Author Archives: brucefp

Is it a full moon or something?

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Yeah, I know, nothing special really happens during a full moon other than bright nights but there seems to be something in the air.

Maybe it’s the Presidential transition, the holiday season or people just taking their minds off the recession but there seems to be more attention being paid to issues of god.  The crazies seem crazier and those defending reason and the real world seem to be pushing a little harder.

I’m not complaining, mind you. Let’s put our cards on the table and see where it takes us. It is so hard to make progress on something considered taboo.  So, here are a few samplings of the rumbling maybe they’re portentous maybe not.

Kentucky’s department of Homeland Security to look to god first BY LAW.

By law, god (which one??) is acknowledged as Kentucky’s first line of defense against terrorism and must be mentioned in all documents.  Crazy and embarrassing if you’re from Kentucky.  The law is a few years old and it really hasn’t been followed too closely by the people in the Homeland Security department of the state of Kentucky, but it is still on the books and there is a state senator pushing for compliance.

Freedom From Religion Foundation erects sign along side nativity scene in Olympia, Washington legislative building.

Actually an expansion of a tradition the foundation has been carrying out in Wisconsin for many years, the signs recognize the winter solstice and  bear quotes denying gods and religion.  (full disclosure: I’m always a little giddy when my donations cause a stir!)

Witch Doctor arrested after admitting to killing 110 children.

The Witch-Children of Akwa Ibon

In a horrific tale of scape-goating and superstitious ignorance,  self-styled Bishops merge christian and indigenous beliefs to sow hysteria for their own advancement.  It is most often defenseless children that are accused of possesion and witchcraft with the families paying for exorcisms to relieve what they believe is bad luck brought on by these children.  If the exorcism does not “succeed” the children are turned out from the family or killed outright.

Pedophile priest resigns

A horror that has become so common that it risks being considered trite and boring, a Catholic priest has sent pope Benedict his resignation after admitting to molesting boys in his parish.

As I said, just a sampling.

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Bloody well worth it

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The wife, kids and myself just completed the grueling post-Thanksgiving trip home from Connecticut.  We even set a new record, 10 hours!  That is four hours over a typical Maryland to Connecticut run and an hour over the previous record set somewhere around 1990.

Even while the aches of that marathon journey still restrict my movements, I can cheerily state it was worth it and I’d do it again tomorrow.  Thanksgiving is far and away my favorite holiday.  It is all about family, food and laughter.  It has been this way for quite a while and I guess it isn’t going to change.  We’ve established some new rituals, like my brother’s Thanksgiving-eve cocktail party and the Black Friday trip to the movies with my sister and her kids.  But it is the basic premise, that we’ll all be together for Thanksgiving, that holds true.

This year, the potential for a less than stellar get together was there.  Some family changes are in progress, which is always difficult as well  it was the first Thanksgiving we’ve been without my stepmother.  It was she who firmly established Thanksgiving as the holiday to come home for.  It was fitting for my family to settle on a secular holidays to come together.  While we were all raised Jewish, I don’t think it ever quite held the importance for us that family itself did.  So, as adults, it continued to decline in interest and prominence.

Happily,  every seemed ready for a time of hugs and laughter.  We play very well together and it seems that we never quite get enough of one another.  Luckily, this continues in the next generation of cousins who are always anxious to see each other and act like no time has past.  Which is kind of funny, since all we can see is how much they’ve changed as they grow between visits.

The holidays take on greater significance as the demands of our very separate lives keep us apart the rest of the year and we’ll keep doing battle with the New Jersey Turnpike to be there.  These times are truly precious and few.

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America grows up just a little

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Obama’s victory is the victory of hope over pessimism.

His acceptance speech will be considered a classic.

As he said, there is much work to be done but at least we’re in it together.  More of us of more stripes than ever before.

Sure, we don’t know what will be.  We never do.

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Priests are people too. Aren't they?

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Added parishioner Viola Czajkowski: “I don’t see how a priest who took vows could possibly do something like this and have mass every day while this was going on.”

The “something like this” was seduce a vulnerable lady who was getting a divorce.

This kind of magical thinking always amazes me.  What did this person think?  That in a Harry Potter kind of way, priests taking vows had a hex on them to prevent them from acting human?  Where do they think all those priest jokes come from, anyway?

No question, Elvis Elano, deserves scorn.  Not for breaking some ridiculous vows (Do priests take vows for anything other than chastity?) but for abusing a position of authority and responsibility to take advantage of someone, potentially, vulnerable.

