A Hysterical Take On The Trinity

http://youtu.be/mII6-IyaT3o

This is really really funny! It must have required many many reshoots to get the dialogue right. 

Sam Harris - Morality and the Christian God

Worth ten minutes of your time.

Costco Attacks Bible!

Or maybe not.

Costco is caught up in controversy after a pastor tweeted that the Bibles for sale in his store were labeled as fiction. The "Christians are being persecuted crowd" quickly took up the cry even though Costco admitted that their supplier made a mistake on a small number of Bibles and they (Costco) should have caught the mistake.

Interestingly, some Christians are starting to push back, arguing that is an honest and simple mistake and it doesn't mean that Christianity is being attacked or persecuted.  Nice to see some rational voices among the religious folks.

Amazing Knife Throwing Video! But Wait, It Get's Better!

An amazing YouTube video of knife throwing.  Except it isn't - the video explaining how it was faked is more amazing.

An excellent lesson in critical thinking. Our brains can fool us because we evolved over millions of years to use intellectual shortcuts to reach conclusions. And perhaps we just want to be amazed (see religion). Even the most convincing photos or video should be approached with a critical eye.

As Carl Sagan said,

"extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

And with powerful video/photo editing programs in every home, a picture or video no longer rise to the level of extraordinary evidence.

Egyptian Atheists

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/27/a_christopher_hitchens_dream_atheism_on_the_rise_in_egypt/

Absolutely fascinating. This gives me hope. Several of the Egyptians interviewed here related stories that resonate with my path to becoming an agnostic.

What Actually Happened

Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Losing Ground With Evangelicals?

Hopefully this article represents a trend with evangelicals.  The author says she was taught abstinence-only sex "education" ("you shall not have sex before marriage" - end of discussion) and was pregnant the next year - at age 15.  I'm particularly struck by this comment by the author:

Today, nearly half of American high schoolers, aged 14 to 18, are sexually active, according to a Centers for Disease Control survey. Even Christians aren’t waiting until marriage. Among unmarried adult evangelicals under 30, 8 in 10 have had sex. Somebody has to say it: Our approach isn’t working, and it’s time to rethink “the talk.” 

Abstinence-only sex education is worse than worthless - it is counterproductive. Even if conservative parents don't talk to their kids about sex, their kids will get it from other sources - from their friends, the internet, TV, etc. Abstinence-only isn't a conversation with kids about sex, it's basically just a statement - "you will not have sex until you get married".  Studies have shown a very high rate of early sex with kids who have only received the a/o talk.  A high rate of failure resulting in more teen pregnancies, births, adoptions and worst of all, what evangelicals really don't like - abortions.

If you teach ignorance, the results are predictable.

Anne Frank and Hell

Christians believe that to avoid Hell you must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Anyone who does not accept Christ as their Lord and Savior goes to hell according to this doctrine.

I think we can all agree that Adolf Hitler was a truly evil person and if anybody deserved to burn in hell forever it would be him. (Although it's interesting to note that in his autobiography he claimed to be a Christian but never mind.) But what about Anne Frank? She was a Jew so she never accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

So if you want to tie conservative Christians in knots, ask them if Anne Frank is in hell with Adolf Hitler. And yes, this is a fair question.

Perfect

From an atheist character in the new Netflix show, "Orange is the new Black".  I wish I could articulate my viewpoints this well but then I'm not a Hollywood writer with years of experience who goes through who knows how many rewrites to get this:

I can’t pretend to believe in something I don’t, and I don’t [believe in this]… I believe in science. I believe in evolution. I believe in Nate Silver, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Christopher Hitchens, although I do admit he could be kind of an asshole. I cannot get behind some Supreme Being who weighs in on the Tony awards while a million people get whacked by machetes. I don’t believe a billion Indians are going to hell. I don’t think that we get cancer to learn life lessons. And I don’t believe people die young because God needs another angel. I think it’s just bullshit. And on some level, I think we all know that…

I disagree about Hitchens.  He was always more or less polite to those who were the same to him.  But if they weren't, he could use words like weapons.  

Why millennials are leaving the church

Why millennials are leaving the church – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

Love the part "and I proceed to bang my head against the podium".  Evangelicals (particularly on the right) are all about style changes rather than message changes.

Fascinating

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/us/some-mormons-search-the-web-and-find-doubt.html?hp

On a Lighter Note....

HPV Vaccine Is Credited in Fall of Teenage Girl’s Infection Rate

Great NY Times article on how this vaccine is rapidly dropping infection rates in teenage girls. 

Except of course the numbers won't look so good among girls in religiously conservative households - these parents believe the vaccine promotes sex before marriage so they won't vaccinate their girls.  I think Christopher Hitchins put it best - religion poisons everything.

Earlier today I also saw a NYT article about HIV infection rates in the deep south.  Much higher than anywhere else in the country. I'm guessing the deep south state governments and cities are not supportive of programs that would reduce infection rates.

Hitchins was right - religion poisons everything.

How to Anger Catholics

Washington Post

A Wonderful Quote

Ingersoll was asked by a reporter from Kansas City if he enjoyed lecturing. Ingersoll replied, "Of course I enjoy lecturing. It's great pleasure to drive the fiend of fear out of the hearts of men women and children. It is a positive joy to put out the fires of hell".

Robert Ingersoll

Brilliant words not written today by the new atheists but rather written in the late 1800s by the brilliant Robert Ingersoll. He really irritated the clergy.

Religion & Mississippi

A new bill in the Mississippi state legislature forbids condom demonstrations in sex-ed classes.  And this state has:

• the highest rate of teen mothers
• the highest rate of young adult HIV
• the distinction of being the most religious state in the US

But remember - religion makes the world a better place right?

Leaving Religion

Or more precisely, leaving Islam.

Kimberly Winston at Religion News Service wrote a riveting story about a young woman in America leaving, no, running away from her family because her uncle said he would "honor kill" her (again, in America) if she didn't agree to an arranged marriage.  The woman (her real identity is secret to protect her from - her family) had doubts about her religion at an early age and is now an atheist.  This is a story about bravery and guts - and I recommend it.  It's interesting to note that Christianity was guilty of similar crimes (burning people alive to "save" them) centuries ago.  Indeed, I would have been killed for writing this blog.

Marriage

The fact that you can't sell your daughter 

for three goats and a cow means

we have already redefined marriage.

Hysterical!

I haven't even read the article but I had to share the illustration - this is so funny on so many different levels.  And who are the blue guys in goggles on the lower left?  If home schooled kids are taught this - heaven (so to speak) help us!

Religion Does Not Make You More Generous

Somehow I am not surprised by this study which shows that faith doesn't make you more likely to be generous, love your neighbor, etc.

The Least Bible-Minded City in America

Damnit - Portland Maine beats Portland Oregon - but 65 out of 96 isn't too bad I suppose.