Carnival of the Godless

VJack has Carnival of the Godless #72 is up at Atheist Revolution

Your's truly has a meager post included. My first in this carnival.

Breaking the Spell of Islam: "Calling things by their name"

Ayaan Hirsi Ali calls a spade a spade with regard to Muslim terrorism and reflects that the source of their actions is Islamic doctrine. She uses the phrase, "we must break this spell [of Islam]" and she notes that the tendency to polite self-censorship does the work of the Islamic propaganda machine.

Religious delusion creates a danger for the world. How else does a doctor, trained to save lives, decide to take them as with the doctor who attempted to set of the bomb in Glasgow?

Related Links

Suspected Terrorist Dies Following Glasgow Airport Jeep Attack

Evidence of Delusion

There seems to be a preoccupation among critics of prolific atheist writers like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and, now, Christopher Hitchens for their insistence that religious belief amounts to delusion. But there are some religious followers for whom it can be said are clearly delusional:

Aaron Snyder, would-be assassin of Bill Ritter, the governor of Colorado.
Snyder, dressed in a tuxedo and sporting a “large caliber handgun,” strolled into Colorado’s state capital building with the probable intent to kill Bill Ritter. Snyder was shot dead by a State Trooper before he was able to fully execute his plan. Among Synder’s writings were notes and letters that claimed he “ruled this country for Jesus Christ” and that he is “Lord Governor of Christiendom [sic].” Synder was preoccupied with abortion and wrote several items about stopping it as “sovereign ruler.” He also wrote, “God is preparing me mentally to kill thousands of police officers.” Among the lists and notes was an “estimated expense to stop bloodshed” in which he planned, as ruler, to allocate funds: $15 million to purchase uniforms for his “Praetorian Guard,” $1.5 million for their rifles, swords and sidearms, and $25 million for tanks and armored vehicles. Clearly, Snyder was delusional. Modern tanks run about $4.5 million each, so his $25 million wouldn’t stretch far!

Snyder is an extreme case of delusion that is obviously the result of mental insanity. But what does this say about those already mentally challenged and presented with the added influence of religious delusion? The next case might speak to that:

Terry Mark Mangum, killer of a gay flight attendant.

Magnum says he murdered Kenneth Cummings because “I believe I’m Elijah out of the Bible,” and “that he was carrying out God’s judgment and “sacrificing” Cummings’ body.” Magnum believed he was doing God’s work in killing a homosexual, whose charred remains were found hidden at his grandfather’s ranch. The district attorney is seeking a hate crimes enhancement, which will affect Magnum’s ability to get parole. Cummings was loved by his family and had set up college funds for his niece and nephew before being brutally stabbed in the head by someone doing God’s work.
What does it take to send a psychopath over the edge? How does religious delusion affect the choices the psychopath or sociopath makes? Can they find justification for their anti-social and psychotic behaviors? If they believe that a magical deity, a deity they believe has ultimate authority over all mankind, wants them to kill, what’s to stop them from doing it?

Fred Phelps wants erection dedicated to Matthew Shepard

Sort of. The erection in question is a statue that would be placed in Casper's Monument Plaza that includes monuments to Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Ten Commandments and the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Phelps’ statue, however, would include a plaque that would read, “MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22” with an image of Matthew Shepard.

Does Phelps’ hatred and clearly delusional position equate to the previously mentioned Christians? He doesn’t actually kill anyone, but seems happy to have the innocent killed in the name of his God. Is it a matter of time before someone in his cult has had just a bit too much of the Kool-Aid and takes matters in their own hands? And lest we think that the Westboro Baptist Church (Phelps’ cult center) is a fluke of religious extremism, it might be healthy to realize that it is probably our nation’s religious freedom and secular principles which keep such nonsense from being codified into a theocratic state:

Jafar Kiana stoned to death for adultery in Iran

The same nation that cried foul to the U.N. a few months ago about the release of the Hollywood film, 300, saying that it unfairly depicted Persians as “barbaric” and wanted U.N. sanctions against Hollywood, CA, buried a man to his waist and murdered him by throwing stones at his exposed body. The reason: he had sex with a woman that was not his wife. The woman, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, is also sentenced to the same fate (only women are buried up to their neck before the stones are thrown). The couple had two children that are currently living with Ebrahimi in prison and Ebrahimi was thrown out of her home by her husband over two years ago. Backward-ass, delusional theocratic nutbars like Muslims following Sharia Law have no compassion for love or kindness. Their delusions go against humanist ideals and are detrimental to society.
Are the delusional Muslims, who murder in the name of Allah and call it legal under their “law” any different than the first two nutters mentioned above? Maybe. But I don’t see much difference.

