There’s no reason to cry or to pout
But in case you retain any doubt
Let me make it quite clear:
I invited you here
For the purpose of kicking you out.
Headline:Eric Bolling Boots Atheist Off His Show For ‘Denigrating The Name Of Jesus Christ’
Pity the atheist, bitter and cold,
Who simply refuses to look
Ignoring the beautiful things to be found
In the pages of one special book.
Pity the atheist’s closed little mind
Which denies any mention of God
Where faithful see castles, and streets paved with gold,
He sees nothing but hollow facade. (continues after the jump…) [Read more…]
The charity of atheists has been in the news a bit, after the tremendous generosity shown toward Doctors Without Borders recently (I link to the Montreal Gazette story because they identify the group as “Atheist redditors”, whereas the Reuters story used the identifier “Irreverent atheists”, despite the fact that the story made no mention of irreverence as a meaningful variable…)
So if you missed out on that chance, and are looking for a charity to support, I’ve got one here that’s good as Gold. It is Gold, actually:
My name is Gold. I’m from Christchurch, New Zealand but currently live in Wellington. I’m planning on travelling a bit and everything I own currently fits on my back. I’m a web developer with a particular focus on Drupal. Despite losing an old school friend after the Feb 22nd quakes in Christchurch I still consider the place home and want to do something to help. I’m at a point in my life where it’s the right time to do that.
I have some friends in common with Gold, and have shared a small handful of emails with him, and he strikes me as the sort of person who leads with his heart. He saw the earthquake devastation in Christchurch firsthand, and could not sit back and do nothing. So if you’re looking to give…There are three separate charities Gold is raising money for. Take a look.
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…]
I tried on a new piece of clothing
It was fuzzy and silken and red
It looked quite a lot like a sweater
But there wasn’t a hole for my head.
I struggled to put it on anyway,
But no matter what angle I tried
My arms found their sleeves without problem,
But my head stayed completely inside.
There’s something that’s wrong with this picture
And I’m quite at a loss, what to do—
So I talked to the guy at the counter…
He suggested I try it in blue.
It may be the style, or the fashion
But it keeps me from using my head
So instead of just wishing it fit me
I’ll try something different instead.
I dreamed last night, of termites—big and nasty, black and red—
They poured out from a shoebox and they crawled beneath my bed
A sea of bulbous bodies that was looking for their queen
I dreamed, last night, of termites; what the blazes could that mean?
I (perhaps fortunately) remember my dreams only very rarely. This one was just…icky. Fortunately, I (usually) don’t have to torture myself trying to figure out what my dreams mean, cos they just fade away. I did have one once that I spent three days convincing myself was just a dream.
What’s the strangest dream you’ve ever had? And no, it doesn’t have to A) mean anything, or B) rhyme. (reminds me, I did dream an entire dream in ballad form once, in high school.)
The days have grown shorter; the nights have grown longer—
Our spirits are weaker, and have to grow stronger
We think we’re all right, but we couldn’t be wronger
It’s Christmas—it’s time to beware!
The Krampus is coming—he’s horribly scary!
His job is quite simple; he’s coming to carry
Bad children away, so we’d better be wary
And only go out if you dare!
More, after the jump: [Read more…]
Our story needs some punching up—perhaps a pithy quote—
But there’s no one here to interview—well, none of any note.
Could we maybe find an activist to share his point of view?
Oh, but one would be unbalanced, so we’d better look for two.
Yes, the more extreme, the better, cos we really need the scoop,
And it doesn’t really matter if it’s just a splinter group—
Just as long as they’re identified by something in their name
We can pretty much be certain that their views are all the same.
So extremists show up everywhere to share extremist views
And it’s “wingnut versus wingnut” as a substitute for news.
Context, after the jump: [Read more…]
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…]
Looks like something the FtB community might enjoy–CNN’s iReport people are collecting our stories, the stories of “A holiday season without religion”. I’ve already submitted An Atheist’s Christmas, which (amusingly) was already seen by one commenter as an attack.
Anyway, increased visibility, a spectrum of atheist christmases, is a positive step toward increased acceptance. So, yeah, go tell the world about your atheist holiday season, whether you celebrate something or not. As of this posting, there are 189 stories up.