The immaturity of spanking

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Michael

One of the most immature acts a person can commit is that of spanking as a form of punishment. Just consider what Ronald Kronenberger did to fellow adults:

An Ohio landlord and businessman charged with assault after police suspected him of spanking a tenant who owed him rent money is now being sued in civil court for a similar accusation by a mentally disabled man.

Mark Neace filed a civil lawsuit in Warren County Common Pleas Courthouse earlier this week claiming Ronald Kronenberger, 53, punished him “with a belt and paddle” on four separate occasions…

Neace volunteered at Kronenberger’s grocery stores in Waynesville, Ohio, 40 miles north of Cincinnati, from November to mid-December, according to his attorney, Eric Deters.

Kronenberger “would find any little thing wrong with what he (Neace) had done and would take him into the office and have him pull his pants down and hit him,” Deters said…

Kronenberger was placed into a diversion program in a Warren County courtroom earlier this month after he was charged with one count of assault for striking Jimmy Marshall, 29, on the buttocks in January, according to court documents.

Marshall, a former tenant of Kronenberger, told authorities he was hit by the man as punishment because he owed him $2,800 in rent, according to the Dayton Daily News.

The rationale behind what Kronenberger did and what so many parents do is exactly the same: he saw bad behavior and sought to correct it via physical force. The only difference between his actions and the immature actions of petulant child-like parents is that we have laws in place to protect adults. I guess we just don’t feel the same way about protecting children.

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Maryland to finally fully outlaw murder

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Michael

More states need to follow Maryland on this:

By a margin of 82-56, the Maryland House of Delegates voted Friday to ban the death penalty in that state. The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has pledged to sign it.

“To govern is to choose, and at a time where we understand the things that actually work to reduce violent crime, when we understand how lives can be saved, we have a moral responsibility to do more of the things that work to save lives,” O’Malley said at a news conference.

“We also have a moral responsibility to stop doing the things that are wasteful, and that are expensive, and do not work, and do not save lives, and that I would argue run contrary to the deeper principles that unite us as Marylanders, as Americans, and as human beings,” O’Malley added.

The only part of what O’Malley said that should unite us all is that the death penalty runs “contrary to the deeper principles”. That is, the death penalty is a form of murder. It is not self-defense. It is not during a battle or war. It is not justified – no more so than the murders committed by the people we tend to sentence to death.

Baltimore County state attorney Scott Shellenberger, a prominent opponent of the bill, said eliminating capital punishment was unnecessary, since Maryland’s current policy is judicious and one of the “most restrictive in the country.”

Since a law was passed in 2009, a judge can impose death in Maryland only if one of three factors exists: DNA evidence, a videotaped confession or a videotaped murder.

This marks what is, again, the only important factor here. It doesn’t matter if we are 100% certain that so-and-so killed someone. The death penalty is still nothing more than state-sanctioned murder that is only differentiated by mere process, not principle.

Good on you, Maryland.

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The non-basis of faith

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Michael

It’s worth saying this as many times as possible: Faith is nothing more than precisely belief without evidence; it is an entirely random basis for beliefs, actions, and behaviors. If you don’t believe me, just look at the results of a recent study on faith-based programs and religious belief amongst the overwhelmingly Christian prison population in America:

Serious criminals co-opt religious doctrine to permit, and even encourage, their illicit activity, a Georgia State University study shows.

Titled “With God on my side: The paradoxical relationship between religious belief and criminality among hardcore street offenders,” the research was co-authored by Georgia State criminologists Volkan Topalli, Timothy Brezina and graduate student Mindy Bernhardt. It was published in the journal Theoretical Criminology. Their findings have policy implications for correctional faith-based reforms.

“Offenders in our study overwhelmingly professed a belief in God and identified themselves with a particular religion, but they also regularly engaged in serious crimes,” said Topalli, an associate professor in Georgia State’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. “Our data suggest that religious belief may even produce or tend to produce crime or criminality among our sample of hardcore street offenders who actively reference religious doctrine to justify past and future offenses.”

The criminals who were studied were not in prison at the time of the study and the sample size was small (48 individuals), but the findings were compelling. These men had been through the system, been preached to through faith-based programs and other religious inmates, and they had come out none the better. I’m not sure I necessarily find it convincing that prisoners with these experiences would become worse than those without such experiences (again, the sample size is small), but I highly suspect that prisoners who went through philosophy- and reason-based programs (if such things actually existed) would come out far, far better people.

