Archive for July, 2008

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Dear Procrustes, I’m going to kill you!

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

Dear Procrustes,

You are a moron, with your liberal anti-Christian views, and you’d better shut your site down, or I’m going to find you and your family and I’m going to crack your skull with a baseball bat and mutilate your family.

Signed,
Hypothetical

Yes, fortunately this is still a hypothetical situation for me, but it’s certainly real enough for a number of rational activists out there, including, fairly recently, PZ Myers, a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris, who blogs at Pharyngula.1 On July 13, PZ Myers received an email with the subject line: “your short life.” The sender went on to state that if PZ Myers did not cease and desist his job (for the sake of his children), the PZ Myers would get his “brains beat in.”2

I’m not going to bother addressing the fact that someone who purports to follow a higher spiritual code is threatening the life of someone (and his kids) who follows a code of reason. Instead, I’d like to cite a few more examples, and then ask the readers if anyone else has had similar experiences, what have they done in those situations, and what can be done if we ever find ourselves in such a situation.

Before I jump into other examples, I’ll give some closure to the PZ Myers issue. First of all, PZ Myers made it quite clear that he reserved the right to post any emails (in full, with metadata) that contain threats of violence. What, pray tell, must have someone endured to require such a disclaimer! Word got around, and AIGBusted, from Answers in Genesis Busted, sent an email to the threatener’s employer3 (since the email threat was sent from a work address). It turns out that the threatener, Melanie Kroll, who, ironically, worked for 1-800-Flowers, was fired over the matter.4 Although it’s unknown how many readers possibly sent similar emails, AIGBusted appropriately feels no guilt over the firing. “I don’t feel guilty about reporting her. I think it is important for atheists to realize that large numbers of us wield a fair amount of power in these situations.”5

Apparently that is true. We have shown that we have the ability to do more than just sit idly by, wondering how valid a threat is. But how many of us (and by us, I mean anyone in the non-believing, rational, atheist, etc., community) are actually being threatened, how consistently, and, most importantly, how viable are these threats?

Where to begin? Of course, with the blog post that prompted Melanie Kroll’s threat.

July 12, 2008:
PZ Myers wrote, in a blog entry: “Christian Lunatics Issue Death Threats Over a Cracker… Unlike those nutty Muslims who are always taking offense over cartoons, these people have serious grievances.” And went on to describe and criticize the overreaction by the Catholics, media, and others, to Webster Cook’s forcible removal of The Body of Christ from a church.6 Accused of having “kidnapped” the equivalent of Jesus Christ, Cook began receiving death threats shortly after the media exploded the issue beyond repair, and PZ Myers, in turn, received a death threat for reporting about it. (Yes, I’m anxiously anticipating my day in the sniper scope.)

July 17, 2007:

Professors in Colorado Receive Death Threats for Teaching Evolution
Letters from a Christian extremist last week threatened the lives of evolution biology professors at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The letters claimed to be on behalf of a group, but newspapers and at least one blog have reported that an individual, Michael Korn, a Jew-turned-Christian extremist, is likely behind the threats (an image from his web site is at right). CU police spokesman Brad Wiesley told me they haven’t officially named a suspect but the Colorado Daily wrote that others “close to the case” named Korn.7

July 7, 2007:
J.K. Rowling announces the end of her beloved Harry Potter series of books, indicating that although it was a wonderful experience for her, there was a darker side to writing something Christians didn’t agree with: “Rowling says her success has been “the experience of a lifetime.” But it also has brought an intense level of pressure, scrutiny and criticism. In the United States, her book tours have attracted thousands of screaming children, but also death threats. Some Christians have called for the books to be banned, claiming they promote witchcraft.”8

March 28, 2008:
“Popular video site LiveLeak have been forced to remove the controversial film critical of Islam FITNA [by Geert Wilders9] after it received death threats from primitive, violent intolerant muslims.”10 Both Geert Wilders and some LiveLeak staff received a variety of threats of death and violence.

