Man, it’s late. I shouldn’t be blogging now. It’s way too late and I’ve had my Ambien. I probably won’t remember posting this in the morning.But today was an Atheist-heavy day for me.First, I said goodbye to my daughter as she went off to Camp Quest for a week. Man it’s hard to type well on ambien at 2AM. Anyway, she flew off by herself this time, as Hildy and I decided we needed a week to ourselves. IN past years, I’ve gone to CQ as a counselor, and I LOVED those kids, but this time I figured I needed some “wife time”, so we have a week to ourselves. My fingers keep hitting the wrong keys…So while Hildy was dropping off Rayanne at the airport (they only allow one parent to do this), I got together with Dennis Horvitz to film some Atheist Viewpoint episodes. Yup. First A/V episodes without Ellen. Weird. The good news is Dennis has experience with A/V, the bad news is he can’t be the main driver of the show due to time constraints, so the future of the viewpoint lay with me (or lies with me, I can’t tell, I’m sure Phreedm will have something to say there).We did 4 shows, and hey they sounded good. Tim will make them available on-line soon as we re-ramp-up the show website. Any suggestions for the Atheist Viewpoint TV show are welcomed. Tomorrow: Fangoria!
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How about an “atheist viewpoint” about why AA, Americans for the “myth” and all other defenders of the “myth” are silent on the more then half dozen examples of Islam being taught within our public schools…
When is an anti myth a myth? Grow up.
I and many other atheists are very vocal on Islam or any other bigoted teachings and fairy tails from being taught in schools.
I occasionally read this blog page, but I’m never sure whose pic is at the top of the page because there’s no name with it. And sometimes the articles aren’t signed either. Is the pic Peter Nuhn? I notice he writes on here a lot. Or is the pic Dave someboday? I wish it were clearly labeled – I’m confused who’s who. Or maybe I’m just not part of the “click” who all know each other.
I don’t get annoyed very easily, but I am really getting tired of the phrase “being taught in our public schools.” People use that as ammunition to prove their points on many sides of every argument. I am a history teacher in a public middle school, and have worked in many schools during my career.
The separation of church and state is, overall, very respected. (the pledge is another topic, though)
In the public schools we teach, among other things, history, current events and sociology, which includes an academic look at various religions and their impact on the world.
The well publicized cases of teachers who also happen to be religious zealots represent a miniscule percentage of teachers. Most of us are responsible about separating our own beliefs (or non-beliefs) from the classroom. The public schools are staffed by imperfect people, as is every other office or institution.
Please think before slamming the entire “public school” system. We have made tremendous progress during our short history. Look at the “public schools” around the world, and anyone can see that the American Public Schools, with all our shortcomings and expectations to rectify every problem in American society (and leave NO child behind) are very unbiased and embrace diversity in people, ideas and beliefs.
Glad to hear the Atheist Viewpoint is coming back. Since there haven’t been any new episodes posted since around October, I thought it had been cancelled.
@SunMostHigh:
It’s a picture of David Silverman.
If they’re not signed, David wrote them.
It would be nice to have Ellen Johnson’s face gracing the TV screen again. Though I am a big fan of Dennis Horvitz (“the David Letterman of the Hopelessly Damned”), I don’t look forward to week after week of gray male faces.
Are you sexist?
LOL. Why, yes…she is
The sexist ones are those who have eliminated women’s faces (and voices) from The Atheist Viewpoint.
But how clever of you, alex, to turn it around. It’s like accusing a Black person of being prejudiced against White folks. Say what?
How are the cats, Tarma?
I’ve been thinking about the idea of gratitude within atheism. I’m an atheist (probably somewhere in the neighborhood of five years). I also deal with depression and have found that one of the better antidotes (other than Wellbutrin) is to be grateful for things in my life (aka “count my blessings”). But I also think about how gratitude is discussed in our (primarily Christian) culture: grateful to god, counting one’s blessings, etc. My husband and I have this conversation / debate on an ongoing basis. (He also is an atheist). He says he has no one to be grateful to; I say you don’t need a “being” to be grateful to; you can simply “have” gratitude. What do you think? Does the idea of gratitude rub atheists the wrong way? I mean, I know I can feel gratitude without having to have permission — I just wonder if anyone has thought about it much, and what you think.
