Do religious beliefs prevent anarchy?

There seems to be a general impression among a sizeable percentage of the population that organized religion and belief in God are "good things" while atheism is likely to lead to a state of anarchy.


I recently had a couple friends express this sentiment to me. Both were raised as Roman Catholics. I would describe one as an atheist and the other as a "closet atheist". A closet atheist is someone who goes to Church but who doesn't really swallow the intellectual jello served there. While a closet atheist will tell you that they believe in God, you get the overwhelming impression that they are just going through the motions. Closet atheists are usually well educated or, at the very least, well read. You can tell that they have considered the issue and have decided that conformity with the religion they were brought up in represents the path of least resistance.


Both the atheist and closet atheist were unanimous is their view that religion is necessary to provide a moral compass for a significant portion of the population. I responded by indicating that I had more confidence in human nature and asked them whether they thought people needed a "hammer in the sky" in order to lead morally upstanding lives. The atheist vigorously agreed that the supernatural enforcer was necessary and pointed to the high degree of professed Christian players in the National Football League. Of course, the religiosity in the NFL is simply a mirror of the religiosity in the American public at large. In any event, the atheist then pointed out how the largely Jesus following NFL set had also amassed the nickname National Felony League due to the high numbers of players charged (and usually convicted) of serious crimes. "Do you really think" ... asked the atheist ... "that there would be fewer felons in the NFL if they weren't taught to believe in the fear of God?".


I have given this isue considerable reflection and I believe that NFL players provide a poor analogy for the public at large. NFL players are bred and trained to be vicious. Many come from dangerous inner city neighbourhoods and have faced tremendous adversity. If you have never seen an NFL game, I urge you to do so. Think of taking the two largest, strongest men you have ever seen in your life who can both run as fast as any sprinter you have ever seen. Then put armor on both of them and ask them to run as fast as they can towards each other and hit each other head first. These guys do this 15-30 times a game. You get the picture ....


In order to find out whether the absence of religion and belief in God tends to lead towards anarchy, I suggest that we look towards societies where disbelief in God is far greater than in our own. If the "popular wisdom" is correct, what should we expect to see? I would think all of the following: higher crime rates, higher divorce rates, less philanthropy, less respect for authority, an increased tendency towards selfishness and, in general, all of the social dysfunction that one would expect to accompany a state of anarchy.


Where do we look to find societies where there is a marked reduction in religiosity compared to North America? Sam Harris answers this question in his brilliantly succinct essay Letter to a Christian Nation:

While you may believe that bringing an end to religion is an impossible goal, it is important to realize that much of the developed world has nearly accomplished it. Norway, Iceland, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom are among the least religious societies on earth. According to the United Nations' Human Development Report (2005) they are also the healthiest, as indicated by life expectancy, adult literacy, per capita income, educational attainment, gender equality, homicide rate and infant mortality ....

Other analyses paint the same picture: the United States is unique among wealthy democracies in its level of religious adeherence; it is also uniquely beleaguered by high rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease and infant mortality ...

Of course, correlational data of this sort do not resolve questions of causality - belief in God may lead to societal dysfunction; societal dysfunction may foster a belief in God; each factor may enable the other; or both may spring from some deeper source of mischief. Leaving aside the issue of cause and effect, however, these statistics prove that atheism is compatible with the basic aspirations of a civil society; they also prove, conclusively, that widespread belief in God does not ensure a society's health.

Harris ends his analysis by observing that countries with high rates of atheism are also the most charitable in terms of the percentage of wealth they devote to social welfare programs and the percentage in aid they give the developing world.

The view that atheism engenders immorality and disorder is not borne out by the evidence. As philosopher Walter Sinnott-Armstrong explains in this week's Philosophy Bites podcast Morality without God, the vast majority of people are good and use their own common sense to discern right from wrong. Those who rely on holy books to ground their sense of morality have to use this common sense in determining which moral precepts they choose to follow (such as The Golden Rule) and which they discard (such as the endorsement of slavery). Morality is the product of common sense - not religious suasion.

Off to Ingonish

I will end off my hedonistic summer of vacations by heading to the picturesque Highland Links golf course in Ingonish, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (pictured above) tomorrow. Regular blogging will resume next week. Thank-you all for tuning in.