July, 2008:
Army Spc. Jeremy Hall’s “sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety.”11

June, 2002:
Michael Newdow, a TIME Person of the Week, received multiple death threats for his attempt to challenge the constitutionality of the “under God” phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance, which was recited every morning at his daughter’s public school. 12 (As a side note, I met Mr. Newdow during that time period, and heard him discuss his various issues. He has also advocated for the removal of “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency,13 and he has won the Freethought Hero Award.14 )

October, 2006:
Robert Redeker is “a writer and high school philosophy teacher who has been under police protection and in hiding with his family since the newspaper Le Figaro published his op-ed piece about Islam on Sept.19. Entitled “Faced with Islamist intimidations, what should the free world do?”" “Redeker writes that he and his family are being forced to move every two days. “I’m a homeless person,” he complains. “I exercised a constitutional right, and I’m being punished for it right here on the territory of the Republic.” Redeker is only the latest in a lengthening list of Europeans who have been subjected to death threats from Muslims outraged by criticism of their faith and prophet.”15

1988:
Salman Rushdie had a fatwa issued against him for his publication of The Satanic Verses.16

November, 2004:
Mohammed Bouyeri shot Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film director and critic of Islam, eight times, killing him, and then nearly decapitated him by cutting his throat. Then Bouyeri stabbed van Gogh in the chest. A few weeks prior to the murder, Imam Fawaz of the as-Sunnah Mosque in The Hague gave a sermon, calling van Gogh a “criminal bastard” and beseeching Allah to inflict an incurable disease upon him. 17

These examples are frightening and real, and they can all be Googled rather easily. But are the numbers of threats against the rational much higher? Have you ever received a threat of violence, death, or other retaliatory act for something you’ve done or that you’ve believed in? Please share!

If you’ve received a threat, did you take it seriously? How did you react to it? (did you reply, post the message, contact the authorities?) Regardless of whether you’ve received a threat, do you have any advice or suggestions for those who do?

Is this a trend we should be worried about?

  1. Pharyngula, “Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal.” http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/ [<]
  2. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/mail_dump.php [<]
  3. Did I Get a Woman Fired? Answers in Genesis Busted. http://aigbusted.blogspot.com/2008/07/did-i-get-woman-fired.html [<]
  4. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/071608-woman-fired-over-death-threat.html [<]
  5. http://aigbusted.blogspot.com/2008/07/did-i-get-woman-fired.html [<]
  6. Christian Lunatics Issue Death Threats Over a Cracker, AlterNet. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/91269/ [<]
  7. Professors in Colorado Receive Death Threats for Teaching Evolution, Wired.com. http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/07/professors-in-c.html [<]
  8. Rowling bids her boy wizard goodbye, USATODAY.com. http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-07-19-rowling-potter_N.htm [<]
  9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Wilders [<]
  10. LiveLeak Remove “Fitna” After Death Threats, GBG Atheist News. http://godbegone.blogspot.com/2008/03/liveleak-remove-fitna-after-death.html [<]
  11. Atheist soldier sues Army for ‘unconstitutional’ discrimination, CNN.com. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/07/08/atheist.soldier/index.html [<]
  12. Person of the Week: Michael Newdow. http://www.time.com/time/pow/article/0,8599,266658,00.html [<]
  13. Michael Newdow’s “In God We Trust” Lawsuit Dismissed, Austin’s Atheism Blog. http://atheism.about.com/b/2006/06/13/michael-newdows-in-god-we-trust-lawsuit-dismissed.htm [<]
  14. Freethought Hero Award, Freedom From Religion Foundation. http://ffrf.org/awards/special/2004_newdow.php [<]
  15. Did a Critic of Islam Go Too Far?, TIME.com. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1541776,00.html?cnn=yes [<]
  16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie [<]
  17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_%28film_director%29 [<]

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Posted in Atheism, Morality, Religion | 3 Comments »

We Need 3000 Sean Tevises

Monday, July 21st, 2008

Look up rational activism in the encyclopedia, and you should find Sean Tevis. If not, slip his bio in there.

Sean Tevis

Last week (on or about July 16), Sean created a web page with some stick-figure action figures resembling Frank Miller’s “300.” These stick figures were yelling something about how the Internet could change the face of political history. Well, it did, and it’s still going strong.

Arlen Siegfreid is a Kansas state representative, a right-wing conservative who is anti-abortion, pro-censorship, anti-same-sex marriage, pro-surveillance, and pro-creationism (in public schools). Although Representative Siegfreid seems a shoe-in for the next election, Sean, a non-politician “Information Architect,” wants to run against him.

