Proof Of God?

Over at Debunking Christianity, John Loftus answers a question. Specifically, the question of “what would it take for you, an atheist, to believe in god?”, and the objection that in reality, our answers are all lip service, that we are closed-minded and unwilling to budge. You can go take a look at his answer, but mine is a bit different. For me, this is one of those questions better answered with another question: What would it take for you, a christian, to believe in someone else’s god?

The same evidence that should be sufficient to convince an atheist, will necessarily disconfirm some religions, given that they disagree with one another, and positively proving one of them may well violate fundamental tenets of another (come to think of it, it might support none; there may be a very real deity that every single religion gets wrong). Gods are intentionally fuzzily-defined; if they were clearly defined, they would be easy to disconfirm. Absolute proof of a specific God would be a believer’s worst nightmare! With so many options, the odds that their own god is the right one are better in the absence of evidence. Besides (he said, cynically), old habits die hard, and the habit of denying empirical evidence has a long history.

Can you imagine what the various reactions of atheists and believers might be, to the sort of evidence that would make PZ check himself into a padded cell? My version, after the jump: [Read more…]

The Predictable Comment

What a pointless waste of money!
What a frightful waste of time!
This is lame, disgusting drivel
And it isn’t worth a dime!
What a waste of a reporter
When this clearly isn’t news!
Your priorities are foolish—
Give us something we can use!
This misguided bit of effort,
Lacking substance, style, or taste,
And my time it took to read it
Are an utter, total waste!
That’s ten minutes of my lifetime
That I’ll never, now, get back,
Spent deciphering the writing
Of a clueless, brainless hack!
All this focusing on nothing
When there’s suffering and pain—
What’s the point in what you’ve written?
How does anybody gain?
You should give your unearned paycheck
To a charity, this week,
So someone else can benefit
From something, when you speak.
Editorial discretion
Means the choice was yours to make
But your choices are deplorable
This time, for goodness’ sake!
You must have though it worthy—
I, of course, must disagree
And even brain-dead idiots
Would surely side with me!

My time is very valuable;
You’ve wasted it, you know.
Without a trace of irony
I write to tell you so.

(more, after the jump–) [Read more…]

Believers, Or Story-Tellers?

Over on NPR’s 13.7 Cosmos And Culture blog, a couple of recent posts caught my eye. Marcello Gleiser, theoretical physicist (which I add, in part, to show that his expertise is not in, say, psychology or biology) writes that “To be human is to believe“:

Humans are believing animals. Perhaps that’s even a way of defining our species: we are the high-functioning primates from planet Earth who have achieved consciousness and, with it, the ability to believe.

…

We seem to be incapable of living our lives without believing that there is something bigger than us, something beyond the “merely” human. Okay, not all of us, but clearly the vast majority of humans.

Barbara King, on the other hand (Biological Anthropologist), describes us as “Homo narrans: Humans as story-tellers (and listeners)“, emphasizing “the deeply ingrained human propensity for story-telling.” (The blog post itself is brief, but King joins in the comments, which are so far removed from “comments” on, say, Fox News, that I really think they are a separate species.)

Are we believers because we are storytellers? Are we storytellers because we are believers? I suppose, in part, it’s all chickens and eggs, and the origins of this aspect of humanity doesn’t fossilize (although King suggests cave paintings as the first illustrations to stories).

My musings, after the jump: [Read more…]

A Cephalopodmas Tale

Blame PZ–he posted this. WHich reminded me of a cephalopodmas tale from long ago…

It was Cephalopodmas, and all through the blogs
Not a writer was stirring—all sleeping like logs.
Each blogosphere-dweller, from Orac to PZ
Was all bundled up and just taking it easy.
Their prone, sleeping forms, that might well have been granite
Slept through the most wonderful tale on the planet!
For all ‘cross the globe, from the oceans and seas,
All the cephalopods, just as nice as you please,
Took a break from their lurking in kelps and in corals
To visit the houses of people with morals.
(Ironic, you think? If they hadn’t been sleeping,
The bloggers would be so much happier peeping,
And witnessing all of this marvelous night.
Well, now that I write of it… next year, they might.)