Faith is substance of things hoped for

I found a great weekly podcast put out by the Atheist Community of Austin. It's called The Atheist Experience and is available for free on iTunes.

In this week's show, they referred to Hebrews 11:1 (KJV):

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Doesn't that sum up Christianity perfectly? While Christian apologists often attempt to engage in logical debates, they invariably retreat into a world of personal experience - they'll say things like:

One night he showed up in my room. He zipped me up into the sky and showed me what he wanted me to do. [this is an actual diect message that I received recently on twitter]

Mormons are particularly fond of describing visits from The Holy Spirit. What intrigues me is how people who have these experiences decide they are not hallucinations or psychiatric episodes. I guess they've never had a college roommate slip them a hit of LSD. I assure you, from personal experience, that will zip you into the sky ....

God's Checklist 2.0

If only there was some way I could get every person who calls themself a Christian to watch this video by TheoreticalBullshit:



If they handed out Academy Awards for succinct debunking of the Bible, this guy would get my nod. Bravo.

Postscript - I implored Christian blogger Makarios to watch the video and this was his response:

He reminds me too much of myself when I was his age. He reeks of arrogance. "Because I can't understand something no one else can understand it either." That's what he thinks and that's what I thought @ twenty something.

Honestly? It's a good things he's digital and not at my front door. I'd be in jail for aggravated assault within half an hour of talking to that asshole.


Mighty Christian of him, wouldn't you say?

Resurrection ... please ignore the contradictions in the Bible

Just click on the cartoon to get a better look at it:

Help please .... Céline Dion perhaps?

I have 3 French copies of Peter Singer's The Life You Can Save that I would like to send to the wealthiest (hopefully generous) French-speaking people that we can come up with. If you have a suggestion, please email me the address or leave it in the comment thread below - thanks.

Muslim subjugation of women is just plain wrong

Unless you are a moral relativist, I submit that the Muslim subjugation of women is just plain wrong. The religious faithful will be tempted to leave comments such as: "how can you tell right and wrong without the Bible as your objective standard?". My answer is: easily ... evolution endowed all of us with a moral compass to discern right from wrong. I don't need any religious faith to tell me that this is wrong: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jyNuCwSdoGBSByVGSqmd8G3Br0UAD9A955G80

* Thanks to a correspondent from Poland for this link.

Even heathen kids can get something worthwhile from church

Church entrances offer some of the best pavement for skateboarding and ripsticking. My kids are curious about why these places are only used once a week and, even then, by dwindling numbers of parishioners. I explain that adults get together once a week to tell each other fairy tales. That seems to satisfy their curiosity. Poor little heathens ...

Deconstructing The Purpose Driven Life - Chapter 22

Created To Become Like Christ

In this chapter (which is very short on specifics), Rick Warren describes how God's plan is to make us like Jesus. He describes how only human beings are made in God's image and that we are spritual beings, intellectual, relational and have a moral consciousness. Of course, this is a specieist view which leads into Rick's asserion that, because all people possess part of the image of God, abortion is wrong. This brings to mind Richard Dawkins critique of specieism in his essay entitled Doolittle and Darwin:

Doctrinaire antiabortionists who blow up clinics and murder good doctors turn out on examination to be rank specieists. An unborn baby is by any reasonable standards less deserving of moral sympathy than an adult cow. The prolifer screams "Murder!" at the abortion doctor and goes home to a steak dinner. No child brought up on Dr. Doolittle could miss the double standard. A child brought up on the Bible most certainly could.

Rick goes on to explain that God's ultimate goal for our lives on earth is not comfort but spiritual development. Although Rick does not describe the attributes of Christ in this chapter, he does cite the comprise the Beatitudes of Jesus from the Book of Matthew 5: 1-12:

1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

If all there was to Christianity was the exortation to live a Christ-like life, I wouldn't have any problem with it. The problem, of course, is that the emphasis on "your reward in heaven" provides a celestial carrot to promote altruistic behavior when no such carrot likely exists or should be required. As I have observed in earlier posts, the belief that the earthly realm is simply a training ground for eternity serves to devalue the importance of the here and now. As I have said many times in the past (and will likely repeat many times in the future), there is a significant percentage of fundamental Christians who would welcome a nuclear catastrophe as a sign that the end of times are upon us. This is simply ill.