With a common sense platform, mostly designed to oppose Siegfreid, Sean readied himself to play the political race game, until he stumbled upon a hurdle that would seem insurmountable for most would-be activists: he needed name recognition cash. According to Sean’s entertaining stick-figured explanation of the situation, 93.4% of the time it’s the candidate with the most advertising money who wins an election. It’s mid-July, and Sean asks, “How much do I need?” The verdict: $26,000. By July 28.

Game over, man! Game over!

No, not for Sean! See, Sean is an educated man. Sean knew that it would require 52 donors, donating $500 each, to meet his goal. However, having spent some time learning basic math in school, Sean figured that he could reduce the amount of individual donations required by increasing the number of donors. Brilliant! Reminds me of the idea I had as a child to send a letter to every resident of the U.S., asking for them to send me a dollar each. I’d have been a millionaire for sure! Except that I wasn’t so great at math, and I didn’t account for the fact that it would actually cost me money to send those letters, and I would have to offset any earnings made by the cost of those letters, and I wasn’t guaranteed to get any money. Even if half of the U.S. sent me a dollar, I’d still end up with a negative return. But, as Sean says, This is the Internet!

Instead of trying to find a handful of very generous donors, Sean would seek out great gobs of very slightly generous donors, via the Internet, which is practically free.

His goal was to acquire 3000 donors, donating $8.34 each.

He drew his stick-figure story, and posted his request website page, with a little button link to donate via PayPal. He even listed the basic campaign finance rules and a list of perks for higher than requested donations (campaign t-shirts, coffee mugs, and Kansas flags, among them).

And then he waited. (I’m sure the waiting involved a bit of “alerting the press”)

BoingBoing (one of my favorite must-visit-daily websites), and a few others got the word. I got the word from BB, and spread it to the Atheist Think Tank forum. I monitored Sean’s website, watching the donors increase slowly. I was getting worried. When I first started watching, he had only acquired a hundred or so. But, probably because of all the latency created by the flood of visitors to his website, I was likely not seeing what was really happening. My forum friends informed me that they had either donated or that the website was sluggish. We started passing out Sean’s direct email so that we could donate via PayPal without going through his website. We sat and watched and cheered and rallied. And, apparently, so did a hell of a lot of others.

And today, July 21, the number of donors is 5,298.

That’s five-thousand, two hundred and ninety-eight donors.

Screw 3000, make 6000!

Apparently no state representative in Kansas history has ever had more than 644 donors.

WIN!1

But you know what has gotten me really excited about all this? It’s not Sean Tevis specifically, although I think he’s established himself as a hero. It’s that this has given us an example of how we can use our resources to make progressive change, to rally against the incumbents who want to tell us that the way to live our lives must conform to their twisted ideologies. It shows us that there are people out there who give a shit, and although they might not all individually be able to stand up and fight, they sure can click a button and send a real representative a few bucks to help do something about this strangulation we’re enduring. And that representative can do what needs to be done without worrying about not being related to an oil tycoon. If you want to phrase that in popular terminology (that, in its spiritual sense, doesn’t necessarily correspond to my rational belief system, but is a close enough word), it gives us rationals some hope.

Sean Tevis needed 3000 of us to help him kick some ass.

What we need is 3000 Sean Tevises.

[Update: At the end of July, Sean had nearly $100,000 in donations. According to his Weblog, he's made more money than his opponent, and since his money hasn't come from lobbyists, he's not tied down by promises that would shaft the voters. Great job, Sean!]

First, go visit Sean Tevis by clicking these words, and see what he’s done, and maybe donate a little.

Second, do something about something. I can’t tell you exactly what to do. All I know is that if we even had ten, twenty more people like Sean Tevis, we could start reversing this trend of government-sponsored, taxpayer funded perniciousness. Donate to a Sean Tevis, run your own campaign, start a local paper or a blog, get active.

  1. or “PWN!” if that suits you [<]

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Posted in Government, Morality, Religion, Science | 7 Comments »

Why Stop at Creationism?

Monday, July 21st, 2008

According to Jerry Bergman, at Answers in Genesis, we should be teaching Creationism in public schools.