This is really no different than if it had been a doctor, teacher, counselor or relative.  People have an expectation that they can bring their problems to “professionals” without being preyed upon.  But don’t be shocked in particular  because the predator is a priest, he’s just a guy with strange job.

A woman takes a lover home during the day, while her husband is at work. Unbeknownst to her, her 9 year old son was hiding in the closet. Her husband comes home unexpectedly, so she puts the lover in the closet with the little boy.The little boy says, “Dark in here.”
The man says, “Yes it is.”
Boy- “I have a baseball.”
Man- “That’s nice.”
Boy- “Want to buy it?”
Man- “No, thanks.”
Boy- “My dad’s outside.”
Man- “OK, how much?”
Boy- “$250.”

In the next few weeks, it happens again that the boy and the mom’s lover are in the closet together.

Boy- “Dark in here.”
Man- “Yes, it is.”
Boy- “I have a baseball glove.”
The lover, remembering the last time, asks the boy, “How much?”
Boy- “$750.”
Man- “Fine.”

A few days later, the father says to the boy, “Grab your glove. Let’s go outside and toss the baseball back and forth.”
The boy says, “I can’t. I sold them.”
The father asks, “How much did you sell them for?”
The son says “$1,000.”
The father says, “That’s terrible to overcharge your friends like that. That is way more than those two things cost. I’m going to take you to church and make you confess.”

They go to church and the father makes the little boy sit in the confession booth and he closes the door.

The boy says, “Dark in here.”
The priest says, “Don’t start that sh*t again.”

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Movie Review: Religulous

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Bill Maher knows he’s right about religion.  He does.  He knows that the world would have a net improvement if we scraped off the superstition-based philosophies that hold sway in society.  It’s just that he sometimes becomes less effective at selling it when he shows that and this movie is, above all else, about marketing that idea.

Truth be told, I agree with him in principle.  The question is not whether he’s right, though, it is whether he created an effective and entertaining vehicle to market the fact.

My wife, and I, went to see Bill Maher’s new movie Religulous on opening day.  This is particularly interesting because it was her idea and she’s Catholic.  It was an early show, so we didn’t expect the attendence to be high, it wasn’t.  There were about a dozen people in the most popular multiplex in town.  That was OK.   My disappointment?  No protesters.  I really wanted them.  Maybe when they make a movie called “All Religions are Stupid and Should be Abolished”  I’ll get my protesters.

So, you know what you’re going to get, right?   Bill Maher making faith and people of faith look silly.  Yes and no.

The movie is a mix of interviews and ruminations.  All of it is peppered with movie clips that are, at best, hilarious.  Sometimes the clips are a little too biting, too denigrating.  Enough to make an avowed rationalist cringe a bit.

Where did Maher go to ask questions about religion?  Where didn’t he go?  Israel, Rome, England, The Netherlands, The South and Washington D.C.   He visited a trucker church, a mosque, the Vatican and a Jesus theme park.  He spoke to priests, ministers, lay people, Jesus impersonators and Jesus (well, he thought he was Jesus).

We was definitely most effective when he was questioning sincerely and listening to the answers.  I think he found the men at the trucker church earnest and endearing. He treated them well and got great stuff in return.   His interview with Senator Mark Pryor from Arkansas was excellent, he let Senator Pryor express his own views.  (He seemed like an decent guy, who just bought the wrong bill of goods.)

Not so effective was his time with an anti-zionist Jew who met with Ahmedinijad and was in clips hugging the nutty Iranian President.  I was left feeling there was a great deal to the interview we didn’t see.  Certainly, there wasn’t enough to justify Maher’s curt reaction to him.  This was one of the segments where, even if you agress with Maher, you’re left feeling like he was acting a bit dick-ish.

There were some very funny subtitles during other interviews which reminded me of “The Word” segment from The Colbert Report.  Those were funny and informative.  Very effective.

Surprisingly, other than not allowing him an official interview in the Vatican, the Catholics came of pretty well.  This might be due to Maher’s Catholic upbringing which was discussed in personal reminiscences with his mother and sister.  Father Coyne, former head of the Vatican observatory, was typically eloquent, knowlegable and reasonable.  Also, there was a very amusing and liberal priest who was interviewed outside the Vatican.  Clearly, he didn’t represent the Vatican’s policies, but he was funny.

