Religions

Some defenders of religion argue that religious belief is a harmless personal exercise. "What's the problem with people believing whatever they want? How does this hurt anyone?" Well, read Nebraska Senate Nominee Says Religious Beliefs Can Justify Breaking Any Law. This article presents excellent reasons why elevating unsubstantiated, nonfactual religious beliefs over other sorts of unsubstantiated, nonfactual personal beliefs is dangerous. Sasse, however, apparently believes that this law does not go far enough, even if the Court gives Hobby Lobby everything it is asking for. His proposed rule — that government cannot require someone to act counter to their religious…

Here's my report concerning news of all things godly during the past week. Based on my reading of two daily newspapers, TIME, New Scientist, The New Yorker, online New York Times, and many perusals of blogs, web sites, and other Internet offerings... Nothing.  A lot has been happening in material reality. Nothing seems to be going on in supernatural reality. No miracles. No appearances by God. No divine revelations. No anything. Zilch. It's been this way every week for as long as I can remember. Which is the vast majority of my 65 years of living. Same old, same old. …

That's a great word, apatheism. I hadn't come across it until I read a recent New Scientist article, "Losing Our Religion." (On the magazine's web site it is called "God not-botherers: Religious apathy reigns.") Of course, New Scientist is a British publication. The article says, "The UK is one of the least religious countries in the world, with around half of the population saying they don't belong to any religion."  However, there is good news for my country, which is a lot more religious. Even in the US -- a deeply Christian country -- the number of people expressing "no…

Today the United States Supreme Court said it was just fine to have prayers from a "chaplain of the month" open a town's public meetings.  Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority in a 5-to-4 decision that divided the court’s more conservative members from its liberal ones, said the prayers were merely ceremonial. They were neither unduly sectarian nor likely to make members of other faiths feel unwelcome. “Ceremonial prayer,” he wrote, “is but a recognition that, since this nation was founded and until the present day, many Americans deem that their own existence must be understood by precepts…

It's crazy to believe in a world that doesn't exist. This is what many mentally ill people suffer from: a mistaken belief that what their dysfunctional minds tell them is true, really is.  Today I heard on the radio that a pastor presiding over a service in the town where the Fort Hood shootings took place said "the devil is the author of what happened."  Whatever made Ivan Lopez kill three soldiers before he killed himself almost certainly was not the devil. (I added the "almost" to show my scientific credentials, since absolute certainty isn't a hallmark of the scientific…

A video about religion from The Idiot's Guide to Smart People series makes fun of religious believers -- which isn't difficult, of course. But I also enjoyed the take on adamant atheists. They're much smarter than religious people, since they don't accept myths, fantasies, and wishful thinking. (At least, not of the godly variety.) Yet how smart is it to waste a lot of time debating people who do believe in this theological crap? I don't have a good answer. I wouldn't have seen the godless light without having my beliefs challenged by friends, family, and a bunch of books by…

The Hobby Lobby case that was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court today shows why religious beliefs can be dangerous to your health. In this instance, if you work for a company run by owners who want to impose their religious dogma on their employees.  To me, it's a no-brainer: corporations should have to follow the law, just like everybody else. I don't see why there should be exemptions for any sort of religious belief. After all, who is to say what is "religious" and what isn't? Meaning, what difference is there between (1) the owners of Hobby Lobby who…

HBO"s True Detective features Detectives Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson). It's a cop show like no other. My wife and I are loving it. It's gritty and bleak, yet so marvelously acted and philosophically intriguing, we eagerly look forward to new episodes.  Rustin Cohle breaks new ground for broadcast television. I've never heard a major TV show character speak about religion and the meaninglessness of existence in such an honest, philosophically-sophisticated way.  Here's an example from the episode we watched a few days ago. Cohle and Hart are following up a lead in their investigation of…

In his book "A Manual for Creating Atheists," Peter Boghossian has some advice for those who want to helo cure religious addicts: don't focus on weaning them off of religion; rather, remove the foundation of faith that supports their religiosity. Makes sense.  Attacks on religion are often peceived as attacks on friends, families, communities, and relationships. As such, attacking religion may alienate people, making it even more difficult to separate them from their faith. ...Attempting to disabuse people of a belief in their God(s) is the wrong way to conceptualize the problem. God is the conclusion that one arrives at…