Here’s his reasoning:

Fifty studies were reviewed that surveyed opinions on teaching origins in public schools. The vast majority found about 90 % of the public desired that both creation and evolution or creation only be taught in the public schools. About 90 % of Americans consider themselves creationists of some form, and about half believe that God created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years. In America, about 15 % of high school teachers teach both evolution and creation, and close to 20 % of high school science teachers and about 10,000 scientists (including more than 4,000 life scientists) reject both macroevolution and theistic evolution. Although the vast majority of Americans desire both creation and evolution taught in school, the evolutionary naturalism worldview dominates, revealing a major disparity between the population and the ruling élite.1

I agree!

I think we should be teaching alternate theories of existence in public schools. And here is how I propose we set up the curriculum:

Monday

1st Period: The Earth was nothing but water and darkness, ruled over by Mbombo, the white giant. One day, he felt a terrible pain in his stomach, and vomited the sun, the moon, and the stars. The sun shone fiercely and water steamed up in clouds. Gradually, the dry hills appeared. Mbombo vomited again, this time the trees came out of his stomach, and animals, and people, and many other things: the first woman, the leopard, the eagle, the anvil, monkey Fumu, the first man, the firmament, medicine, and lighting. Nchienge, the woman of the waters, lived in the East. She had a son, Woto, and a daughter, Labama. Woto was the first king of the Bakuba.2

2nd Period: The Creator split a tree into three pieces. He gave a piece to each tribe, one being a spear, the other a hoe, and the third a bow, and these recipients became the three tribes of people, the beginning of humanity.

3rd Period: Mangala was an entity made up of four divisions, and two sets of dual gendered twins. Being tired of keeping it all inside, Mangala compiled all the matter into a seed, which was the world. And the seed exploded, disappointing Mangala, who destroyed it. Then Mangala tried again with two sets of twin seeds, which, after having been planted in an egg-like womb, along with other sets of seeds, emerged as fish, representing fertility. One of the male twins tried to escape from the egg. This trickster, Pemba, stole a piece of the womb’s placenta and threw it down, creating the earth. He then tried to refertilize the remainder of the womb. Mangala castrated and killed Farro, Pemba’s brother, to save creation, and then Mangala raised Farro from the dead. Mangala then took the remainder of the placenta and transformed it into the sun, leaving Pemba for the darkness and night. Mangala transformed Ferro into a human, and was taught the language of creation. Farro’s newly created twins came and joined him on the earth, and they all propagated humanity.

4th Period: Lunch

5th Period: Damballah created all the waters of the earth. In the form of a serpent, the movement of his 7,000 coils formed hills and valleys on earth and brought forth stars and planets in the cosmos. He forged metals from heat and sent forth lightning bolts to form the sacred rocks and stones. When he shed his skin in the sun, releasing all the waters over the land, the sun shone in the water and created the rainbow. Damballah loved the rainbow’s beauty and made her his wife, Aida-Wedo. The revelations of the loa (deity) descended upon the first faithful in Ifé, a legendary city located in Nigeria. Therefore, everything in life and all spiritual strength comes from Ifé. In death, the higher soul will return to Ginen (the world of the dead, said to be under the water below the earth) to reside with the loa and the ancestral spirits.

6th Period: In the beginning, there was only water and chaos. The supreme being sent Obatala or Orishanla down from the sky to create some land out of the chaos. He descended on a long chain (umbilical cord) and brought with him a rooster, some iron, and a palm kernel. First, he put the metal on the earth and the rooster on top of that. The rooster scratched the metal and spread it out to create land. Then he planted the palm seed and from it grew the earth’s vegetation. Olurun named earth “Ife” and the first city “Ile-Ife.” Orshilana created humans out of the earth and got Olurun to blow life into them.

Tuesday

1st Period: Physical reality (space, matter and/or energy) is eternal, and therefore does not have an absolute origin. The Creator is an architect and organizer of pre-mortal matter and energy, who constructed the present universe out of the raw material (demiurge). There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; we cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.

2nd Period: Xenu was the dictator of the “Galactic Confederacy” who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs. Their essences remained, and that they form around people in modern times, causing them spiritual harm.

3rd Period: Auditing practice.