I would not want anyone to misinterpret my mission against the irrationality of religious faith as suggesting that there is anything wrong with emulating the teachings of Jesus Christ. For example, Blessed are the merciful is a wonderful suggestion and, I should add, one that contradicts many of the vicious acts of God in the Old Testament. In fact, we had a rare international display of mercy last week as Scotland released Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan intelligence officer convicted for his part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. Al Megrahi was releawsed on compassionate grounds due to the fact that he is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, with less than three months to live. I applaud this "Christ-like" act, which inspired me to post the following comment on twitter:

Al Megrahi will never bomb again. No problem with letting him go home to die. We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it: W. Churchill

Youth is wasted on the young ...

Lately I have been receiving more email from college students. I get the sense that atheism is a much more popular topic on campuses than it was during my university days in the late 80's and early 90's.

A keen freshman attending college in the Bible belt asked me what he could do to become more involved in promoting atheism and secular humanism. Here is my response:

To be honest, if I were you right now, most of my immediate plans would involve young co-eds.

Seriously, my advice is for you to enjoy yourself and learn as much as you can. It might be hard to find atheist groups on a campus in the Bible belt.

I don't know what program you are in but I highly recommend that you take some philosophy courses. Great stuff and one of my few regrets from university is not studying that subject.

Good luck with your studies and keep an open mind. Perhaps a voluptuous bible thumper might be able to convert you to her way of thinking.

Best regards,

TAM

Act of God

This is the trailer for a superb documentary I saw this week entitled "Act of God" which centres around the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning. These events represent the paradox of being singled out by randomness and precipitate questions about chance, fate and meaning in life. The film explores seven stories from around the world that raise and respond to these questions, while keeping the sky and what comes out of it as a central visual metaphor and thread. Paul Auster, who was struck as a teenager, philosophically anchors the film, along with Fred Frith, the improviser, who both imaginatively underpins it and personally demonstrates the ubiquity of electricity in our bodies and the universe.



What I found most striking about the show was the footage from Santa Maria del Rio, Mexico where five children were killed when lightning struck a large metal cross they were praying under at the top of a mountain (not exactly the best place to be during a thunderstorm). I'm not sure if I have ever seen a more pathetic caricature of religious faith than the interview of the mother of two children describing how it must have been God's will. I wanted to cry and scream at the same time.

If you get the chance to catch this show, please do. You'll be glad you did.

Deconstructing the Purpose Driven Life - Chapter 21

Protecting Your Church (or Circle Your Wagons)

I am a sucker for punishment. Although these miserable chapters are short, I want you all to know that I still read them at least twice and often three times before reviewing them.

Rick Warren starts out this chapter with the frank admission that: Nothing on earth is more valuable than his church. He then goes on to explain what he says are the strategies laid out in the Bible for protecting the unity of the church.

Some of Rick's suggestions are just platitudes that you could just as easily get from any two-bit organizational consultant: Focus on commonalities and not differences. Be realistic with your expectations. Refuse to listen to gossip.

The point in this chapter that I found most interesting was Rick's suggestion that Christian churches should ignore doctrinal differences. He pulls a few quotes from the Bible to support this assertion and I assure you that Rick (or at least his research staff) can cite the Bible with the best of them. I am glad that Rick touched on this issue because there are thousands of sects of Christianity - each with its own interpretation of the truth supposedly revealed in the Bible.

First, Rick refers to the issue of disputable matters and cites Romans 14:1 (NIV) which says: "Accept those whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters". Of course, the devil is in the details. Who decides what is disputable and what is undisputable? Suppose that I believe the authors of the Bible intended the entire narrative to be fictional and only wanted to draft up a moral code that suited their time and place in history? In other words, the Bible can be interpreted as suggesting that it really doesn't matter what you believe - what matters is how you live your life. This interpretation is bolstered by several other quotes cited by Rick:

Romans 14:4 (NIV): Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master they stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Romans 14:10 (NIV): You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat your brother or sister with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.