So smartgal you are a proponent of affirmative action? a person should be given their position based on their gender rather than their actions and qualifications? how very enlightened.
I know it is scary sending your kid off on a plane by herself. Way way back when, I drove my son the 8 hours to Ohio. But I had put him on a plane before when he went 3 weeks to Australia & New Zealand with People-People. Sometimes you wish there was some little Guardian Angel watching over them but then you realize that those angles sure must be doing a lousy job looking at all the injuries in the world. Camp Quest is such a wonderful experience for young people. Anybody who has kids should look at it.
Wow the viewpoint without Ellen. Maybe you could find a female Atheist in NJ that would be willing to do the program with you. The stereotype of Atheists is the mad male scientist. It is usually the woman in a household that directs the children towards religion. Seeing a mom up there makes Atheism look as American as apple pie.
Compostme,
It is entirely possible to be grateful, without being grateful *to* anyone or anything. I have found that reminding myself each day of at least one thing that I am grateful for is an excellent mood-lifter. I hope it works as well for you
smartgal
do you see women running china or russia.no because they are great nations not chump nations that need american protection,aid.
Red,
Actually we got it covered. Dennis is going to wear a wig and a dress.
Actually, he isn’t, but we can use the green screen to “make” him wear anything we want. Can you say “Pink mohawk”?
Nice to hear from PS teachers. I loved my public high school, teachers and all. Everyone was excellent to everybody (in a depressed steel town, no rich kids).
I thank the PS system for a wonderful education, unencumbered by religious muck.
reason–soooo…women only run chump nations?
Bite me
Doing quite well. Thanks for asking. They’re all female, so you’d approve.
I’m trying not to believe you’ve just erected a double-standard. Perhaps you’d like to clarify?
Dave,
Your post came out very well, considering it was under the influence of Amb!en! There’s no telling what you’ll do once that’s taken over-and you probably won’t remember any of it either.
I’ll bet Rayanne did just fine on her solo trip to camp. although that first flight by oneself can be a real nail-biter for both the kid and the parents. I suspect moreso for the parents.
I’ve never seen atheist viewpoint, since it’s not carried locally, so I don’t have an opinion either way. I was going to suggest a show explaining the removal of Ellen as Prez, but I assume that would not go over well. But there may be people out there who watch the show, but do not blog, who are wondering about it.
compostme,
The first thing that springs to mind is that your husband might want to consider being grateful for his wife’s presence. But I don’t want to intrude, I’m no psychologist.
There’s nothing wrong with being grateful. I’m grateful for my friends, family and girlfriend for loving me. I’m grateful for all sorts of other things as well. I just draw the line at anything with a heavy amount of doubt behind it.
Just look at the first definition (answer.com): “Appreciative of benefits received.” I’m having a hard time imagining someone having a problem with that feeling.
Smartgal wrote:
>The sexist ones are those who have eliminated women’s faces (and voices) from The Atheist Viewpoint.>
In my opinion, if there was a thought process in which the folks in control of the atheist viewpoint decided that no women would be allowed to participate, then that’s sexist. If, however, there was no thought processes like that involved, the fact that there were no women on the episodes that just wrapped is coincidence. The atheist viewpoint is put together by volunteers who, in my opinion, should not have to go down a gender and race checklist to make sure every possible race/gender composition is represented before they can tape a few shows. The show would never get produced if that was the case, and I for one, am happy to see it back in production.
I would love to appear on the show and there’s no doubt I’d be welcome to participate any time I chose. If I lived in NJ instead of Texas, I’d be a regular and I’m as female as they come.
Kathy
One of the many reasons why atheism should be a very strong viewpoint is how obvious it is that the Bible was not inspired by a god. Below is a letter to the editor I wrote for my local newspaper a few days ago.
There are many contradictions, errors and horrible laws in the Bible, yet many Christians promote following the teachings of this book.
Lev. 20:13 Gay men should be put to death.
Ex. 31:15 Kill anyone that has worked on a Sunday.
