Mighty Forces

"Rev. Wright was a Marine and then spent his entire life trying to make things better for people. He can say whatever the fuck he wants. And he sure as hell didn't send the economy into the shitter while vilifying half the country and sending 4,000 people to their deaths while presiding over a torture regime. Some perspective, please."

Amen, brother.

Q: How did life begin on Earth?

SCIENTISTS: We don't know. But we're looking into it.

CREATIONISTS: God did it.

Pick a side, people. It's not difficult.

Fun fact: The Scopes Trial was more than 80 years ago.

(These may seem snarky, coming from a cynical agnostic like me. That's not my intention at all.)

• Does God value a person higher who worships Him over one who doesn't, even if both are good people who live good lives? If so, why?
• If God does want us to worship Him, isn't that sort of egotistical? Why should an all-powerful being want or need our worship?
• If God does want us to worship Him, why does he make it so difficult to figure out the correct way to do it? Is it some sort of a test?
• Not only is it difficult to figure out which is the "correct" faith, but if God wants worship, why doesn't he make his existence more undeniable? Another test?
• If God is God, why is religion so cultural? Why is your religion so dependent on where you live, when you live, and who your parents are?
• Why are ancient religions so easily dismissed as fables and stories, when contemporary religions have just as many strange and fantastical aspects?

Had a fascinating conversation over IM this snowy morning with John Callender of lies.com about aliens and Carl Sagan and the Drake equation. It was quite deep, at least deep for IM, and left me feeling a little like an unfrozen caveman trying to read "Godel, Escher, Bach." As far as I can tell, John believes that SETI is indistinguishable from religious faith. I think there is a difference, but I'm not smart enough to explain exactly why. I guess it is similar because I definitely believe there is life on other planets, but there isn't really any evidence of that. Still, we do know there are other stars, and other planets....I don't know. My brain hurts.

Of course, even though I'm fascinated by it, I don't really understand religious faith either, at least to the level I would like. I understand it intellectually, and sociologically, but not emotionally. Not on a deep level. And I wish I did.

Holy fuck, Mitt. Seriously. You just jumped up neck-and-neck with Rudy as "scariest Republican presidential candidate." And that's a high bar.

Isn't it humorous that Mitt Romney feels he has to champion the separation of church and state to a hard-line Republican base? Of course, when your base isn't sure whether your religion is a cult, what other choice do you have?

Meanwhile, if Southern Baptist minister Mike Huckabee spent his campaign events speaking in tongues and handling snakes, that would probably *increase* his popularity among the same people who consider MItt's religion a cult.

What a world.

At the end of the day, is magic underwear really that much crazier than giant arks or virgin births or talking bushes? You're either a rationalist or you're not. And the good news is, a recent poll found 20% of adults under 30 say they are rationalists and have figured out that Santa Claus and Jesus are really the same guy.

Now, 20% is hardly a majority, but it's a bigger minority than blacks, Jews, homosexuals, NRA members, teachers or seniors. And it's certainly enough to stop being shy about expressing the opinion that we're not the crazy ones!

-Bill Maher, "Real Time with Bill Maher," saying something that people are afraid to say in American society in 2007 - which is scary in itself.

Cain slew Abel, Seth knew not why
For if the children of Israel were to multiply
Why must any of the children die?
So he asked the Lord
And the Lord said:

I burn down your cities-how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we
You all must be crazy to put your faith in me
That's why I love mankind
You really need me
That's why I love mankind

Isn't theological debate just another way of proving that we create God, rather than the other way around?

"It's true for me." That's what Bill O'Reilly said when questioned about his faith by atheist-about-town Richard Dawkins, currently famous (or infamous) for his book "The God Delusion."

"How can something just be true for you?" Dawkins said. "Doesn't truth have to be true for everyone?"

These are among the questions I struggle with.

Here's another one: why do we consider the ancient Egyptian, Roman and Greek gods, among others, to be so obviously myth and superstition, while the risen Christ is real? Zeus hurling thunderbolts is just a story, but the virgin birth really happened? How is that? We accept all manner of wild, bizarre things as long as our faith defines them. Is that a good thing?

"If the Bible has taught us nothing else, and it hasn't, it's that girls should stick to girls sports, such as hot oil wrestling and foxy boxing and such and such."

Since I've been sort of a hermit these last couple of years, I haven't had a lot of people to bounce my incessant Simpsons pop cultural references off of. I guess I can do it here, now. Aren't you lucky?

I just finished listening to Julia Sweeney's show "Letting Go of God," where she talks about her transition from Catholic to atheist. It's sweet, sad and hilarious in turns, and I recommend it highly. I was so impressed I fired off an e-mail to her this morning, telling her how much I loved the show and how it intersected with a lot of stuff I'm thinking about these days.

Amazingly, I got a wonderful personal e-mail reply from her this afternoon. Isn't the internet great?

Why is it commonly accepted that the religions of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Druids and others are just a collection of superstition and myth, while Christianity is real and relevant? Why is the virgin birth accepted, while Zeus hurling thunderbolts is just so much easily-dismissed hokum?

This whole Jerry Falwell thing reminds me of a strange phenomenon. Often when religious people talk about someone who died who they don't like, they say God punished them (gay people dying of AIDS, hedonistic New Orleans residents, etc.). But when someone dies who they liked (Jerry Falwell), they say things like "God called him home." So I guess death can be either a punishment or a reward, depending on the circumstances. Then there's the whole hell thing to contend with.

Just example #1,371 of things I don't understand about religion.

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

-Jerry Falwell, right after 9/11

“AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”

“If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.”

UPDATE: Of course, the righties are just appalled that some people can't exactly mourn a man who spent his career demonizing everything that didn't fit into his extremely narrow worldview. Meanwhile, the Freepers had this to say about Jimmy Carter, a man who builds houses for poor people, when he dared suggest repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell":

"I wish Jimmy Carter would go to hell."
"Bugger off and die,you worthless phoney!"
"When is that idiot going to die?"