americanatheists

Check out this article from the link to the title of this posting. And be sure to check out the video at the bottom and Emma, the president of the Student Workers at this Boulder CO high school.I have my own take on this pledge and prayer business. I went to school prior to the Supreme Court cases on prayer in the 60s. When ordered to pray, every student I knew just ignored the process as well as with the pledge. Children are subject to reverse psychology. Tell them they have to do something and they won’t do it for hell or high water. Tell them they can’t do something and try to stop them from doing it. If you want kids to pray, like those little no-neck monsters in Texas, then sue the school system to stop them from praying. If you want to protect kids from proselytizing then order them to pray all day long. They will do everything but that.One other note: This is the same high school where the US Secret Service questioned the principle and teacher three years ago because a group of high school students were planning to enter a talent contest by singing the 1963 Bob Dylan song “Masters of War”. Somehow the Secret Service got into their confused little minds that Bob Dylan was writing about GW Bush back in 1963 when he wrote the song. Peter Nuhn

Happy Mythology day!Tomorrow is the only “American holiday” that has no relationship to Christianity, but DOES have a relationship to a different religion (Paganism). Those nasty pagan roots irk the fundies, so they protest, so now there are “Harvest festivals” around town, and Haloween is somehow evolving. OK.If we are going to adapt Haloween, I vote for “Myth Day”, so we can all dress up as our famous mythological character. Guess who I’m going as!See you at “The Holidays”!

http://www.atheists.org/nogodblog/index.php/2006/03/12/atheist_classifiedsThis is a free service for the blog — Post your services here — and patronize each other!Personal Plug — Space and Time Magazine is now available at Barnes and Noble. It’s a 40-year-old Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Horror magazine that my wife and I own. Please buy an issue at a B&N near you or on-line at Amazon.

The decline in American pride, patriotism, and piety can be directly attributed to the extensive reading of so-called ’science fiction’ by our young people. This poisonous rot about creatures not of God’s making, societies of ‘aliens’ without a good Christian among them, and raw sex between unhuman beings with three heads and God alone knows what sort of reproductive apparatus keeps our young people from realizing the true will of God.” – Jerry Falwell, “Can Our Young People Find God in the Pages of Trashy Magazines? No, Of Course Not!”, Reader’s Digest, Aug. 1985:142-157

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=NSPJHT4BQROMVQFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/10/24/wpio124.xml

Padre Pio, Italy’s most-loved saint, faked his stigmata by pouring carbolic acid on his hands, according to a new book.The Other Christ: Padre Pio and 19th Century Italy, by the historian Sergio Luzzatto, draws on a document found in the Vatican’s archive.The document reveals the testimony of a pharmacist who said that the young Padre Pio bought four grams of carbolic acid in 1919. “I was an admirer of Padre Pio and I met him for the first time on 31 July 1919,” wrote Maria De Vito. She claimed to have spent a month with the priest in the southern town of San Giovanni Rotondo, seeing him often.”Padre Pio called me to him in complete secrecy and telling me not to tell his fellow brothers, he gave me personally an empty bottle, and asked if I would act as a chauffeur to transport it back from Foggia to San Giovanni Rotondo with four grams of pure carbolic acid.”He explained that the acid was for disinfecting syringes for injections. He also asked for other things, such as Valda pastilles.”The testimony was originally presented to the Vatican by the Archbishop of Manfredonia, Pasquale Gagliardi, as proof that Padre Pio caused his own stigmata with acid.It was examined by the Holy See during the beatification process of Padre Pio and apparently dismissed.Padre Pio, whose real name was Francesco Forgione, died in 1968. He was made a saint in 2002. A recent survey in Italy showed that more people prayed to him than to Jesus or the Virgin Mary. He exhibited stigmata throughout his life, starting in 1911.The new allegations were greeted with an instant dismissal from his supporters. The Catholic Anti-Defamation League said Mr Luzzatto was a liar and was “spreading anti-Catholic libels”.Pietro Siffi, the president of the League, said: “We would like to remind Mr Luzzatto that according to Catholic doctrine, canonisation carries with it papal infallibility.“We would like to suggest to Mr Luzzatto that he dedicates his energies to studying religion properly.”

Not really.But a good ol’ congrats to the Bosox. I used to be a fan, but then I left the sport after the-incident-that-shall-not-be-mentioned.Now, all of a sudden, the sox are world champs AGAIN, and the pats are undefeated AGAIN. What’s next — an Atheist president?