Ex. 21:17 Kill anyone who has ever got upset and used swear words against one of their parents.
Lev. 20:10 Kill anyone that commits adultery (adultery is defined as marrying someone that has been divorced according to Matthew 5.32)
Ex. 22:20 Destroy those that follow other religions.
Deuteronomy 17:2-7 Kill anyone with a different religion.
There are many more outrageous laws Christians are ordered to follow. All these laws are supposedly direct quotes from God and there is no mention of a time limit when the laws end. Many Christians will say that since the above laws are in the Old Testament, Christians can ignore them because Jesus came to change those old laws.
I spent a lot of time reading the Bible and I found this interesting supposed direct quote from Jesus in Matthew 5:17-19 (Ryrie Study Bible, New American Standard)
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say unto you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But, whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
This quote is very clear. Keeping and teaching the Laws of Moses should be continued and the laws should NOT be changed “until all is accomplished” and it is not clear what “until all is accomplished” means. My guess is that “all” still has not been accomplished because “all” means “all” and “all” probably includes Jesus coming back, which has not happened yet.
Why do so many Christians quote scripture from the Old Testament when they agree with what it says, but say that Jesus changed it when the Old Testament says outrageous things? Why do they use the line about Jesus changing the laws of the Old Testament when Matthew 5:17-19 clearly states that Jesus did not want to change the old laws???
Many people have suffered or been killed because of those who follow the teachings of the Bible. A human being is probably less likely to want to hurt another person unless there is a book they think comes from the word of God that tells them to kill people that have different religions or work schedules that force them to work on Sunday, etc.
I believe the Bible was not the word of a god, but just the words of ordinary men trying to accomplish the following:
*get money (10% of everyone’s money is supposed to go to the people who created and then later promoted the religion)
*dominate women: Exodus 20:17 (women are property of husband), Exodus 20:17 (rules for selling your daughter), Exodus 22:16-17 (rules for how much of a dowry to pay when a man has sex with a virgin and wants to marry her), Leviticus 19:20-22 (if a man rapes a female slave the female should be punished), Deuteronomy 22:28-29 ( rules requiring a virgin to marry the man who raped her), 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 (women should remain silent in church), Ephesians 5:22-24 (rules about how women should submit themselves to their husbands)
*to make it seem ok to have many wives (the writers of the Bible did not condemn having multiple wives in many parts of the Bible)
*get the masses to go to war to conquer new lands (the Bible has helped motivate Christians to go kill people in other lands that have different beliefs)
*to try to explain things that are probably always going to be unexplainable
What are the chances that the religion someone chooses to follow is actually truthful? Out of the thousands of religions that have been started throughout history only one could be right, and probably they are all wrong. No one really knows what created all this and what happens after we die. It is amazing how many religions are flourishing when there is so little evidence that any of them are telling the truth.
My experience has been that the more I read the Bible the more obvious it is to me that it was not inspired by a god, just written by a small group of men trying to get a religion started that would benefit them. When you read the laws in the Bible about men not getting punished for raping a woman and raped virgins being required to marry the man who raped them, does that sound like teachings from a god or laws thought up by men??
Bill Carson
From “SmartGal”
Lets put an end to the constant paranoia and gender sniveling of “Smartgal” and have the Atheist Viewpoint chock full of Atheist vaginas. That should shut her up!
Look at the options- the “jew boys” giving their faith based opinions every week or dancing girls. How about an Atheist Dominatrix to smack around Dave and Dennis- they might like it.
The latter is far less embarrassing. Might even get more people wanting to see the show
But seriously, why doesn’t the “Atheist Viewpoint” cut back on the boring repetition of the past and try using lectures from conventions, the GAMOW, highlight clips and pictures from protests, historical reviews – MMOH on TV and clips from the original Atheist Viewpoint, etc.
That should spark some creativity, new ideas, and new material until a regular show is back in production.
And “SmartGal” there are women who are sexists and blacks who are racists – so please pull your head out of your vagina and stop playing the victim.
Karen, that was the first show we did. I didn’t like how it came out, but it will be available on the viewpoint web site.