(much more, after the jump:) [Read more…]

Much Ado About “Nothing”

I looked in my wallet, to take out a note—
There was someone I needed to pay.
Now, I’m used to my wallet containing just nothing,
But there’s even more nothing today

I didn’t just not have a dollar today,
I didn’t have twenty or more!
I didn’t have hundreds, I didn’t have thousands,
More nothing than ever before!

It’s not that I’m working with negative numbers,
Just zeroes, and zeroes galore!
I thought that, with zeroes, just one was enough
But I’ve zeroes today by the score!

There’s nothing—just nothing—a whole lot of nothing,
There’s nothing all over the place
Just zeroes, and zeroes, and zeroes and zeroes…
I’m lucky they take up no space.

You’d think inundation with infinite nothing
Would be a particular hell
But the thing about nothing—no matter how much—
Is that nobody really can tell.

You can double my nothing, it’s still only nothing,
At double-or-nothing the odds
And nothing is nothing, when speaking of money
Or even believing in gods.

Long, involved rant after the jump: [Read more…]

“And That’s What Christmas Is All About, Charlie Brown”

So, tonight, one of the true traditions of the season…

I’m sitting in a cozy room
With Cuttlekid and Cuttlespouse
We’re watching Charlie Brown again
As custom goes, in Cuttlehouse

It’s not the babe, it’s not the manger
Not the shining star above
I hope that Linus would approve,
But Christmas is for those we love

I have no need for heavenly host
I have no need for newborn king…
This evening spent with Charlie Brown?
I would not trade for anything.

Marriage, Doggy Style

Jason, over at Lousy Canuck, reports that the American Family Association has sounded the alarm. Gay marriage, they tell us, leads to polygamy, to men wanting to marry their car, their building, their dog. Once you’ve opened the door an inch, it’s anything goes!

And I was reminded of something I wrote a while ago, about an actual (not hypothetical) wedding between a man and a dog. Of course, in real life (as opposed to the AFA), the slippery slope does not begin with Gay Marriage–rather, the slippery slope begins with superstition and religion. If you want to find bizarre, there is no more target-rich environment than religion (with the possible exception of performance art). The story, after the jump:

[Read more…]

The War On Christmas, Explained

So it’s Christmas—my Christmas—my secular day;
The Supreme Court decided it must be that way.
As a secular holiday, Christmas can stay,
With department-store Santa Claus, there on display,
Or with Rudolph, or some other TV cliché,
And your photograph taken in front of the sleigh.

If you want, you can use this occasion to pray;
Even atheists know such behavior’s okay—
Just as long as you don’t expect me to obey,
And admit that your version of Christmas holds sway;
The establishment clause means I don’t have to play
By your rules, because every belief gets its say.

If you really think Christmas is in disarray,
That it’s war, and it’s time to make somebody pay,
Then I humbly submit, you’ve been led far astray
By some ignorant pundit who airs his dismay
By the grace of that same First Amendment that “they”
Get to hide behind, here in the U. S. of A.

***
Just noticed this one hiding in the archives. From 3 years ago.

It’s Tough To Be Christian (When Christmastime Comes)

It’s tough to be Christian, when Christmastime comes,
What with Santa, and reindeer, and elves,
With other religions, or secular folks,
And people who think for themselves

The Christian religion has changed, over time,
And it makes us all anxious as hell,
When the season arrives, and it’s not just for us,
But for other religions as well!

My neighbors are having their holiday feast
And it’s making me angry to see—
Devoutly expressing their deeply felt faith…
But a different religion than me!

The Christian majority’s under attack,
When the holidays force us to share—
We need recognition that’s Christian alone;
Without it, we don’t have a prayer.

A bit more, after the jump: [Read more…]

An Atheist Gives Thanks

So last week, I had the chance to thank, in person, the guy who saved my son’s life this year. Well, one of several people–this person was the head of the ambulance team. And I exaggerate (but not by much) to say “saved his life”, but hey, there was emergency care and a hospital stay, and lots of needles and tubes.

But I’m not thankful for any of them.

I’m thankful TO all of them. And to a great many more people over the past year. And, currently, to the makers of my migraine medicine, which is why I am going to cut this one short. Today’s verse is one of my earlier ones from the old blog, and it is, in my opinion, clunky and awkward. But it’s a Thanksgiving poem, so here it is, after the jump.
[Read more…]