The authors note their results do not indicate these effects accrue from the content of religious doctrine. However, it is important to consider their policy implications.

“The growing correctional reform of faith-based programs encourages inmates’ participation in prayer, Bible studies and religious services,” Topalli said. “To the extent that some offenders misinterpret or distort religious teachings to justify and excuse crime, program facilitators may benefit from this knowledge and work to challenge or correct these errors.”

One must wonder how this could possibly be fixed. Sure, we could drill dogma and traditional doctrine into these prisoners, arbitrarily declaring that their current interpretations are wrong, but that’s hardly objective. Indeed, whereas modern day religion is, partially, just a reflection of secular morality, there is no good justification within the context of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or any other religion for such declarations. This inability to offer a basis of reason is most clearly the mark of faith; nothing in any religion stops these prisoners (or any other person of faith) from believing in absolutely anything.

Faith just isn’t a valid basis for belief.

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And the boots of progress continue…

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Michael

The Obama administration has just gotten even more active in being on the right side of history:

The Obama administration on Friday urged the Supreme Court to strike down the Defense Of Marriage Act in a brief that calls the law unconstitutional because it violates “the fundamental guarantee of equal protection.”

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argues in the brief that Section 3 of the 1996 federal law prohibits the marriage of same-sex couples and should get the court’s close scrutiny:

“The law denies to tens of thousands of same-sex couples who are legally married under state law an array of important federal benefits that are available to legally married opposite-sex couples. Because this discrimination cannot be justified as substantially furthering any important governmental interest, Section 3 is unconstitutional.”

Emphasis mine. It’s clear that DOMA and other anti-equality measures have always been about a lack of comfort and sexual maturity amongst Christians and those who have been duped by bogus Christian arguments and, often, outright lies.

I, for one, cannot wait to see marriage equality spread across the United States. The only downside is that when absolutely nothing bad happens as a result, I’ll be stuck being associated with the dwindling but still strong base of bigots that pervade my generation and the generation ahead of me.

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No, that’s a bad Oklahoma! Bad Oklahoma!

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Michael

Looks like there’s another creationist bill in another red state:

Oklahoma’s most recent creationism measure has made it over its latest hurdle.

The Oklahoma Common Education committee passed the Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act Tuesday in a close 9-8 vote, Mother Jones reports.

Introduced by Republican state Rep. Gus Blackwell, the legislation would “permit teachers, schools, and students to explore alternative theories without repercussions,” the Week columnist Dana Liebelson writes.

“Without repercussions”? Come, come now. This bill is about science denialism across the board, including of global warming, cloning, and especially evolution. A person cannot grow up in the 21st century and expect to be proficient in an ever more complex world when our schools are forcing scientific illiteracy on them. Just look at what one of the sponsors of the bill said:

While creationism bills have often been linked to religion, Blackwell insists that the legislation’s focus is scientific exploration.

“I proposed this bill because there are teachers and students who may be afraid of going against what they see in their textbooks,” Blackwell explained to Mother Jones. “A student has the freedom to write a paper that points out that highly complex life may not be explained by chance mutations.”

Highly complex life – indeed, all of life – is explained not merely by chance, nor merely mutations. There are a whole host of mechanisms which contribute to life’s erratic march, such as genetic drift and, of course, natural selection. (I say “erratic march” because, as Stephen Jay Gould noted, life does not evolve towards complexity, but rather diversity.) We cannot expect students to write coherent papers on this matter when there are people in charge like Blackwell who have obviously never even considered biology at this level.

Hopefully this bill will die just like a similar one did last year, but who knows. The power of the stupid-lobby remains as strong as ever.

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Yes, religion is given undue respect and special rights

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Michael

One of the basic arguments of Gnu Atheism is that religion is given undue respect. Indeed, this argument is aired out in the opening pages of The God Delusion; it’s necessary to establish this obvious fact before going any further with other issues. To do otherwise would be to handcuff one’s self to fighting on the the theist’s sheltered turf. It isn’t usually a fair match when one side needs to tiptoe around the facts for fear of being dismissed purely on the grounds of being mildly offensive.