Of course, let's not get too carried away with St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. It is chock full of contradictions, intolerance, absurdities, injustice, homophobia, cruelty and violence like most of the other chapters of the Bible - see The Skeptics' Annotated Bible: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ I should add that the SAB is an invaluable resource to bloggers, second only to BibleGateway.com which is awesome: http://www.biblegateway.com/

All in all, I am not surprised to see Rick devoting a chapter to protecting the church. When you have an institution grounded on belief in a supernatural deity who likely does not exist, you need to keep circling the wagons at every opportunity.

Value is in the eye of the beholder

My site is worth$52,913.6Your website value?

According to the website bizinformation.org, theatheistmissionary.com is currently worth $52,913.60 US. This value is based on a number of factors, the most important being average daily viewership and mentions on aggregate sites. Basically, the value gives you some idea of the worth which an advertiser might pay for someone's domain name and control of their site.

I have no intention of trying to cash out but my $666,000 US offer remains open. See the posts at: http://www.atheistmissionary.com/2009/04/everyone-has-their-price.html and http://www.atheistmissionary.com/2009/06/atheist-missionary-is-still-for-sale.html

I repeat: Just think of the publicity that purchasing this site would bring to your gambling website, porn site, search engine or, Thor forbid, your chosen flavour of religion ....

A cartoon worth a thousand words ...

They say pictures are worty 1000 words but sometimes adding a little commentary is worthwhile. If you find it difficult to read the caption below, just click on the picture:

Thanks to twitter user BibleAlsoSays for drawing this to my attention. It's a classic.

Perhaps time will heal us

Is it too much to hope that evolution will eradicate the propensity to accept irrational religious beliefs in much the same way as it appears redheads might be going the way of the dodo within the next 100 years? http://www.thestar.com/living/article/683205

I was dumb and now I'm dumber

Now that I am halfway through The Purpose Driven Life, I would be remiss if I didn't let you know that it is featured on the provocatively named site Booksthatmakeyoudumb: http://booksthatmakeyoudumb.virgil.gr/bookdetails.php?book=The+Purpose+Driven+Life Basically, there is a strong correlation between reading this book and lower SAT scores. As the site points out, correlation does not equal causation. However, the fact of the matter is that if you are a college student who read this book, there is a statistically significant chance that you are dumber than your average peer! Presumably that also gives us a bit of insight into the comparative intelligence of the reviewer yours truly.

Deconstructing The Purpose Driven Life - Chapter 20

Restoring Broken Fellowship (aka Oprah worthy advice)

I am just getting back in the saddle after an extended vacation from both work and reviewing Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life. As I dive back into this book, I think I am finally beginning to understand why it has become such an overwhelming best seller. The reason is that it is "Christianity-light" written by someone who has essentially become the Dr. Phil of the religious right. This chapter provides an excellent example of how that is so.

The focus of this chapter is on restoring broken relationships. If you can think of distilling Fisher and Ury's "Getting to Yes" into 7 pages and throwing an imaginary friend into the mix, you've got it in a nutshell. In any event, as is his custom, Rick sets out 7 biblical steps to restoring fellowship in point form:

1. Talk to God before talking to the person. There is certainly something to be said for contemplating what you are going to say before you say it. If it helps you to discuss it with the tooth fairy before saying it, I suppose there is no harm in that as long as you keep it to yourself. Otherwise, it could seriously damage your credibility.

2. Always take the initiative. Oprah-worthy advice (OWA).

3. Sympathize with their feelings. OWA.

4. Confess your part in the conflict. OWA but this is difficult if you are insincere.

5. Attack the problem, not the person. OWA.

6. Cooperate as much as possible. OWA and All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

7. Emphasize reconciation, not resolution. OWA and Rick makes an excellent point here: It is unrealistic to expect everyone to agree about everything. In other words, sometimes we should just concentrate on getting along because the gaps in our world views are so vast that we are never going to reconcile them. Of course, getting along requires that we don't insist on foisting our beliefs into public policy. That's mighty difficult when you have U.S states providing their citizens with the option of purchasing license plates with the motto "In God We Trust". In other words, it's hard to reconcile with someone (whether it be a fundamentalist Christian or fundamentalist Muslim) who believes that the state and their religion should be inexorably intertwined.