Does it follow that all religion is delusional because of the few that make bad choices in the name of their Gods? Certainly not. I just want to find out if there’s anyone who will disagree with me that any of these people are delusional before moving on to defining at what point it can really be defended logically that religion is not a delusion.

More on this topic to follow in the future.

Links

Capitol gunman's notes bizarre

FACTS EXCLUSIVE: Murder suspect — I did it

Phelps Thwarted In Bid To Erect Anti-Gay Statue

Amnesty protests stoning of Iran woman

Is Religion Just a Social Program?

In Breaking the Spell, Daniel Dennett ends the book with a chapter titled, “Now What Do We Do?”, in which he poses the title question with regard to breaking the spell of religious belief. His answers focus on the continued scientific study of religion and belief and the continued examination and inquiry of religion by those interested in the phenomenon. He also advocates dialog and discussion among the religious and the non-religious. But, as informative as his book is, I think he falls short in this final chapter. What’s missing are suggestions for the non-religious to begin a process of replacing religion or at least setting religion aside as no longer needed.

In an earlier post, I described some of the hypotheses of why religion exists and why humans are so universally drawn to it in so many different flavors. In another post, I examined one of the hypotheses that describe the evolution of religion as a social institution, as presented by Robert Bellah (Five Stages of Religious Evolution). Each of these assumes that religion is a social construct of humanity, evolved to fulfill social needs.

But what if religion, in general, is just a social program of sorts? What sort of evidence would exist to support that hypothesis?

First, religion would serve to provide for the down-trodden of society –the less fortunate who cannot provide for themselves without outside assistance. Ideally, such a social program seeks to get the individual going along so that the training wheels might come off, as it were. Faith based organizations exist to provide food and shelter for the homeless, assist the addict in getting clean or sober, providing shelter for battered women, and to bring comfort, companionship and outreach to the elderly or disabled. These are, of course, just a few social services provided by faith-based organizations, and their effectiveness is debatable: some more effective than others.

Second, religion would serve to provide enhancement to the existing routines of the individual: youth outreach and mentorship; day-care and parenting skills classes; life coaching and motivational groups; counseling for marriage; etc.

Third, for religion to be considered a social program, it would include fellowship opportunities that increase community involvement. This might include pancake breakfasts, community-wide flea-markets, plays, performances, concerts, car washes, and so on.

Of course, religion provides all these services and more to the community.
I, for one, don’t believe for a moment that only religion can provide these services. But for religion to no longer be necessary, it might be required that secular organizations do a better job at replacing religion in these areas. If humanist organizations are developed to fill the need for social programs (women’s shelters, outreach for homeless & elderly, afterschool programs, etc.), this would give viable alternatives to religious organizations, allowing those dismayed with their results to choose other programs. Even five years ago, it was apparent that faith-based initiatives were not living up to their expectations:

After five years of aggressively implementing a Bush-style faith-based initiative in Texas, positive results have proven impossible to document or measure," Samantha Smoot, executive director of the Texas Freedom Network (TFN), said at an Oct. 10 Capitol Hill press conference. "Evidence points instead to a system that is unregulated, prone to favoritism and co-mingling of funds, and even dangerous to the very people it is supposed to serve." (Faith-Based Failure [AU])

Secular community involvement becomes incumbent upon secular humanists and atheists interested in seeing the influence of religious-based organizations that provide inadequate, dangerous (abstinence only programs to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa), and ineffective programs or services more interested in proselytizing or indoctrinating others in their myths or ideologies.

A List of Secular charities and services that I’ve been able to find:

1. 4H (http://www.fourhcouncil.edu/)
2. American Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp)
3. American Foundation for AIDS Research (http://www.amfar.org/)
4. Americans United for the Separation of Church & State (www.au.org)
5. Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org/)
6. Atheist Charity http://www.atheistcharity.org
7. Doctors without borders (www.doctorswithoutborders.org)
8. Earthward (http://www.earthward.org/)
9. Girl Scouts (www.girlscouts.org)
12. Heifer Project International (www.heifer.org)
13. Humane Society (www.hsus.org)
14. Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (http://www.hivos.nl/)
15. Humanitas (http://www.humanitas.nl)
16. Mama's Kitchen (http://www.mamaskitchen.org/)
17. Nature Conservancy (tnc.org)
18. Oxfam (http://www.oxfam.org/eng/)
19. Planned Parenthood (www.plannedparenthood.org)
20. Population Connection (www.populationconnection.org)
21. Public Radio (www.npr.org)
22. Rails to Trails (www.railtrails.org)
23. Red Cross (www.redcross.org)
24. Sierra Club (http://www.sierraclub.org/)
25. UNICEF (www.unicef.org/)
26. United Way? http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/6440129.htm?1c
27. V (Jim Valvano) Foundation for Cancer Research (www.jimmyv.org)
28. Women for Women International (http://www.womenforwomen.org)
29. World Wildlife Fund (www.wroldwildlife.org)
30. Zoological Society of San Diego (http://www.sandiegozoo.org/)