4th Period: Lunch

5th Period: Everything begins in a state of chaos where nothing exists but two gods named Tiamat and Apsu, who give birth to the first generation of gods, which one is Ea. Apsu cannot sleep because of these god children so he plans to kill them. Ea finds out and kills Apsu and Tiamat plans to avenge her husband. Ea has a son named Marduk. Tiamat assembles a huge army to avenge her husband and names Qingu the commander. Marduk is named as commander of the younger gods as long as he kills Tiamat; which he does through an arrow to the throat. Marduk splits her body in half and uses the back half to make the sky (which holds back the cosmic ocean) and the front half to make the earth (which holds the subterranean ocean). Marduk takes out Tiamat’s eyes and allows some of the subterranean ocean to flow out into two streams that become the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Finally, Marduk and Ea (and other gods) decide to create human beings to bear the burden of the gods, so that they can rest and not have to do all the hard work. Marduk creates people by killing Qingu and mixing Qingu’s blood with clay.

6th Period: The Ground of Being is the First Cause.

Wednesday

et cetera.

I think this would be an excellent way to introduce much needed mythological and spiritual awakenings in students, letting them know that plenty of other people around the world actually believe this stuff, AND, since they do believe this stuff, that makes this stuff VALID as alternate theories to evolution, and that no “theory” is better than any other belief in creation. I mean, it only makes sense that we give everyone a fair shot, right? I’m all for that. I’ll have to get my kid an afterschool tutor so he can learn to do some basic math, but it’s worth it for all the myriad wonders of creationism he will learn! Now that’s tolerance!

So, now that that point has been conceded and taken care of, I propose we move to the next item on the agenda, regarding tolerance, fairness, and whatnot: required programs for every religious institution.

All religious institutions shall, with their own funding, thoroughly and objectively instruct their staff, members, and guests, with government oversight, in the following areas:

-Heredity
-Variation
-Mutation
-Sex and recombination
-Population genetics
-Mechanisms
-Natural selection
-Genetic drift
-Gene flow
-Outcomes
-Adaptation
-Co-evolution
-Co-operation
-Speciation
-Extinction
-Evolutionary history of life
-Abiogenesis
-Common descent
-Evolution of life

-The scientific method
-Basic and intermediate mathematics
-Logic
-Philosophy
-Classic literature
-Civil rights
-Constitutional law
-World history
-Domestic history

Religious institutions will be required to hire experts in these fields who are unaffiliated with any religion (lest there be an unfair bias in favor of one “theory” or religion over another), and will be subject to strict scrutiny with regard to the curriculum and teaching standards. Standardized exams will be given, and religious institutions will have adjustments in funding and tax exemption based on the scores.

It would be my honor to assist in implementing this fair and balanced program. I hope it gets kicked off right away!

What a great day for tolerance!

  1. Teaching creation and evolution in schools, Jerry Bergman, Answers in Genesis. http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v13/i2/teaching.asp. [<]
  2. This, and the following excerpts, quoted and paraphrased from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_myth [<]

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Posted in Atheism, Government, Logic, Religion, Science | 8 Comments »

Catholic World Youth Day 2008

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

The 23rd World Youth Day celebrations are currently being hosted in Sydney, Australia from the 15th to the 20th of July. The official World Youth Day (WYD) 2008 site describes it as “the largest youth event in the world… attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the globe… to celebrate and learn about their faith on a more regular basis”.1 It is the religious equivalent of a week-long music festival, complete with services, entertainment acts, a welcome from the Prime Minister, and Pope Benedict XVI’s first official public appearance in Australia ever to an anticipated crowd of 500,000.2

People walking over the Harbour Bridge, as they will during World Youth Day 2008

The estimate of the taxpayer cost for this event is currently at AU$160 million with AU$86 million coming from the NSW state government, well beyond the proportion of funds contributed by past host cities. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church is putting forward only AU$115 million, with AU$75 million expected to be recouped from attendance fees.3 The number of people converging on the CBD is expected to go well beyond that experienced in the 2000 Olympics.4 Road closures and disruptions are expected to exceed the inconveniences caused during the 2007 APEC summit,5 and the lead-up to the event was beset by anxieties over the ability of Sydney’s underfunded infrastructure to cope with the load of so much human traffic.6 7

While this all might suggest that Australia is quite fond of organised religion, particularly Roman Catholicism, the statistical data evinces a different scenario. Though Catholicism is the largest denomination in Sydney, it is still only a minority of less than 30%.8 This year, an international study revealed many striking features of religion in Australia, including the significantly high rate of nominalism in Catholics. 31% of Australians said they lacked a belief in any god, making Australia the fourth least religious nation out of 21 in the study. General interest in religion and religious issues also recorded significantly low. Unsurprisingly, youth were found to be the least religious of all. 9