Procrastination and a camel's passage through the eye of a needle

I am such a procrastinator ... I just mailed Rick Warren a copy of Peter Singer's The Life You Can Save. It's only been two months since I said I was going to do that: http://www.atheistmissionary.com/2009/06/deconstructing-purpose-drive-life_13.html

In the unlikely event that the book actually makes it to Rick in person, I hope he reads it and recommends it to his followers. Unfortunately, the chances of a mailing from The Atheist Missionary making it to "America's most influential spiritual leader" are about the same as a camel making it through the eye of a needle.

Animal Liberator on Michael Vick

This is Peter Singer's take on the Michael Vick situation. This should not surprise anyone familiar with Singer's work: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/daniel_rubin/20090817_Daniel_Rubin__An_animal-rights_activist_stands_up_for_Vick.html

The mentally delayed triplets .... a thought experiment

Consider the following thought experiment (which was posed by me to Christian blogger Makarios several months ago and which remains unanswered by him and his brethren):

Three identical triplets of moderately low intelligence are separated at birth. One is adopted by Christian parents, one is adopted by atheist parents and one is adopted by bush pygmies who have never heard of God, the Bible and have no conception of organized religion (other than perhaps that there might be a force greater than themselves).

Although raised by different parents, the triplets lead identical lives in terms of their external treatment of others and the world around them - they are all equally loving towards others, charitable to the needy and tireless in their efforts to eradicate suffering. The only differences are the following:

1. The Christian triplet accepts the literal truth of the Bible, believes that Jesus died for his sins and has accepted God as his personal saviour in the hope of receiving eternal salvation.

2. The atheist triplet knows about the Bible, rejects it as a myth and believes the existence of God to be highly improbable.

Now, the point I want to make about the first two triplets is that they have been indoctrinated. Neither really has the choice to choose otherwise in the sense that, due to their limited intelligence, they believe basically whatever their parents tell them. From the perspective of an atheist, the Christian triplet is misled into believing the religious delusions by his parents. From the perspective of a Christian, the atheist triplet is misled into believing the heathen worldview of his parents.

3. The bush pygmy triplet is never taught to believe or disbelieve anything when it comes to God and the Bible.

All 3 triplets meet on their 21st birthday and an accidental natural gas leak kills them all instantly (remember ... it's all part of God's plan).

My understanding of Christianity is that only 1 of the 3 twins will receive the true riches of heaven while the other 2 are damned for eternity. Have I got it wrong?

Atheist attention deficit disorder

Christian blogger Makarios piqued my curiosity (and appealed to my vanity) with his post entitled Attention TAM which supposedly offers "enormous abundance of historical evidence" from which Christians can solidify their faith :http://makarios-makarios.blogspot.com/2009/08/excellent-evidence.html

If you read the article and are persuaded of the error of your atheist leanings, I've got some ocean front property in Arizona that just might interest you .....

We are one among billions

This video is awesome. It reaffirms just how tiny a space we occupy in the heavens:

RIP Les Paul

Rest in peace Les Paul.

We had scheduled my 6 year old son's first electric guitar lesson for Thursdy, August 13, 2009, the day Mr. Paul died. He loved it! You've got to admit that is kind of neat.

I thought Rick Warren loved doubters

Rick Warren blocked me on twitter and, for the life of my supposedly eternal soul, I can't figure out why. He didn't follow me on twitter so the block simply removed me from his list of followers and he no longer sees my comments on his timeline. Aaaah ... that must be it. He must not have liked the last question I posed to him (which curiously remains unanswered):

@RickWarren: How would you discern between the second coming of Christ and a mental patient skilled at the art of illusion?

I encourage you all to RT this question to Rick on twitter.

The Copycat Atheist

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, I must admit that I wish this doofus picked another name for his site: http://theatheistmission.com/

I remain "AtheistMission" on twitter.

Oliver's "copyright" is bogus. My site was established on January 14, 2009 with the following byline: The Atheist Mission - We don't need a God to be inspired to do good works.

If Oliver tries to sell merchandise with that name, he'll be hearing from my lawyer. I suggest that he should spend some more time trolling the internet for another name to rip off.

BTW - we have the book pictured above in our children's library. They love it.

Atheist Parenting - teaching your kids to be charitable starts at home

My wife and I are always looking for ways to hammer home The Golden Rule to our kids. One of the best ways we have found is to model charitable behavior with them on a daily basis.