Alcoholism/Substance Abuse Recovery:
31. Moderation Management (www.moderation.org/)
32. Secular Organizations for Sobriety (http://www.cfiwest.org/sos)
33. SMART Recovery (www.smartrecovery.org)
34. Women for Sobriety (www.womenforsobriety.org)
 
Related Posts

Why study religion scientifically and what are we able to objectively examine

?

Five Stages of Religious Evolution

A Cool Parody of Dateline NBC: To Catch an Atheist

I'm not the only new blogger to the atheist blogosphere. That Atheist Guy's Blog has several interesting posts, beginning with June of 2007. The Friendly Atheist picked up on his parody of Dateline and that's how I found him.

It makes me wonder if the recent success of atheist books like The God Delusion and God is Not Great among others is helping inspire new bloggers on the topic of atheism, freethought, and religious skepticism. If so, this is a good thing since the more people who share their atheism and the more Christians who recognize that there are atheists among them in their families, places of business, schools, and even their circles of friends, the better.

The recent comments of PZ Myers [Pharyngula]

In regards to a map, which appeared at RichardDawkins.net, titled US Map of Faith, Myers commented:

It shows the concentration of ignorant, deluded, wicked, foolish, or oppressed
victims of obsolete mythologies in the United States, with the lighter colors being the most enlightened and the dark reds being the most repressed and misinformed. Oh, it's labeled as the frequency of religious adherents, but it's the same thing.

Myers received a lot of flak for his comments, which were probably more off-the-cuff than serious when he initially made them, but how can anyone refute them with intellectual integrity? The map itself depicted "religious adherents as a percentage of all residents,” and showed the highest percentages in dark red, lowest in light yellow.

The comments drew flak from the same atheists that tend to pussy-foot around with religion rather than confront it, but none that I saw offered a real rebuttal that went beyond the argument that we should respect others beliefs. One critic, not an atheist however, went so far as to call Myers an asshole, and stuck to the ad hominem route rather than logically refute the paragraph above. He later attempted to remove the post, but it would seem that the Scienceblogs web architecture has defeated that, since the post still remains.

Atheist Revolution has a post that deals with the finer points of the Myers quote above, but I’ll add that delusion is present among many in these regions. Moreover, a distinct lack in education correlates with many of these regions. Does religion promote lack of education or does inferior education promote religious beliefs? I suspect it’s a little of both with a feedback loop, but the correlation is obvious.

p>

Atheists are manipulating the young through their minds?

Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins, authors of the Left Behind series of Christian fiction, gave a recent interview on Belief.net in which they re-state their claim that the mythical Jesus is destined to return. During the interview, however, they had some things to say about the recent notoriety of atheistic works (Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, et al). The accusation they made was that the atheists are taking advantage of the absence of god in public schools to reach the minds of impressionable young children.

One other reason I think the atheistic books are very prevalent in America is because, for 50 years, we've expelled God from the public school. We've expelled Him from many of our places. The ACLU and other anti-God agencies have tried to eliminate God from our public square. And so people are interested in reading from people like that to support their beliefs.

The non sequitur above, which implies that the ACLU is “anti-god,” is not the only logical fallacy these two make, and it is utterly fascinating to watch these two spell-casters create false dichotomy after false dichotomy as they try to paint reason and intellect as tools of the devil, while supporting childhood indoctrination of mythology –what Dawkins refers to as amounting to child abuse. Never mind that the ACLU’s primary mission is the preservation of civil liberties. One of those being religious freedom, which means that no single cult or superstition gets to codify their doctrine as the right one or the state sponsored one. The limited thinking of Christians usually follows with comments about how they “removed prayer” from public schools, but this is, of course, complete bollocks. Prayer exists in probably every public school in the United States. Teachers just aren’t allowed to lead it, since this would be the establishment of a state religion. Prayers that adhere to a Christian superstition would exclude Muslim or Hindu cults and their superstitions, not to mention the Wiccans and their silliness.

Another passage by Lahaye, one that precedes the above quote by one paragraph is perhaps the most revealing of either Lahaye’s limited education or his willingness to deceive. A third option, of course, would be his complete and utter delusion into the fantasy he has fleshed out in his fan-fic series with Jenkins (the Left Behind series):

Did man just originate spontaneously through evolution? It's always interesting to me that atheists who can't believe in God can believe in anything else. They believe in evolution, and evolution is the biggest fairy tale in our past two centuries. And yet, there are millions of intelligent, well-educated people who believe it because they just don't want to believe that there is a God.What they don't realize is they don't want to have to give accountability to God.