In such an unsuitable environment for an event promoting religion to the masses, the clandestine introduction of special police powers for World Youth Day has proved to be widely unpopular. Using a cleverly arranged legal loop-hole that bypassed parliamentary scrutiny, the deputy Premier gazetted new regulations on June 25, that allowed for a AU$5,500 fine to anyone who “causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event”.10 The word “annoyance” was vague enough to endanger people’s right to demonstrate and campaign during the event. Members of Broken Rites, a support group for church sex abuse victims, reported being approached by police to have their banners and placards pre-approved for their intended demonstration. The NoToPope coalition expressed concern that they would not be allowed to hand out condoms and protest papal doctrines on sexuality. The consequence of this law that was most widely publicised was that merely wearing a shirt with an anti-catholic or anti-WYD slogan could result in fine or arrest.11 In response to this, the NoToPope coalition staged a “fashion show” in front of State Parliament, displaying a range of potentially offensive shirts.12

The government attempted to justify these laws as nothing out of the ordinary, comparing them to the sort of controls used at sporting events, but as Stephen Blanks of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties has pointed out, normally such laws would apply to all sports spectators, not just those supporting the visiting team. It seems that the state government is eager to avoid a repeat of last year’s embarrassment during APEC, where a comedy team made it through two police checkpoints in a fake motorcade, carrying one of their members dressed as Osama bin Laden. They were let off on all charges due to the role that police complacency played in the incident.13

Finally, on Tuesday this week, a court ruling deemed the term “annoyance” to be invalid, due to its propensity to outlaw almost behaviour as trivial as tying a shoelace. However, it did not remove the term “inconvenience” from the law, which the Premier claimed was good enough to embue police with the power to suppress undesirable behaviour. 14

With growing mass dissent and a lack of religious zealotry, it is puzzling to many why Sydney was made to bear this burden at all. Premier Iemma’s main incentive to the public is a promised boost of AU$200 million to the local economy.15 Retailers don’t seem convinced, however, including the CEO of Myer who predicts losses around $20 million dollars due to their business.16 NSW Trainers Association says that the AU$41 million compensation deal that had to be struck in order to re-locate 700 horses from Randwick Racecourse will not cover all costs, nor will it justify the risk of a new outbreak of equine influenza which saw last year’s Spring Carnival cancelled.17 There have been reports that the sex industry can expect a surge in business thanks to non-catholic visitors accompanying World Youth Day, but even that prospect seems to be unsupported speculation.18

Another proposed justification is as a sort of reciprocation for the contribution the Catholic Church makes to the community through hospitals and schools. State-funded hospitals contracted to the Catholic church often do not refer rape victims to rape counseling (because such services offer emergency contraception to victims), will not perform procedures such as vasectomies and abortions, and will often refuse to host IVF facilities. 19 Like these hospitals, Catholic schools also receive significant amounts of public money- the government gives Catholic school students 73% as much funding as public schools20 – and really only provide education opportunities to children whose parents are willing to subject them to doctrines of the Catholic church from as young as 5 years old. Considering how few people in NSW subscribe strongly to the particulars of Catholic morality and superstition, it is more plausible to say that these services are being co-opted by the Catholic church for its own agenda, than to say the church has invested its own funding into meeting the interests of the broader community.

However, there is a positive side to all this controversy. Threats of strike action during WYD08 forced the government to settle a long running pay dispute with the transport union.21 The gazetting of anti-free speech “annoyance” laws has revived the debate over whether Australia needs a Bill of Rights, and the succesful challenge of these laws has been a blow for the government’s attempts to subvert democratic processes. The inconveniences and injustices of World Youth Day have united businesses, unions and the general public in a way that is rarely seen in politically moderate Australia. As much as the church expects to boost its numbers from this event, many activist groups can expect an increase in support flowing on from the publicity they’ve received. Most of all, many previously complacent citizens have been forced to recognise the importance of vigilance over the powers entrusted to political leaders.

It is clear that rational activists and civil libertarians will not let this mass mobilisation of youth in the name of superstitious dogma go unanswered.

