Wendy Wright, not so bright

The following interview of creationist Wendy Wright by Richard Dawkins has been making the rounds online. Warning! Listening to Ms. Wright can cause insanity and the desire to jump out of the nearest and highest window.


There are seven parts to this interview. You can watch the rest of them here, and no I did not watch them all in their entirety. I’m now nursing a massive headache from the few clips I did suffer through. The funny thing is, judging by the still-frame shots on the video players above, you could get the impression that Wendy is totally into Richard and some boot knocking is about to take place (in the empty cubicle to the left). Sadly, Ms. Wright’s smile is a mask and not a true expression of admiration and love. I can’t put my finger on the right term to describe what hides behind the mask…

The Immoral Book

An argument I hear on a regular basis from Christians is that the Bible is a guide for moral living, and without it people would have no reason to act in an ethical manner. This is, of course, nothing more than an opinion, and a flat out false one at that. The truth is that people have been acting ethically and morally for thousands of years, and the vast majority of them never heard of Yahweh, Elohim or Jesus. This Christian opinion comes from their myopic view of the world: an inability to see outside of their small, personal and communal beliefs to recognize the blatantly obvious fact that not everyone in the world grew up in a Christian environment. It is this same inability to place themselves in others shoes that leads to their equating the word “religion” with “my religion:Christianity” when they argue for “allowing religion in our schools.” Perhaps this cognitive shortcoming is a result of wishful thinking and the desire that their religion be the only one around (and they obviously think their religion is the only true one).

What astounds me the most is the argument that the Bible is a “Good Book.” It might contain some good suggestions for living that happen to align with modern ideas of ethical behavior, but for every single one of those there is another behavior condoned or outright ordered in the Bible that is disgustingly barbaric and highly immoral. Since Christians regularly extend their myopic view of the world to their own holy book, I thought it might be a good idea to remind them of the immorality preached by “God’s Word.” Below are a few passages to get started. Please add your own in the comments, and let’s see if we can’t shine the light of reality on those dubious claims about the Bible’s goodness:

Numbers 15:32-36 –
15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
15:33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
15:34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.
15:35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.
15:36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.

I would love for a Christian to stand in front of me, look me in the eyes, and tell me that it is ethical to stone people to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath. I would laugh nonstop for an hour, and then feel very disturbed. The Lord ordered this, right? Morals are absolute and stem directly from God, do they not? God is just and immutable, is He not? Given those facts, the only conclusion you can honestly reach is this: brutal, communal executions are moral and just.

Now that you have inhabited the completely preposterous, ultraviolent Christian mindset, try inhabiting the atheist’s perspective: morals do not stem from a deity but from a moral Zeitgeist (resulting from thousands of years of ethics, philosophy, and human culture), and this Zeitgeist considers stick gathering an activity that causes no harm others (ergo, no need for brutal executions).

Doesn’t life suddenly make much more sense when you stop the cognitive dissonance that occurs from thinking an ancient book written by barbaric, violent, sexist tent-dwellers is from a magical, supernatural, otherworldly plane of existence where Absolutes and a universe creator dwells? I mean, really, don’t you even feel a little bit stupid for thinking it? Just a bit? It really is just plain crazy.

Here’s another one of my favorites:

Leviticus 21:16-23
21:16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
21:17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
21:18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
21:19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
21:20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
21:21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
21:22 He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.
21:23 Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.

As you can see, God considers it moral to discriminate against the handicapped. God is a huge asshole.

Dan Barker: A Former Charismatic Evangelist with Intellectual Integrity

I am currently reading a book titled Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America’s Leading Atheists by Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. It’s a great read. His personal story is extremely interesting, as he was quite a big name in Christian circles; he wrote a few Christian musicals that were widely disseminated, and he was very involved in Christian music production. He was also a hardcore evangelist who traveled to Mexico a fair amount from a very young age. You can read his biography by clicking on his name above.

Is Fundamentalist Christianity an Addiction?

My first addiction was Jesus. My second was alcohol. For years now, I’ve lived without either, and without developing any new addictions. I grew up in the south and went to college in the Bible belt states, but having been away from that culture for so long, I sometimes forget how deeply ingrained the cult of Jesus really is among many communities, not just in the south, but throughout the US. Occasionally, meeting or hearing from someone reminds me of this phenomenon.

Pat Robertson’s Christian Truth

I would be seriously remiss if I did not post something about Pat Robertson’s recent comments that have gotten everyone talking. To summarize, after the earthquake in Haiti that has so far killed between 45-50,000 people, Pat Robertson went on the air to offer his compassion, love and support…

Not quite; that would occur in an alternative reality, where Pat exists as a non-racist, non-ignoramus. Unfortunately, in this world, Pat is a self-righteous prophet of condemnation. Here is a video clip from The Young Turks whose commentary on the clip is worth listening to. I like the anchor’s incredulous attitude:

My Christian and non-Christian friends alike have been talking about Pat’s comments on Facebook.

The Scientific Explanation for Christian Hypocrisy

Ok, so maybe the title of this post is a wee bit misleading. The scientific study this article describes does not focus specifically on Christianity or even on religion. Still, it made me think about my youth in Christian circles, and the ridiculously obvious hypocrisy I witnessed that most others seemed blinded to. I have always chalked up this Christian hypocrisy to the fact that the ideal Christian life — as described by Paul: one with no lust, and bereft of many other normal and natural human desires and needs — is simply impossible to achieve. Thus, Christians had no option but to ignore this fact, pretending that they were achieving and living that life. But, if this research is correct, perhaps much of this rampant condemnation and hypocrisy in Christians circles is simply due to the side affects of having power. This would certainly explain why the staff, faculty, and students with the most power at my MK boarding school tended to be the biggest hypocrites and fell the hardest when their hypocrisy was revealed.