Pictured above is an apple juice can which currently sits in a prominent position in our livingroom. As you can see, we have pasted a brochure from The Smile Train on the can. The Smile Train is the world's largest charity providing cleft palate surgeries to children throughout the third world:http://www.smiletrain.org/site/PageServer. It is supported by numerous philanthropists whose generosity this charity to make the unusual claim of guaranteeing that all your donations go towards actually funding these surgeries. For as little as $250 US, these people can literally change a life.

Our kids love this idea and are undoubtedly motivated by the before and after photographs of children who have received the surgeries on the brochure. Every weekend when they receive their allowance, they contribute a portion to the can and they decide how much.

I encourage anyone with kids and/or anyone with a heart to start your own savings can for this exceptionally worthy charity. Give a child with a cleft a second chance at life. If you are an athiest like me, I urge you to do it in the spirit of proving that belief in God is not a prerequisite to do good works. If you are a Christian or other religious believer, I trust that my plea for support of this charitable cause is consistent with the tenets of your chosen faith. Regardless of your beliefs, just do it.

Donations to The Smile Train can be made online or via snail mail at:

The Smile Train
28th Floor
41 Madison Avenue
New York, NY
USA
10010

If you decide to follow through on this suggestion, I would love to hear about it.

Get 'em while they're young

I saw one of these vending machines at a Wal-Mart in Rockland, Maine last month and I regretted not getting a picture of my own.

I wonder what the reaction would be if I installed public vending machines that contained the following:

1. Buttons that read: "The Bible is pulp fiction."

2. Jesus suckers so kids could eat Christ on the Cross.

3. Communion wafer animal crackers.

4. Get out of Sunday school free cards.

5. For lucky winners, a prize bag that contains nothing but air and a note that reads: "Nothing in here but your friend God".

Just wondering .....

Cartoon worth a thousand words

This cartoon is based on an actual quote from Pope Benedict XVI who suggested in 2007 that atheism was responsible for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in history:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1571169/Atheists-behind-the-greatest-cruelty-says-Pope.html

Joseph Alois Ratzinger, you are one bent dude.

The answer is blowing in the wind

I'm not sure why stories about people dying from falling objects strike a chord with me: http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/money/Bundle+steel+blamed+Calgary+death/1867995/story.html

I guess the reason is that tragedies like these reinforce the silliness of belief in a supernatural deity (at least an all-loving one) who actively intercedes in the world of human affairs. After careful consideration, I have reluctantly been forced to conclude that there is little difference between humanity and ants meandering across the sidewalk. What is the difference? We both can experience painful stimuli and, therefore, we both can presumably suffer. Obviously, humans have much more complex reasoning capacity than ants which allows us the capacity to conceive of a deity. However, if there is a God, why would he/she/it care any more about the death of a human than an ant? I can understand why we care more about ourselves but, presumably, an ant would have more concern for its kin (if only instinctively) than it would have for our welfare.

Have you ever fished with live bait? To be frank, I don't understand how anyone who professes to believe in an afterlife where scores are settled for earthly sins on earth could ever do that. In my opinion, the only kind of people who can fish with live bait and a clear conscience are nihilists. I fish with live bait but not with a clear conscience - I freely admit that there is something about the practice that I find intrinsically repulsive.

Stupid Design

Thanks to Dr. David Warmflash (twitter username "Cosmic_Owl") for drawing this presentation by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to my attention:

Why maintain an atheist blog?

My aggressive summer vacation schedule (4 out of the last 6 weeks) ends today and I have enjoyed it immensely. We traversed 4 provinces and 4 states. We ended things off with an idyllic week in Ontario cottage country. All in all, it was everything that you could ask for in a vacation - a time to rest, read, recreate and enjoy family/friends.

One of the best parts of holidays is that they give us time to ponder and introspect about our lives. I bill my professional time by the hour (at ridiculously high rates, I must confess) so I am constantly looking at ways to best rationalize my waking hours. As a result, it should not be surprising that I have given some thought over the past few weeks as to whether the time I have been devoting to the maintenance of this site has been worth it. After careful consideration, I have concluded that this exercise has definitely been (and continues to be) worthwhile.