Which do you suppose Lahaye really meant, “spontaneously” or “evolution?” Does he really think that evolution is spontaneous? Or is he using an intentional hyperbole to deceive those of limited intelligence who might be inclined to read his fan-fic series of Christian fantasy with credulous abandon? It’s no secret that religious fundamentalists, particularly those that get the spotlight, frequently say nonsense like the comment above which calls evolution a “fairy tale.” They bank on the fact that our nation is one with great challenges in the field of science education and that people have a limited education regarding biological sciences, chemistry, physics, archaeology, and geology. All of which have produced overwhelming evidence that evolution is a fact that can only be denied by the ignorant, the utterly deluded, or those bent on deceiving the first two. These “millions of well-educated people” have come to the realization that there is a grand deception – a spell, to quote Dennett – with regard to religious belief in the United States and that there is no longer a reason to adhere to the superstitions of Christian mythology. Why should one be accountable to a god that isn’t there?

The Left Behind series, which I have loosely referred to above as a fan-fic, is fiction. The authors make no bones about it. Bookstores shelve it in the section ironically labeled “Christian Fiction.” Indeed, the interviewers of Lahaye and Jenkins prefaced their interview with a comparison of authors to other authors of the supernatural such as Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and Dan Brown. But readers of these authors, with the possible exception of Brown, don’t accept that the supernatural as they depict it is real or that the story they tell will really occur. Harry Potter is fun to read and the imagination can truly take a vacation at Hogwart’s, but no Potter fan is expecting to attend the next Quiddich match. Lahay fans, however, truly believe that their messiah will return and that there will be a battle on earth during their lifetimes! For all intents and purposes, Left Behind is an instruction manual for the deluded!

End times theology is a widely held belief in Christian mythology and that so many people believe that “the End,” or the “rapture” will occur in their lifetimes is a serious threat to reason and society. What reason, would one have to conserve the environment or leave a sustainable future for one’s descendants if the End is near? Why shouldn’t political decisions also reflect the delusion that Israel is a holy land and that the people of Israel are the chosen people of God? Believers in End Times (or those that are willing to cater to them) would be biased against any Middle East solution that would fail to consider this.

In their latest book of the series, Kingdom Come, Lahaye and Jenkins attack reason and the intellectual as tools of Satan. Clearly a message to their deluded followers that they should avoid reason and intellect –avoid thinking for themselves – since these are tricks of Satan. As religious dogmas go, Christianity is one that you have to admire when it comes to its self-inoculating ability. Christians are frequently quoting scriptures like, “the fool hath said in his hear there is no God” (Psa. 14:1) and “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). The reward offered through Christian mythology is, likewise, an inoculation against doubt since it provides “eternal life” (Rom. 6:23) for believing in “one God” (Jam. 2:19).

When asked if reason is dangerous, Lahaye responds:

Yes, reason without God. You show me two people with brilliant minds. If one believes in God and has a respect for almighty God, he can be like a Louis Pasteur or a Sir Isaac Newton or one of the many Christians who were scientists and contributed greatly to the well being of the world. Or, they can be like
Karl Marx or Sigmund Freud or many of the others who hated God or were ambivalent about God, just had no time for Him or His word, and they went their own way.We're living in a society where you have the wisdom of men on one hand and the wisdom of God on the other. Bible-free reasoning is going to lead you to one decision, [and] a Satan-filled [mind] or an empty vacuum is going to be contrary to that.

Christians often cite early scientists for their religious beliefs, in spite of the fact that few had any sort of choice. We may never know what scientists like Pasteur may have really thought about religion. We know he was a Roman Catholic and that he commented that religion and science were compatible, as did many of his scientific contemporaries. But how much of this is his attempts to justify his scientific pursuits with the Church that controlled so much of society? We know that Newton was religious and wrote much on the topic, but we also know that this brilliant mind had an obsession with alchemy and with finding “hidden messages” in the Bible.

What’s interesting in Lahaye’s comments above, however, is the false dichotomy and non sequitur he creates with his association of atheism with Satanism. The intent is clear: to associate atheists and their intellectual arguments with the work of the Christian deity of evil (Satan). “Bible-free reasoning” is likened with a “Satan-filled mind” and thus, the Christian should avoid thinking any thoughts that might question the spell cast by Biblical doctrine. The less educated the believer is, the easier it is to keep them inoculated.