Ben Stein’s Movie:

Ben Stein, the lovable, monotone teacher from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “The Wonder Years” is back in the classroom in a major motion picture release slated for February 2008. But this time, the actor will be on the big screen asking one of life’s biggest questions: “Were we designed, or are we simply the end result of an ancient mud puddle struck by lightning?” That’s right. Evolution ? and the explosive debate over its virtual monopoly on America’s public school classrooms ? is the focus of the film “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.” In the movie, Stein, who is also a lawyer, economist, former presidential speechwriter, author and social commentator, is stunned by what he discovers ? an elitist scientific establishment that has traded in its skepticism for dogma. Even worse, say publicists for the feature film, “along the way, Stein uncovers a long line of biologists, astronomers, chemists and philosophers who have had their reputations destroyed and their careers ruined by a scientific establishment that allows absolutely no dissent from Charles Darwin’s theory of random mutation and natural selection.”

This stuff is so ignorant it makes me sick –and I feel guilty for liking his shows. Didn’t Mr. Stein once apologize for an “Atheist in Foxholes” remark?And here’s the other side:http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp The Golden Compass stars Nicole Kidman and is supposedly anti-theistic. I don’t believe it, but The Catholic League hates it so it must be valid.

Twenty-one wins in twenty-two games. An improbable run to the World Series. One of the hottest streaks to end a season in the history of the game. And not two pitchers the average fan could even name. Ladies and gents, your Colorado Rockies: a team performing what even an atheist could call a baseball miracle. And “miracle” is an appropriate term for a team that riled the baseball world last year by claiming that filling the dugout with Christian players would grease the skids to greatness. Dave Zirin

They even proselytize at the baseball stadium in Colorado. They even held a “Christian Family Day” changed to “Faith Day” to be more inclusive but still held at a publicly funded baseball stadium. Does this mean they pray throughout the seventh inning stretch in Denver?I just can’t believe that people are so ignorant as to put up with this constant in your face hypocrisy. I’m tired of it. Aren’t you yet?Peter Nuhn

http://www.tkc.edu/debate/ Here’s a great debate with Chris Hitchens. I HATE the ontological argument — it’s so silly and absurd.

Basically Anselm argues that God is, by definition, a being than which no greater can be conceived. But if God is such a being, he must exist. Why? Because if it didn’t, then he would be a being than which a greater could be conceived.

OK some quick points about this stupid word-game.1) Even this argument has changed since Anslem, now only talking about a “logically consistent” being (eliminating the whole “can he make something so big he cannot lift it” question). SO we now only talk about a being that is logically consistent with the universe. 2) BUT the universe is imperfect! Short life spans, disease, natural disasters — this is imperfect. It is logically inconsistent that a perfect being would create this imperfect universe. Therefore (drumroll please) the being is imperfect (either by will or competence).3) Therefore, the NONEXISTENT being is more perfect than the existent being, since the nonexistent being has no responsibility for an imperfect universe. THIS IS THE KEY TO THE ARGUMENT — and an ontological proof that a perfect being does NOT exist. Capice?Now I have a headache.

A Milwaukee anti-abortionist pastor named Matt Trewhella is blaming the California wildfires on the fact that California’s governor signed into law a law that outlaws school curriculum from discriminating against gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals or transgender students.I think the California wildfires should be blamed on Blackwater. They just moved into San Diego and are building a compound there and I think the invisible wizard in the sky really hates the deaths in Iraq and the mercenaries killing people for money as well as engaging in extraordinary rendition and torture around the world.Is god upset about gays or torture? Maybe the investigations into arson will answer the question. But like Trewhella said in his email: “I won’t be holding my breath.”Peter Nuhn

(Oct. 23) – What would appear like an easy stop at ‘The Tonight Show’ promoting her new film has turned into a PR nightmare for Halle Berry . The Oscar-winning actress went onto Jay Leno’s show to talk about her latest movie, the drama ‘Things We Lost in the Fire.’ Page Six reports that during the interview, Leno showed the audience manipulated photos of the actress created with the Apple Photo Booth application. One image showed Berry with an elongated nose. An audience member says that Berry quipped “‘Here’s where I look like my Jewish cousin,” which was greeted with crickets from the studio audience. Leno tried to save the moment, saying “‘I’m glad you said that and not me.” On the final show that aired Friday night, Berry’s comment was edited out. Berry spoke with Page Six to explain herself and apologize. “I so didn’t mean to offend anybody, and after the show I realized it could be seen as offensive, so I asked Jay to take it out, and he did.”

And, from the world of overreaction, we have Jay Leno editing out a legitimately funny joke, not because of the backlash, but out of the FEAR of backlash.I’m glad that no Jewish orgs have complained (I think), but still… Did they have to panic over such a small joke? Do they think the Jews would have been THAT bothered? Would they have been?This kind of stuff is silly. We have to worry about Jewish nose jokes, N-words on stage, and drawings of Muhammed, but we ignore the real problems of ALL Americans losing Constitutional freedoms every time we pay higher taxes so churches pay none. We must be prepared to make people understand the difference between silly political correctness and real bigotry.By the way, Arabs have big noses too.