Of course, there are plenty of examples of this undue respect all around us. TGD gives a number, and there are new ones literally every single day. I’ll stick to just one:

A devout member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster had the cops called on him by employees at a Dayton, New Jersey, Motor Vehicle Commission facility after he demanded to be allowed to wear a pasta strainer on his head for his driver’s license photo.

25-year-old Aaron Williams, a practitioner of the mostly satirical anti-creationism “religion” of Pastafarianism, says he was told that motor vehicle policy prohibited the wearing of head coverings in license photos excepting those worn for religious reasons.

“I take it as seriously as anybody else when it comes to religious beliefs,” he later told NJ.com.

There really was no reason to call the police it seems, but that isn’t what’s important here. What’s important is that New Jersey allows individuals to wear headgear for religious (among a few other) reasons. Aaron Williams should have been allowed to have his photo taken with a strainer on his head. To say otherwise is tantamount to saying that the government is allowed to pick and choose what religious beliefs are protected under the First Amendment.

The first objection, I think, that many people will have (besides outrage at having the very idea of religion mocked – the horror!) is that Pastafarianism is not a religion, so there’s nothing to discuss here. That isn’t entirely true. While it isn’t a sincere religion, it does reflect a sincere religious position. That is, Pastafarianism specifically addresses the silliness of certain religious dogma, doctrine, and teaching. It isn’t necessarily related to atheism, but it does deserve the same protection atheism is given under the First Amendment. (Though atheism is also not a religion, the First Amendment provides for freedom for and, as a natural and necessary extension, from religion.)

Williams will be taking his request to state officials higher up the ladder, so it remains to be seen what happens, but I think it’s worth taking a look at the laws of other states. Let’s take a gander at Maine:

An individual may be photographed wearing a turban or the customary wear of a nun. Headgear is also allowed for medical reasons. No other exceptions are provided. “No one will be allowed to wear a hat or other headdress when their photo is taken, except for a Nun who may wear the headdress as part of their ‘habit,’ or a turban may be worn in conjunction with religious beliefs. A person undergoing chemotherapy and requests to wear a kerchief, hat, etc., is allowed to do so.”

This is one of the most absurd special rights granted to religious driver’s. Not only is it saying that special laws apply to people based upon their religious beliefs, but it’s going one step further and specifying two specific groups who don’t have to follow the same laws as the rest of us. So you got that, Jews? You listening, Mennonites? No hats for you.

I only pray to his Noodley Goodness that these laws may one day change.

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And the march continues…

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Michael

Deciding that the right side of history is where they want to be, the U.K., France, and Illinois have all taken steps this month toward putting into law a requirement that same-sex couples be allowed to marry. I think we can expect to see more of this in parts of the world that tend to be enlightened. And if we’re lucky, the U.S. Supreme Court will follow the 14th Amendment and declare that marriage for same-sex couples is required so long as a state decides it wants to have marriage at all. (As I’ve said before, I expect Political Figure Scalia to contradict previous arguments he has made and principles he has stated, but I hope I’m wrong.)

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We told you so

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Michael

Atheists and secularists alike have long pointed out that Christians would quickly object if their rights were ever trampled upon in the same way they frequently trample upon the rights of others. From marriage equality to other basic rights to the building of holy centers, the Christian majority would freak if they were prevented from all these things. But does that stop them from doing it to others? Does that stop them from introducing creationist intelligent design bills? Have they ever ceased in their desire to weasel prayer into public schools? Or to keep it, a la irrational Communist fears, on our money? Of course not. But now that yoga is being taught to kids…well. Now we have a real problem:

Mary Eady, the parent of a first grader, said the classes were rooted in the deeply religious practice of Ashtanga yoga, in which physical actions are inextricable from the spiritual beliefs underlying them.

“They’re not just teaching physical poses, they’re teaching children how to think and how to make decisions,” Ms. Eady said. “They’re teaching children how to meditate and how to look within for peace and for comfort. They’re using this as a tool for many things beyond just stretching.”

Ms. Eady and a few dozen other parents say a public school system should not be leading students down any particular religious path. Teaching children how to engage in spiritual exercises like meditation familiarizes young minds with certain religious viewpoints and practices, they say, and a public classroom is no place for that.