Maher closing argument was well thought out and delivered poignantly.  Punctuated with imagery of violence, it was effective and moving.  I thought it was perfect.

So, how was Religulous?  It was good.  It could have been great.  Bill Maher is funny and he has a clear message to deliver.  It is mostly well delivered.  Unfortunately, it isn’t the unbiased, graceful delivery that would be most effective at getting people of faith to listen.  He’ll be preaching to the faithful.  They’ll enjoy it, as I did.

My wife enjoyed it as well.  We talked about the movie afterwards.  I think it is definitely a conversation starter.  She commented that it was amazing that this movie was made and in pretty wide distribution.  We thought that was a pretty hopeful sign.

“We need more people speaking out. This country is not overrun with rebels and free thinkers. It’s overrun with sheep and conformists.” – Bill Maher

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If I lived among the Cherokee…

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Angie Gambill, editor of The Tomahawk paper in Mountain City, Tennessee, is offended by people taking offense at the prominent display of religious doctrine in her local courthouse.*

“A complaint has been lodged by Washington-based Americans for Separation for Church and State on behalf of a county resident in opposition to the 10 Commandments display at the courthouse,” said [County Mayor] Grayson at last week’s Johnson County Board of Commissioners meeting.

The foundation of the complaint is Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of a wall of separation between church and state.  An ideal that has been upheld repeatedly by the United States Supreme Court.

This carries little weight in Ms. Gambill’s world.  A world where it makes more sense to separate people:

“If I decided to live among the Cherokee, I would expect to see symbols of their culture, religion and history everywhere.”

“I would never question the right of an African American community to display reminders of their heritage and uniqueness as a people.”

Well, Ms. Gambill, you do not have the luxury of excluding African American’s or Cherokee from your society. Because, it is not yours.  It is theirs.  It is theirs and ours, and there is even room in it for you.  All that is required is you follow the laws that have evolved over many societies, many years and many battles.  These laws exist expressly to allow us to live together in one community.

That is what you don’t understand.  While you are doggedly fighting for the primacy of your faith against all others in what you suppose is your little corner of the globe, you ignorantly dismiss the history of this country.  That is why you are being opposed by an organization called Americans UNITED for the Separation of Church and State.

In her crowning rhetorical achievement, Ms. Gambill looks to the children to lead:

In last week’s Tomahawk, little Sam Allen spoke volumes in his honest and obviously heartfelt letter. “We all need to read and know Jesus’ ten commandments because Jesus didn’t make them for nothing.” I can’t pretend to improve on those words of simple childlike faith and wisdom.

Really Angie?  You can’t improve on ignorance?  I feel sorry for little Sam Allen.  To have grow up in a community which cares so little for you that they cannot even correct your mistakes.  Worse, they celebrate them as wise.

“Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt”, Clarence Darrow.

* Link found through Pharyngula, PZ Myers exceptional blog.

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Roger Ebert Nails It

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In his recent blog post, “This is the Dawning of the Age of Credulity”, Roger Ebert correctly characterizes our times as an age when we “accept rather than select”.  The constant stream of sound bites, mash-ups and carefully sculpted lies push and prod us to conclusions.  Rarely do we take the time to collate, digest and reflect.

The drive for this particular article was the firestorm of comments generated by another blog post by Ebert where, without revealing preamble, he laid out as a Q&A his understanding of Creationism.  Most of the answers he gave were subtly snarky, well subtle if you are a Creationist;

Q. What about bones representing such species as Cro-Magnon Man and Neanderthal Man?
A. Created at the same time as man. They did not survive. In fact, all surviving species and many others were created fully formed at the same time. At that moment they were of various ages and in varying degrees of health. Some individuals died an instant later, others within seconds, minutes or hours.

Apparently, they were subtle enough to get some anti-Creationists upset and there the problem lay. Posting a Q&A about Creationism without clear derision was enough to get people up in arms.

Mr. Ebert challenges us to be “perceptive readers” and schools us with a story of his early education and the lesson learned by reading “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift.  He then uses a recent review of the Heroes season premiere where a quote from Hamlet is characterized as “crazy nonsense” to show how our rapid processing can let us miss the obvious.

In the final weeks of a multi-year Presidential Campaign where so much is at stake, Mr. Ebert reminds us to be critical thinkers.  Look at the context, judge the merit and above all, use your head!  It is exactly what these careful crafters of lies hope you will not do.