Editorial note: Bishop Anthony Fisher, a World Youth Day coordinator, has lately been criticized for his remarks regarding Catholic victims of sex abuse. “Happily, I think most of Australia was enjoying [and] delighting in the beauty and goodness of these young people and the hope for us doing these sorts of things better in the future, as we saw last night, rather than dwelling crankily – as a few people are doing – on old wounds.”22

World Youth Day

  1. “WYD08″. World Youth Day 2008. Accessed 8th June, 2008 http://www.wyd2008.org [<]
  2. Kuczynski, Marcus. “500,000 set to converge on Sydney Harbour to see Pope”. June 17, 2008. The Courier Mail: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24030868-953,00.html [<]
  3. Powell, Sian. “World Youth Day to cost taxpayers $160m”. April 22, 2008. The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23578255-5013404,00.html [<]
  4. “WYD08″. World Youth Day 2008. Accessed 8th June, 2008 http://www.wyd2008.org [<]
  5. “Road Closures for World Youth Day 2008″, Roads and Traffic Authority NSW. Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/newsevents/2008_03_wyd.html [<]
  6. Hildebrand, Joe. “World Youth Day staff crisis to force free travel”. 3rd June 2008. The Daily Telegraph: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23960027-5013605,00.html [<]
  7. “Traffic Warnings ahead of Youth Day”. June 14, 2008. AAP: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24015484-5016937,00.html [<]
  8. “2006 Census QuickStats: Sydney {Urban Centre/Locality}”, Australian Bureau of Statistics. Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ [<]
  9. “High level of religious identity paired with low level of belief”, Bertelsmann foundation. Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/ [<]
  10. “World Youth Day Amendment Regulation 2008 – Clause 7″, NSW Bar Association, Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.nswbar.asn.au/circulars/july/wyd_reg2.pdf [<]
  11. Joel Gibson, Jano Gibson and Linda Morris, “Protests need our blessing, say police”. 2nd June 2008 http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/protests-need-our-blessing-say-police/2008/07/01/1214678038215.html [<]
  12. “‘Annoying’ proteters hold spoof fashion show”. Australian Broadcasting Corporation News. 9th June 2008 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/09/2298949.htm [<]
  13. Daniel Emerson and Arjun Ramachandran, “Chaser’s APEC stunt charges dropped”. 28th April 2008 http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv–radio/chasers-apec-stunt-charges-dropped/2008/04/28/1209234710155.html [<]
  14. “RACHEL EVANS and AMBER PIKE v STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES”. Australasian Legal Information Institute. 17th June 2008, http://www.austlii.edu.au/ [<]
  15. “WYD ‘will have its benefits’”. SBS World News Australia. 24th June 2008 http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/wyd_39will_have_its_benefits39_550098 [<]
  16. “Myer boss says World Youth Day will be ‘catastrophic’ for sales”. smartcompany.com.au 7th July 2008 http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-Articles/The-Briefing/20080707-Myer-boss-says-World-Youth-Day-will-be-catastrophic-for-sales.html [<]
  17. Morris, Linda. “Taxpayers’ $95m bill for World Youth Day”. Sydney Morning Herald. 16th November 2007 http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/taxpayers-95m-bill-for-world-youth-day/2007/11/15/1194766868787.html [<]
  18. Plambeck, Sean. “World Youth Day ‘will be a boost for sex industry’. news.com.au 3rd June 2008 http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23804107-5016937,00.html [<]
  19. Franklin, Matthew. “Doctors want Catholic beliefs out of state hospitals”. The Australian. 12th January 2007 http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21045678-421,00.html [<]
  20. “Catholic systemic school funding”. Catholic Education Office Sydney. Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.ceosyd.catholic.edu.au/cms/Jahia/pid/3330 [<]
  21. “World Youth Day strike called off”. TVNZ News. 9th July 2008 http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1896758 [<]
  22. “Catholic Bishop says abuse victims are ‘dwelling on old wounds’”. July 18, 2008. http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/07/16/Stop_dwelling_on_the_old_wounds_Bishop_Fisher_tells_sex_abuse_victims [<]

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Posted in Atheism, Government, Religion | 7 Comments »

Personal Responsibility is Paramount Especially in the Political Realm

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

There seems to be a free pass for all politicians when it comes to matters not directly related to their rhetoric. While this has applied to all politicians, and therefore this could easily be about John McCain or Hillary Clinton, I would like to point it out about Mr. Barack Obama.1 Mr. Obama has been given a free pass concerning his Church and his various friendships with people of extreme viewpoints. I believe that this should not be the case. Even though they are not directly related to his specific rhetoric, they do become an issue by the very nature of what you consider worth being around ends up affecting you.

