Filed under: Atheism/Humanism, Humor | Tagged: Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion | 8 Comments »
The tyranny of the majority
Posted on May 23, 2011 by Michael
The Republican-led Minnesota legislature approved late Saturday putting a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to voters in November 2012.
The Minnesota House of Representatives voted 70 to 62 after about five hours of discussion, cementing the amendment’s place on the ballot for 2012. The Senate approved the proposed amendment earlier in May largely along party lines.
Minnesota law already bans gay marriage, but amendment sponsors argued that a constitutional amendment would ensure legislators or a small group of judges could not change that.
In other words, go to hell gays and go to hell civil rights, the majority is afraid of what they don’t understand. Of course, this is the state of Michele Bachmann, so maybe these people actually think the founding fathers thought majorities ought to be able to oppress minorities.
Filed under: News, Religions, Same-sex marriage | Tagged: gay marriage, Minnesota | 37 Comments »
Neil deGrasse Tyson responds
Posted on May 22, 2011 by Michael
In response to the facts Stephen Hawking recently put out there, Neil deGrasse Tyson has said this:
1.2 billion people in the world think there’s no Heaven. But apparently, it’s only news when Stephen Hawking says so.
It’s funny. Shortly before reading this, I was having a discussion with a friend over the very fact that Hawking got so much press for what he said. In truth, his statement represents an idea that is commonly held and not at all radical, and very few other people would raise eyebrows by saying the same thing.
The fact is, Hawking’s statement was considered remarkable because of who he is and the contributions he has made to science, but that is only part of the story. There are plenty of other big-name scientists who have made greater contributions than Hawking, but they wouldn’t have gotten any press with the same statements – even with name recognition. What makes this a big deal, at least in part, is that Christians have long been trying to claim Hawking for their own. His statements have been ambiguous in the past, so dishonest people have been able to exploit his beliefs quite easily. (Hell, people do still do this with Einstein.) But now everything has become clear. There can longer be any doubt that Stephen Hawking is an atheist. I think that irks the Christian liars more than the actual statements he makes.
Filed under: Atheism/Humanism | Tagged: atheism, Christian liars, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking | Leave a comment »
Bastrop High School: Fuck you, atheists!
Posted on May 22, 2011 by Michael
Bastrop High School is the school at the center of the Damon Fowler controversy. I say the school – not Damon – is at the center because Damon is the atheist who understands the constitution. His views are the ones to which so many Christians pay lip service all the time. In reality, nothing he has said has been novel. He just doesn’t want to hear government-endorsed prayer at his graduation. The school, however, refuses to recognize that the U.S. is secular, that the Supreme Court has banned them from conducting prayers, and that there are – gasp! – people who are not Christian. This is the result:
This is nothing more than a big “fuck you” to Damon and every other atheist. A woman even (ironically) yells “First Amendment rights!” during the unconstitutional prayer. One need not wonder what a person of such stupidity would think if the prayer was Islamic.
Update: This sums things up nicely:
Filed under: Atheism/Humanism, News | Tagged: atheists, Bastrop High School, Damon Fowler | 18 Comments »
Kinky sex
Posted on May 22, 2011 by Michael
Two things. First, I am pretty sure this song is about all the kinky sex that God has just discovered.
I presume after an eternity of sexual repression, it must be pretty liberating to be “doing a new thang”.
Second, I’m curious to see how many hits I get from Facebook when I put up a post about kinky sex.
Filed under: Humor, Religions | Tagged: God, God is doing a new thang, Kinky sex | 2 Comments »
Thought of the day
Posted on May 21, 2011 by Michael
I heard there are billboards in LA that indicate the rapture will happen between 5:30 and 7:00. Unfortunately, I was not told if that was a.m. or p.m. Can anyone help me out? I really want to be at the head of the line when the looting starts.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Rapture, Thought of the day | 8 Comments »
The march of progress
Posted on May 21, 2011 by Michael
Increased civil liberties are on the horizon:
Fifty-three percent of Americans support making gay marriage legal, a Gallup poll showed on Friday, a marked reversal from just a year ago when an equal majority opposed same-sex matrimony.
The latest Gallup findings are in line with two earlier national polls this spring that show support for legally recognized gay marriage has, in recent months, gained a newfound majority among Americans.
It’s hard to say exactly what it is that is causing this shift. I suspect it’s actually a number of factors. For instance, the five states that have given basic civil rights to gays have not fallen into ruin, so people might be recognizing that the fear mongering of conservative bigots was just a bunch of lies. It could also be that more and more people are coming out the closet. As Harvey Milk said, if people realize that they know gays and gay couples, they’re less likely to hate. Or it could be that people are actually recognizing the principles they claim to hold, thus applying them consistently. After all, “I won’t give my approval!” is a rather dishonest argument.
Of course, there is one thing that can’t be missed:
In a sign of a generation gap, Gallup found 70 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 support gay marriage, compared to only 39 percent among those 55 and older.
The irrelevant generations do tend to hold back progress, but it really is so often that the energy and improved perspective of younger generations that brings about important, needed, and principled change.
Filed under: News, Rights, Same-sex marriage | Tagged: Civil rights, Equality, gay marriage, Rights, Same-sex marriage | 9 Comments »
Damon Fowler
Posted on May 21, 2011 by Michael
Damon Fowler is a graduating senior in Louisiana. He is also an atheist and he didn’t like his school’s plan to include prayer at the graduation ceremonies. He contacted administrators and let them know their plan was illegal and he would involve the ACLU if necessary. Surprisingly, the school backed down right away. However, unsurprisingly, it still allowed prayer to go on during certain school-sponsored ceremonies anyway.
Damon has now become an outcast at his school, even receiving wildly inappropriate criticism from teachers. (One teacher, Mitzi Quinn, said Damon had contributed nothing to his classmates.) This isn’t that shocking coming from the South.
But there is good news. Various pro-First Amendment and atheist sites have picked up the story. One result has been a $1,000 college scholarship from The Freedom From Religion Foundation for Damon. At another site, Friendly Atheist by Hemant Mehta, even more money has been donated:
I’ve been gone most of the day, but when I looked tonight, I saw you that 244 of you had chipped in over $5,500…
I’m amazed at how much support you’re all giving him. I’m so proud to be part of this community.
I’m glad to see yet another atheist fighting for basic principles (ones to which so many Christians pay lip service and nothing more), while also being given the gift of a substantially reduced college bill. Now if only those in charge of Damon’s school could become half as educated as he already is, then no one would have to make blog posts like this.
Filed under: Atheism/Humanism, News | Tagged: Bastrop High School, Damon Fowler, Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, Louisiana, Mitzi Quinn | 5 Comments »
Dear Lightning “fans”
Posted on May 20, 2011 by Michael
I am thoroughly convinced that Florida deserves no major sports team. I mean, hell, if the point is just to make money and no have any real fans, then Las Vegas needs a few teams. At least there won’t be any pretense that anyone pays attention out of love for any game there.
Filed under: sports | Tagged: Bandwagon fans, Tampa Bay Lightning | 2 Comments »
For the Sake of Science 