Here is the article: “Why Powerful People — Many of Whom Take a Moral High Ground — Don’t Practice What They Preach”

I hate Christmas

Man, I hate Christmas. I can’t express to you how much I hate it. Now you may be thinking I hate Christmas because it’s a religious holiday blah blah blah but no. I don’t care that it’s a religious holiday at all. It’s the malls. It’s the traffic. It’s the cold. It’s the screaming children at Wal-Mart forced by their parents to go to yet another store when they are already over-shopped. Fuck. I hate fucking Christmas. The most wonderful time of the year? My ass! I’m always broke at this time of year too. For that reason, I don’t buy presents. I don’t do Christmas. I just tell everyone I’m Jewish. Besides, the worst things always happen to me at this time of year. I can’t go into detail about the latest incident, but let’s just say it sucks.

The only good thing about Christmas is getting off work and getting drunk for about a week till New Year’s. Merry fucking Christmas, y’all. There, I’m done venting.

Billboard Offends Christians in New Zealand

Apparently, some Christians don’t like to think about Joseph putting his penis in Mary–and they ESPECIALLY don’t like to think about her not enjoying it. Strangely enough, this billboard was paid for by a church. Here is the story on Yahoo!: “Joseph, Mary in bed billboard defaced”.

There's nothing wrong with you, Joe. It's just that God...well, God knew exactly what I wanted. He is omniscient, you know.

Gorilla God Sightings

Facebook’s advertising robot seems to think I am a Christian, probably because almost all of my friends are, so today I saw an advertisement on the right hand margin for the following website: God Sightings. The ad invited me to:

Share your God Sightings with others around the world as you read The One Year Bible online for FREE!

The title of the book and site is obviously an allusion to alien sightings, but I’m not going to assume they are aware of what they are alluding to.

Old Testament Scholars Face Reality

On a blog I follow there’s an interesting article by Jaco Gericke about the issue of cognitive dissonance and its effect on Old Testament scholars. According to Gericke, most Old Testament scholars begin their studies with scant knowledge of the views of critical scholars and atheists. What they know is based primarily on stereotypes, secondary sources, and straw men. The majority of these scholars consider themselves Christians committed to realism in their study of God. When faced with the fatal flaws in their belief system, Gericke states they experience cognitive dissonance with sometimes serious consequences (mental illness or suicide in rare cases). His article reminded me of a post of mine on this topic, Cognitive Dissonance and the Religious Mind.

Gericke’s full article:

“The Collapse of Realism, Cognitive Dissonance and the ‘Died-Again’ Christian Syndrome”

Jesus Christ, It’s a Venn Diagram!

I found this surfing the web, and it answered a question that has been plaguing me on a daily basis for decades: “What do zombies, Dracula and Frankenstein have in common?” Turns out, Jesus has got them all beat…

How to Hate Your Body

Thanks to the magic of Lego, the Old Testament message of bodily self-loathing can be enjoyed in all of its glory. It starts here. Click the arrows on the top right to learn even more valuable lessons about the filth that is you!

Crutch Evolution

As far back as I can remember, the Christian communities I have been a part of have always been sensitive to the charge that their religious beliefs are a crutch for the emotionally weak. Even before I had heard a non-Christian make this assertion, I heard it introduced and rebutted in a Christian setting on numerous occasions. I have always wondered if the Christian hypersensitivity to, and fixation on, this charge was indicative of a truth within it. However, I eventually decided that all humans need crutches, so it seemed like a meaningless claim. Also, I know from my own observations and discussions with Christians that, as individuals, they believe for different reasons. Or maybe a better way to put it would be to say that they are drawn to, or kept in, Christianity by different approaches to the religion that focus on different aspects. For some, it is obvious that the emotional fix they get from worshiping and singing is something they are addicted to and could not live without. For others, who might even look down on those who make “spiritual love” to Jesus in church, it is the unassailable logic of the NT story and the Bible’s explanation for how the world and humans function that appeals to them. Essentially, people find in religion what they are looking for in the first place.

Richard Norman examines the “‘belief-lite’ version of religion”

Beyond belief:
Some sophisticated arguments for God have been made in response to the New Atheists. Richard Norman puts the ‘New Believers’ to the test.

When I read the following passage from this article, I immediately thought about my fellow MKs:

Most people give their allegiance to a particular religion not because they judge that its doctrines are uniquely true, but because it is the religion in which they find their cultural roots. It defines their identity. And it does so through a particular set of practices and rituals, and a particular set of metaphors, and a particular set of stories. And it is this above all, I think, that explains why, for all the intellectual implausibility of the traditional doctrines, intelligent and sensitive people continue to identify themselves as Christians or Muslims or whatever.

Evolution never happened

I posted this on a comment thread a few posts back, but I realized that it needs its own post if it will ever get a chance to be heard:

- Rant Alert -

With the entire fossil record and a mountain of evidence before us in the 21st century, I don’t see how any intelligent, educated person can deny that evolution happened