I don’t believe that Mr. Obama thinks America is the evil that his Pastor (now former pastor) says it is, but at the same time, if you hear negative things about America for 20 years, how can it not affect your viewpoint? I don’t believe Mr. Obama shares the ideology of his more extreme friends (comrades?), but how many times can you hear their viewpoint, without at least letting some of it inside? Whether it is right or wrong may be a different issue, but the bottom line is the lack of judgment in these issues either shows a fairly obvious deficiency in the basic ability to discern “problematic things” or that he in some way is implicitly “endorsing” those views on some levels.

I think we all agree that Mr. Obama was playing the Politician role when he claimed he never heard his pastor say unkind things about America. We are expected to believe him when he says, “I did not hear such incendiary language myself, personally, either in conversations with him or when I was in the pew. He always preached the social gospel and was sometimes controversial in the same way that many people who‘d speak out on social issues are controversial.”2

Given that he did sit through these sermons, and I personally believe he must have over the course of a twenty year period, then he should absolutely be held accountable for that. How much “accountability,” or what should be done? In my opinion these things are not overly huge, and all other things being equal they are minor with respect to the “bigger fish to fry type issues” in and of themselves. The problem however is that it seems that we are used to giving people free passes when it comes to faith and that simply should not be.

“The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.” –Sam Harris

Sam Harris describes how we give a free pass as long as the religion is close to home. Presidents (and people running for any office) should be held accountable for their beliefs. They should be asked something along the lines of “If you were praying to your God, and felt that his answer was to bomb (Insert any place here), would you do it? Why or why not?” This shows the idiocy of the situation. Because if they are truly getting the word form God, then who can fault them for blowing up a country based on what God says? And if they say they won’t, then it shows just how much their belief in God means.

Either Mr. Obama was in a church for 20 years and chose to ignore the appointed by God minister, or he believes what that minister says and ultimately will let it affect his decision. To be quite frank, I am not sure which of these is worse. If Mr. Obama does not believe his own God should be listened to (That he chose to spend his valuable time with in accordance to “God’s Word”), then how can we know what Mr. Obama will do to something less sacred, like for example the Constitution? And if he does accept the sermons as being sent from God via this minister, then to close with a slightly inappropriate phrase, God help us all.

Disclaimer: I am an active duty military member, but anything I write is simply my opinion and in no way is expected to be coming from the military. I am acting as a citizen in anything I write. Also to be clear, No matter who is elected president, I will gladly serve them with pride, as I have served both President Clinton and President Bush. I may or may not agree with any or all of their respective politics, but I will follow the orders they give. This specific article is to be absolutely clear, not designed to be an attack on Mr. Obama. If I were voting for him, this issue would give me pause, but would ultimately be minor. If I were not voting for him, this would not be why, as I have stated that all of the candidates in various ways are given free passes on most areas of Personal responsibility when it comes to “faith” specifically.

Post script: I would like everyone to think on the Bomb question.

“If you were praying to your God, and felt that his answer was to bomb (Insert any place here), would you do it? Why or why not?”

Let’s assume the place was Iran during a war with them, where they have aggressively attacked American soil. But keeping in mind, what made you decide yes, according to this scenario was “God”, not the prevailing logic behind it. Most people would not bat an eye if you admitted this.

However if for some reason, You decided as a result of prayer with “God” to bomb Washington D.C. for no reason other than God told you to in prayer, I think we can all agree that this would be unacceptable.

There is only one conclusion. Your God is not what makes things “right or “wrong”. It is the prevailing wisdom behind your decision. Point of fact, Your God is simply an excuse to shift personal responsibility from you to somewhere that can not be attacked. Accept responsibility for your actions. Demand that others accept responsibility for theirs. This will make the entire world better, one paradigm shift at a time.

  1. This is not to imply he is or is not the best candidate. I am using him as the example, but keep in mind with different example this could apply to every candidate in the last 20 years at a minimum. [<]
  2. Found on the folling link taken NBC Keith Olbermann show. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23675485/ [<]

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Posted in Government, Morality, Religion | 6 Comments »

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