Yesterday I caught wind of a news story which made me cringe. In Bay Minette Ala. There is a new program for Non-violent, first offenders that gives them the choice between time in jail, and a year of church attendance. The justification they proposed was just as ridiculous, they decided that sending first offenders to church would give them the moral outline that they seemed to be missing. As if the only place to get your morality was in church. Not only is that completely incorrect, but it clearly violates the first amendment. By giving them the choice between a correctional facility and a church places them on equal ground and gives the impression that the state endorses church attendance.
The defense provided to this criticism was that it was completely up to the offender which choice they went with. REALLY?!! Olivia Turner of the ACLU puts it simply, “There isn’t a real choice here,” she said. “This policy completely entangles government with religion, and is an abuse of power because it coerces people into religious exercise.”
It's not a real choice, I as an atheist would choose to go to church, because if I do they will DISMISS my case. There should be, in my opinion, a third choice. That is a secular program including counseling, and other support.
In short, we don't need fairy tales to fix people. Religion does not provide morals, they are a product of our social nature as a species. The main point though is that it is a violation of church state separation.
IT NEEDS TO END.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Interesting statistics.
I find it of particular interest to look at the poll which I put on the left hand side of my blog. It was a simple question of belief in a god or gods. What I find quite interesting about it is the fact that the percentages of people who said yes or no are almost identical to several studies I have looked at.
Approximately 15-20 percent of people in America do not associate with any particular religion and either do not believe that there is a god, or they do not know. An overwhelming number of participants in this study professed to being Christian. Of course Christian in this instance is used as a blanket term to include the many differing sects. There was a small remainder who were of other faiths, within a few percent.
Bring this up because it is something that theists bring up quite often. It is a clear logical fallacy known as an appeal to popularity. There are several situations I'm sure we have all come across at some point that deal with this in some way. Maybe as a teenager some of us wanted to go to a party, or participate in some activity, and our parents said no. Inevitably it seems the response is "But everyone else is going!" and the rebuttal I'm sure we all heard, "if all of them jumped off of a bridge....".
We know that just because there are lots of people who believe that we never went to the moon does not make it true. It is the same with religion. The idea that just because lots of people read and accept the bible makes it somehow more credible is just as crazy.
On a smaller scale we can still see this, "my parents believe it, and i trust them, so it is probably true.". This is very similar to 80% of a population believing, but is different on an emotional level. It may be difficult for some to have different beliefs than their parents because of some of the potential emotional consequences. That still does not make it true.
My only advice then is to look at it for yourself and think critically of even what I say. It is up to you to discover what you really believe is true. Not a populace, not an authority, just you.
ATHENS
Approximately 15-20 percent of people in America do not associate with any particular religion and either do not believe that there is a god, or they do not know. An overwhelming number of participants in this study professed to being Christian. Of course Christian in this instance is used as a blanket term to include the many differing sects. There was a small remainder who were of other faiths, within a few percent.
Bring this up because it is something that theists bring up quite often. It is a clear logical fallacy known as an appeal to popularity. There are several situations I'm sure we have all come across at some point that deal with this in some way. Maybe as a teenager some of us wanted to go to a party, or participate in some activity, and our parents said no. Inevitably it seems the response is "But everyone else is going!" and the rebuttal I'm sure we all heard, "if all of them jumped off of a bridge....".
We know that just because there are lots of people who believe that we never went to the moon does not make it true. It is the same with religion. The idea that just because lots of people read and accept the bible makes it somehow more credible is just as crazy.
On a smaller scale we can still see this, "my parents believe it, and i trust them, so it is probably true.". This is very similar to 80% of a population believing, but is different on an emotional level. It may be difficult for some to have different beliefs than their parents because of some of the potential emotional consequences. That still does not make it true.
My only advice then is to look at it for yourself and think critically of even what I say. It is up to you to discover what you really believe is true. Not a populace, not an authority, just you.
ATHENS
Friday, September 23, 2011
Hello!!
I am an award winning robot designer, I have worked in nanotechnology, I have beaten chessmasters and won tournaments. So I am a bit of a Nerd. I have some awesome parents,two brothers and a sister. I love to have fun with my buddies and just hang out. I am happy with the way things are.
My name is Athens, and im an atheist.
I am sure you have seen an ad either on youtube or elsewhere on the internet that was just like this. The only difference being that they are videos made by Mormons. That is why I chose the format that I did. I am an ex-mormon, I grew up in a mormon home with mormon parents and friends, and everything that they taught I took for truth.
Indoctrination is very heavy and clever in the mormon church, you grow up singing songs such as "jesus wants me for a sunbeam" among others, and are taught never to question the leaders of the church. As a child you are encouraged to get up on the podium and tell people that you believe in the church, the prophets, god, and that it is the only true church on earth.
The key to my escape was skepticism. I was first a magician/con-artist, then I was a chess player, then I was a skeptic, then I was an atheist. The magician/con-artist angle really helped me to see that sometimes the coin has heads on both sides, I learned how and why people will trick you into believing something. Becoming a chess player helped me to realize that I needed to analyze not just one or two paths, or ways of thinking, but all of them. Skepticism about things like homeopathy and other ridiculous claims helped me to cement in my mind what is required to determine what is real. My atheism springs from those things. It is not a choice to disbelieve. I cannot bring myself to believe it without real evidence.
That is a brief history of my de-conversion, as some call it, and I will be using this blog to talk about issues that relate to religion which affect everyone. People act on their beliefs, and sometimes they need to be brought into discussion and debated. There are two sides to a fair coin, and I am on the other side.
Fair warning though.. I may be especially harsh on mormons, but MORE harsh on morons.
ATHENS.
My name is Athens, and im an atheist.
I am sure you have seen an ad either on youtube or elsewhere on the internet that was just like this. The only difference being that they are videos made by Mormons. That is why I chose the format that I did. I am an ex-mormon, I grew up in a mormon home with mormon parents and friends, and everything that they taught I took for truth.
Indoctrination is very heavy and clever in the mormon church, you grow up singing songs such as "jesus wants me for a sunbeam" among others, and are taught never to question the leaders of the church. As a child you are encouraged to get up on the podium and tell people that you believe in the church, the prophets, god, and that it is the only true church on earth.
The key to my escape was skepticism. I was first a magician/con-artist, then I was a chess player, then I was a skeptic, then I was an atheist. The magician/con-artist angle really helped me to see that sometimes the coin has heads on both sides, I learned how and why people will trick you into believing something. Becoming a chess player helped me to realize that I needed to analyze not just one or two paths, or ways of thinking, but all of them. Skepticism about things like homeopathy and other ridiculous claims helped me to cement in my mind what is required to determine what is real. My atheism springs from those things. It is not a choice to disbelieve. I cannot bring myself to believe it without real evidence.
That is a brief history of my de-conversion, as some call it, and I will be using this blog to talk about issues that relate to religion which affect everyone. People act on their beliefs, and sometimes they need to be brought into discussion and debated. There are two sides to a fair coin, and I am on the other side.
Fair warning though.. I may be especially harsh on mormons, but MORE harsh on morons.
ATHENS.
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