My first 6 months of residing within the blogosphere has:

1. Taken me to East Lansing, MI to see Richard Dawkins deliver his lecture "The Purpose of Purpose".

2. Taken me to the University of Toronto where I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the gentleman philosopher Peter Singer and hear him speak about specieism and his recent book The Life You Can Save.

3. Taken me to the Royal Ontario Museum to see Christopher Hitchens slaughter the Ten Commandments.

4 Allowed me to interact with hundreds of fascinating, thoughtful and polite readers who have been interested enough to leave comments.

5. Challenged me to embark on a deconstruction of Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life, which is ongoing despite the fact that my challenger (the Christian missionary da) seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.

6. Has occasionally resulted in my correspondence with some of the world's greatest thinkers in realms which fascinate me (such as philosopher Stephen Law and evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne).

7. Has expanded my own personal commitment to philanthropy. By the way, kudos to my readers for The Smile Train contribution which financed a surgery to correct a third world child's cleft palate. Readers have also been contributing towards a donation to The Worldwide Fistula Fund donation which will be happening before the end of this month (post to follow in this regard identifying the contributors).

8. Has taught me that you can find just about anything on google images.

9. Most importantly, has also taught me plenty about atheism and even more about theism and its adherents. I continue to be intrigued at why people are attracted to irrational belief systems. I remain convinced that healthy skepticism is the key to my children's survival in a world worth living in.

Suffice it to say that my mission will continue, whether you like it or not.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Quote of the day

There are things we don't do, not because "it's against the law", "it's against my religion", or "we might get caught", but simply because we have internalized certain nos into our own moral backbone. (Barbara Coloroso).
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Atheist Parenting - The Proof is in the Pudding

I am in the midst of a personal conversion.

Don't worry. I haven't "found" religion. However, I have stumbled on a book that is forcing me to reassess the way I parent my kids. Well .... "stumbled on" is an inaccurate way to describe it. My wife read the book several years ago. She has mentioned it occasionally and has incorporated some of its suggestions, but certainly not all of them. In any event, the book recently came to my attention again when some friends of ours (the parents of our oldest son's best friend) loaned it to us and urged me to read it. I should add at this point that there is much that this couple believe in (such as alternative medicine and refusing to innoculate their children) that I think is ridiculous - and I don't hesitate to tell them so. However, I have always been impressed at their skill at parenting and how remarkably well-adjusted their children are. As they say, the proof is in the pudding.

The book I am referring to is Barbara Coloroso's "kids are worth it!". If you love your kids and want them to be happy, well-adjusted adults, I urge you to read this. It will fundamentally challenge some, and perhaps many, things that you have always taken for granted. Best of all - it makes perfect sense.

I like this book so much that I am writing this before I even finish reading it. The basic gist of Coloroso's thesis is that we should neither reward children for good behavior nor punish them for bad behavior. What? Many of you might be thinking this is a recipe for insanity. However, if you give it some thought, it makes perfect sense. Why do we want our children to be good? Certainly not just for the promise of a reward (i.e. see Christianity). We want them to be good for goodness' sake so we should encourage them to be good, not bribe them to be good or reward them for having done good. Similarly, it makes no sense to punish children for bad behavior (see my post on Michael Vick and the mirage of free will). Instead, we need to impose discipline and, as Coloroso says, "contrary to popular belief, discipline is not synonymous with punishment".

Discipline: 1. shows kids what they have done; 2. gives them ownership of the problem; 3. gives them options for solving the problem; and 4. leaves their dignity intact.

I love how Coloroso describes how all of the world's major religious faiths promulgate a version of the Golden Rule. She then applies that same tenet to parenting: "If we are not sure whether what we are doing with our children is right, we need only put ourselves in their place and ask would we want it done to us - not was it done to us, but would we want it done to us?"

Coloroso is not advocating laissez-faire parenting, which she calls the "jellyfish" approach. However, she is rejecting the traditional "brick-wall" approach in favor of the parents providing a backbone to enable their children to flourish. At risk of being nailed for copyright infringement, I will set out her ingredients for establishing the proper backbone:

1. Send the right life messages to your kids every day: a. I believe in you; b. I trust you; c. I know you can handle life situations; d. you are listened to; e. you are cared for; and f. you are very important to me.

