Vividly, lividly,
Atheist Ireland
Points to Hibernia’s
Atheist list
Notes that their teaching is
Antihistorical;
Gives them the notice to
Cease and desist.
I just love a good, well-deserved, metaphorical arse-kicking. After the jump: [Read more…]
So in my travels here and there around the internet, I ran across “Five Problems with Atheism“, written by a “Spiritual Traveller”. Seems a nice enough person, just pointing out some ways to perhaps heal the rift between believers and atheists, by pointing out some things atheists get wrong:
[T]here are some fundamental problems with atheism. I’m not nailing these five thesis to the door of a church, because there isn’t one. That isn’t the problem. There are problems with atheism a wider view could possibly bridge, or at least decrease the polarity between atheists and non-atheists. These persuasions are intended to reach across the aisle of a doorless structure.
Again, I see he has the best of intentions. But the way I see it, what he sees as problems, I see as misunderstandings on his part. Understandable mistakes, but mistakes nonetheless. I’m sure he did not intend to insult atheists, and I write in the same sense of open communication, with no malice aimed at the Spiritual Traveller. continues… [Read more…]
Once, a low, disgusting man
Who believed he knew God’s plan
And whose prejudice was nothing less than sinister;
Gave his honest Christian views
To the people in the news
He’s the Reverend Bryan Griem—and he’s a minister.
(rest of the ballad–and a bit of a rant–after the jump) [Read more…]
I get the strangest things showing up on my computer to read. Most recently, a Rhode Island bishop wrote a piece entitled “the sterile life of the everyday atheist”. Because it’s not enough that celibate men know all about women’s reproductive rights, these highly religious, didn’t-just-drink-the-Kool-Aid-but-mixed-the-batch-up believers know all about what it must be like to be an atheist. I think the position of authority has gone to his fevered noggin; he actually thinks he has an opinion worth reading. I’ve already answered him, in the links; turns out there is a Cuttleverse for nearly every occasion! [Read more…]
Comment, on a Yahoo News story on a FoxNews debate about the presence or removal of Tacky Jesus on Big Mountain:
If the statue is removed, then technically there will be an invisible statue to atheism standing in its place. Why should atheism get special treatment?
Salvador Dali created a scene
With “Invisible Bust of Voltaire”
The viewer can see it as plain as the day
But the truth is, no sculpture is there
Invisible statues may come and may go
But of course, we can never quite see ‘em
They seem to be lacking in matter and mass
So they can’t clutter up a museum.
An artist may sculpt an invisible piece
As a tribute to negative space
With a negative body, and negative limbs
And a negative head and a face
And having so done, could display it, of course,
Though I really don’t know why you’d do it—
The time and the effort, the planning and thought,
And the public just walks the hell through it!
Invisible statues hold meaning for some
While others just wish they would go—
Which brings up a question I’m dying to ask:
If it disappeared, how would you know?
I also want to ask her–if I remove the invisible statue to atheism, what remains in its place?
I guess the good news is that the vast majority of the universe, technically, is an invisible statue to atheism. Makes me feel a little better about all those red dots.
According to a report by CBS Los Angeles, the upcoming Day of Solidarity for Black Non-Believers is ruffling some feathers:
The event set for Feb. 26 is part of an ad campaign by African Americans For Humanism (AAH) planned in Los Angeles and five other major U.S. cities targeting African-Americans who have privately or openly questioned their faith.
The ads are already fueling controversy in Dallas as the campaign made its debut Monday with a billboard reading, “Doubts about religion? You’re one of many.” erected within one mile of several area churches.
(continues after the jump, of course:) [Read more…]
You can cheer for New England
You can cheer for New York
You can tailgate with hot dogs
Whether kosher or pork
It’s a clash of the titans
And it can’t be denied
One team or the other
Will have god on their side
You can watch from the sidelines
You can watch on TV
Or ignore it completely
Doesn’t matter to me
There are hundreds of millions
Who are watching world-wide
To find out which franchise
Has god on their side
An airplane is flying
It’s towing a sign
Saying “Football beats church”
It’s a lovely design
And it sends quite a message
To the people who tried
To pretend they were playing
With god on their side
And we’ll watch the commercials
And we might watch the game
One team or the other
Well, it works out the same
There’s no real advantage
I’m forced to confide
Cos the banner says neither
Has god on their side
Some day, in the future,
Whether distant or near
On some Super Bowl Sunday
It’ll all be so clear
Though there won’t be a tactic
Or a prayer left untried
Still, neither team ends up
With god on their side.
Dear Joseph G. Murray,
I tell you, I worry;
I think something’s wrong with your eyes.
That you see what you see
Is a marvel to me,
And I write to express my surprise:
The saddest part, it seems to you
Is Jessica’s outdated view
Of what a god’s supposed to do,
Like answering one’s prayer;
Instead of wanting mother healed
You want, instead, the girl to yield
To love, which was in Christ revealed—
He taught us all to care.
You saw this as the saddest part
You felt it, deep within your heart—
I urge you, sir; I urge you, start
To simply look around
The Cranston Christians also prayed
The lawsuit would be turned, or stayed,
That Jessie’s feelings would be swayed
And compromise be found
And finding none, with no regrets
Began to issue taunts and threats,
And urged themselves to action: “Let’s
Make Jessica regret!
We pray that God His will compel,
We’ll use the press to mock as well,
And hope she wants to burn in hell
Cos that is what she’ll get!”
God will not bend to our request
It is enough that we are blessed
Through us, God’s love may be expressed;
It is a Christian’s job!
If Christ is, as you say, enough—
There is no need to ask for stuff—
Then, Mr. Murray, please rebuff
The Cranston Christian mob!
Bit of a rant, after the jump: [Read more…]
I want to live where this guy lives.
(I saved a screen shot, in case the site corrects the misspellings.)
Every house without a steeple, every hill without a cross
Every airplane, every car, and every boat
Every lack of iconography just leaves me at a loss
As the godless shove their world-view down my throat.
There’s a steeple at St. Mary’s and the church just down the block;
From the hill, there’s twenty crosses you can note
But the larger space between them leaves me shuddering in shock
As the godless shove their world-view down my throat.
They won’t let me keep the banner
They won’t let me lead school prayer
They won’t let me build a crèche at City Hall
They won’t let me say that marriage
Doesn’t mean a same-sex pair
They won’t let me do most anything at all!
Though there’s god upon my money, and there’s god inside the pledge
Which the little kids recite each day by rote
In their art, or math, or science class, an atheistic wedge
As the godless shove their world-view down my throat
For the record, what he’s feeling is the tiniest reeling in of massive Christian Privilege.
Funny thing, perspective. The same comment can be seen as good or bad, support or refutation, because of all the often-unsaid baggage that the speaker or writer attaches to that comment.
In our discussions of de Botton’s proposed tower (btw, de Botton sounds far more reasonable in Kylie’s new interview than he has been portrayed in the media), one quote kept getting mentioned (in three different languages, actually): “Si monumentum requiris, circumspice.” Atheists apparently see more beauty in the real world than in any temple we might construct. Or that’s how we viewed that quote, anyway. This morning, though, I saw another point of view (after the jump): [Read more…]