "Ask me about my beliefs and I'll tell you, but remember that you asked when I do tell you" philosophy on that.  So if I'm curious about something, I'll ask and take what answers you give and respect those and I expect a reciprocal attitude coming my way.

That said, I'm going to do some commentary here about Christianity in general which doesn't break the philosophy above.  It's just my observations.

So there's an intriguing column HERE about how "a Newsweek poll found 67 percent of Americans believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, and 82 percent believe Jesus is the Son of God" and yet, incredulously, the American film industry shies away from religious messages and whatnot in its product.  The Narnia Chronicles were written by C.S. Lewis who was amongst other things a Christian philosopher, though most are more familiar with his Chronicles.  Indeed, there are some Christian metaphors and general messages throughout the story.  But Disney affirms that it is not a religious movie.

See the Continuation for more...