2. Democracy is learned through experience. As children grow in responsibility and decision-making abilities, their opportunities for both should be increased.

3. Create an environment that is conducive to creative, constructive and responsible activity.

4. State rules simply and clearly.

5. Consequences for irresponsible behavior should be natural and reasonable.

6. Discipline should be handled with authority that gives life to children's learning (see the four points above).

7. Motivate and encourage kids to be all they can be.

8. Give your kids lots of hugs, smile and humor.

9. Give kids second opportunities.

10. Instil kids with a strong sense of self-awareness by being empathetic and emotionally available to them.

11. Competency and cooperation should be modeled and encouraged.

12. Love is unconditional.

13. CHILDREN ARE TAUGHT HOW TO THINK - NOT WHAT TO THINK [my emphasis]

14. Daily reinforcement of self-esteem to buffer kids from the problems of sexual promiscuity, drug abuse and suicide. Basically, we want our kids to like themselves, think for themselves and adopt the attitude that there is no problem so great that it can't be solved.

15. Be willing to seek help if it is required from professionals, elders, other parents, etc. After all, even if you have a successful game plan for parenting (and I am convinced that Coloroso has provided one) you still need to execute.

I often remark at how strange it is that people have almost unrestricted freedom to parent their children as they please and yet require a drivers license to operate a motor vehicle. I would have no difficulty whatsoever if new parents were required to read "kids are worth it" (or have it read to them) before leaving the hospital with their newborn(s).

P.S. I am also reading "Curious Minds - How A Child Becomes A Scientist" which is a fascinating collection of essays from 27 of some of the world's most interesting scientists which describe the events in their childhoods that set them on their chosen career paths. It's a great complement to Coloroso's work.


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Walk with care in dark places ...

Inside author Clive Barker's head must be a wild place.

I just finished Barker's novel Mister B. Gone. It's an entertaining tale which takes the form of a memoir penned by a minor demon by the name of Jakabok Botch (affectionately known as Mister B.). Mister B. has the privilege of witnessing many macabre scenes which culminate in a 1438 negotiation between the forces of Heaven and Hellover at the home of Johannes Gutenberg. I won't spoil any more of the horror story except to say that I enjoyed the following advice from Mister B.:

"Walk with care in dark places, and do not put your faith in anyone who promises you the forgiveness of the Lord or a certain place in Paradise."
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Good news and bad news

I was honoured to be mentioned in the Online Christian Colleges website on their list of "100 Twitter Feeds for Your Spiritual Enlightenment": http://onlinechristiancolleges.net/100-twitter-feeds-for-your-spiritual-enlightenment/

The good news resulting from this modest recognition is that there are bright college students who recognize that spirituality and theism are not mutually dependent concepts. The bad news is that the less I write, the more people tend to appreciate it!

[Currently fishing with my kids on Percy Lake in Haliburton County, Ontario, Canada]
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Deconstructing The Purpose Driven Life - Chapter 19

Cultivating Community

In this chapter, Rick Warren talks about cultivating a Christian community. He explains how this requires honesty between members, humility, courtesy, a safe environment of trusted confidentiality and frequent contact between members. I can't argue with any of this and it could be applied to any association where people gather for a common interest or cause. Rick does an admirable job cherry picking Bible verses which highlight the importance of these virtues. I should add that Rick can quote the Bible with the best of them.

Due to the fact that I have little to say about this chapter, I thought I would share the following gem on the issue of Christian humility from Makarios' "I love Jeezus" ranting blog:

We know from Christianity that:

God doesn't love us because of who we are

God loves us because of who He is

God doesn't love us because we have value and worth

We have value and worth because God loves us

This elicited the following comment from PersonalFailure which I thought was a classic:

Did you interview my abusive ex-husband for this post? Seriously, replace "God" with the ex's name and you have exactly what went on in my life for several years. You have an abusive relationship with a nonexistent person. Good for you.

My posts will be infrequent for the next week as I cottage with family and friends in gorgeous Haliburton, Ontario. I hope you are all enjoying your summer. I sure am. Life is short and then you die ... that's all there is so enjoy it while you can. If I believe anything with every fibre of my being, that sums it up in a nutshell ... and the fact that my golf game really sucks.