These days, there is no room for ambiguity, and few rewards for critical thinking. Now every word of a politician is pumped dry by his opponent, looking for sinister meanings. Many political ads are an insult to the intelligence. Here I am not discussing politics. I am discussing credulity. If you were to see a TV ad charging that a politician supported “comprehensive sex education” for kindergarten children, would you (1) believe it, or (2) very much doubt it? The authors of the ad spent big money in a bet on the credulity and unquestioning thinking of the viewership. Ask yourself what such an ad believes about us. No politics, please.

Don’t you think that Roger Ebert should be acknowledged as one of the standard bearers of the Skeptical movement?

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Questions worthy of a Presidential Candidate (update 9/15)

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The candidates have yet to be brought together for a debate over issues of Science and Technology, although ScienceDebate2008.com has been working towards that goal for almost a year.

They have succeeded in getting at least one Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, to answer their 14 policy questions on Science and Technology.  It is a very good read and the questions alone point out how important these issues are to our future.  Hopefully, the McCain campaign will follow suit and provide their answers very soon.  (update 9/15, the McCain campaign has posted their answers and you may see them side-by-side with Obama’s here.)

I have to say I was very impressed and pleased with the answers given.  It was obvious the answers came from some very intelligent individuals (Mr. Obama can’t possibly have the breadth and depth of knowledge for all those answers).  We can only hope Mr. Obama continues to elicit such knowledgable advise and adhere to it, if elected president.

How important is Science and Technology to you?

If your answer was ‘Pretty Damn Important!”, you’re correct.  If you gave any other answer, you’re just wrong.  You are.

How do I know this?  Because you are reading this.  It’s that simple.  You’ve probably never considered the basic science and engineering that brought this page to you.   Physics, fundamentally, but also electrical engineering, computer science, mathematics and even biology.  That’s just some of what it takes to bring a web page to you.

Ask yourself some pretty basic questions:  How did I get to work?  How is my house cooled or heated?  Where does my entertainment come from (even modern publishing and distribution is a feat of technology!)?  Why is it that we live longer than our ancesters and in better general health?

You shouldn’t get through a day without considering the importance of scientific and technological advancements that make our lives rich and functional.

Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science. ~Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954

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Damning to Hell == Love

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OK, so we’re all familiar with Christian churches taking issue with suggestive pop-culture.  It’s so old, most people don’t take much notice.  It shouldn’t surprise anyone when this sign popped up in front of the Havens Corners Church in Backlick, Ohio.

Sign in front of Havens Corners Church

I was even ready to pass on this bit of foolishness, until I read the article.   David Allison,  the pastor of the church and the man responsible for the sign, says he was concerned about the implications of the song and video.  Sure, all kinds of craziness will ensue if girls start kissing girls and liking it.  I don’t know, maybe they’ll be too busy to fall victim to predator pastors.

Anyway, that’s not the point, according to the article “He thought the message would be a loving way to remind teenagers that the Bible denounces homosexuality”.  A “loving” way?

Maybe this is more of that “small town values” thing I’ve been hearing so much about, but I don’t get it.  How are threats of eternal torture loving?

Let’s see, kissing another girl vs. threatening kids via a public display.   Which seems to be the greater offense?

Us guys have known how nice kissing girls is for a long time, I guess we’ve always feared girls would find out and give us more competition. Eh, pastor Allison?

“Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo” — H. G. Wells

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Buffy Somers leading girls away from Western Religion?

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According to a recent study by Dr. Kristin Aune the character Buffy Somers from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is leading young girls away from traditional Western Religion.

The study, published in the book Women and Religion in the West, says that young women are taking a greater interest in Wicca and other Pagan religions.   To the extent that 50,000 young women have abandoned Western religion to study paganism.

Why are young girls so influenced by a TV series?  According to the author, “Because of its focus on female empowerment”.

So, after watching a role model that is smart, tough and empowered in a world that constantly throws road-blocks in her way, young girls are no longer content to follow the misogynistic ways of western religion.   Religious practices which tell you whatever you accomplish is due to a long-deceased guy from the desert and not your own abilities?   Go figure.

Young girls can learn a lot through the trials and tribulations of young Buffy Somers.  My most excellent daughter mainlined Buffy for years and she’s awesome.  As for Paganism?  I haven’t seen any pagan suicide bombers or pagans picketing soldier funerals lately.

I read this article and my first thought was, “How cool is that?” Buffy’s not even airing anymore and it’s still rocking the world.  AWESOME!

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