This all, of course, came out of discussions at Evangelical churches. The hint of even the remotest of threats has spurred Christian parents into action.

As it so happens, these parents aren’t entirely wrong. It does appear that Hindu practices are being promoted, especially given the religious source of funding for the program. However, that doesn’t mean the practice needs to stop all together. I’ve never done yoga and I don’t know much about it, but it appears to me that there are plenty of yoga classes and techniques out there that are basically secular in nature. I don’t see why the school couldn’t simply amend the class to reflect the fact that they’re a public institution.

All that said, it really doesn’t surprise me that we have Christians up in arms over something like this. If there was some sort of way they could not-so-slyly promote a uniquely Christian praying style, I’m sure we would hear every excuse in the book about how harmless it was. Then, when the practice was banned, we wouldn’t hear the end of how persecuted Christians are in America.

I just wish the Encinitas Muslim community would express their disapproval of this practice. I’d be curious to see the Christian reaction then.

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The most offensive opportunistic politicization of the recent shootings

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Michael

As events unfolded in the Connecticut shootings, many people took to Facebook to express their horror at what had happened. Some of it was surely the same attention getting grief that we saw with Steve Jobs, but it’s clear that no one found any pleasure in any of these events, to say the least. However, this supposed grief didn’t stop anyone from politicizing the issue from whatever angle they could. Gun advocates said teachers need to be armed. Gun-control advocates said we need better laws. Others said we need to move beyond all that for just a moment. Still others said this is the time to discuss these issues. I tend to agree with that last one. We might call that politicization, but we can’t just ignore what’s happening; I don’t find those sort of discussions offensive. What I do find offensive is illogical, sexist attacks:

Through history, there have been a lot of suggestions as to the cause of mass shootings. In the 60s, it was the permissive culture. In subsequent decades, it’s been the teaching of evolution, working mothers, birth control pills, and “evangelical jockocracies.” The interesting thing about all of these suggestions is that they may point indirectly at a much more plausible explanation. To begin with, we must ask who is offering these explanations in the first place. Overwhelmingly, the answer is white males. Most likely not coincidental is the fact that since 1982, one very specific type of mass shootings has been almost entirely perpetrated by white males.

Rachel Kalish and Michael Kimmel (2010) proposed a mechanism that might well explain why white males are routinely going crazy and killing people. It’s called “aggrieved entitlement.” According to the authors, it is “a gendered emotion, a fusion of that humiliating loss of manhood and the moral obligation and entitlement to get it back. And its gender is masculine.” This feeling was clearly articulated by [the Columbine shooters], the perpetrators of the Columbine Massacre. [One of them] said, “People constantly make fun of my face, my hair, my shirts…” A group of girls asked him, “Why are you doing this?” He replied, “We’ve always wanted to do this. This is payback… This is for all the sh*t you put us through. This is what you deserve.”

This is ugly in is stupid simplicity. From a response I saw on Facebook:

That’s all very interesting but this theory fails to account for the Asian kid at Virginia Tech. The Fort Hood Shooter. The D.C. Sniper and his accomplice. Race is incidental in these crimes. Why should it be any different with white men?

And what about mental illness? What about emotional instability? What about the specific experiences of these shooters? This isn’t some black and white issue (no pun intended). To pretend that it is is nothing more than an awful, disgusting excuse to pursue one’s pet agenda.

Let’s point to our gun culture. Let’s point to the way our media glorifies these shootings*. Let’s point to our mental healthcare apparatus. And let’s not make our points mutually exclusive with one another. There’s a lot going on here.

*I have edited out specific names of shooters. They don’t deserve the personalized attention we give them; CNN has noticed this and, though they are far from perfect, they’ve made an effort to only utter this most recent shooter’s name once per broadcast. For more, watch this:

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Election results

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Michael

The two results that concern me the most are the presidential race and the vote to legalize same-sex marriage in Maine.

Well, good news.

President Obama will continue to correct the mistakes of Dubya and gay people are no longer second-class citizens in Maine. In fact, while Washington is likely to also pass a pro-equality measure, Maine is technically the first state to approve gay marriage by means of popular vote. We’ve done some good up here. I’m proud.

Also, here is my favorite part of this night:

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