Well that finally settles it.

The Catholic church has announced that the theory of evolution by natural selection is well founded and compatible with church dogma. That noise you heard? That was the entire evolutionary biology community heaving a collective sigh of relief.

Not.

Welcome to the 20th century. By the way, when the scientific community needs the opinion of a bunch of geriatric male virgins in skirts to figure out what's right, I'll be canceling my membership to AAAS. And then the Vatican claims that their guys (specifically Aquinas and Augustine) speculated about evolution before Darwin. Ah, revisionism. The great friend of the Vatican. Thanks for all you've done for us, guys.

Be well,

S

Not a miracle

It's always refreshing to hear someone who experienced a nearly averted tragedy to call it like it is. The co-pilot of Flight 1549, when asked whether the safe landing was a miracle, responded with some good old fashioned rationality.

"I wouldn't say that," Skiles said. "I would still say that it's just everybody did our jobs and we had good fortune, as well."

Well done. I wonder what would have happened if the crew had taken a moment to pray instead of doing their jobs calmly and efficiently?

Be well,

S

And the wall came tumbling down.

Greetings. It's been a while. I find that when things are going well, I struggle to find the indignation to write with my usual fervor. Things have been going very well lately. The offspring is doing well, I still have a job, and my wife is as wonderful as ever. So, what, you might ask, could have happened to wake me from my lackadaisical torpor.

Three little words: Faith-Based Initiative.

I had really hoped that our new benevolent overlord would see fit to jettison this terrible establishment clause violation. Why I thought that is unclear since Obama indicated repeatedly during the campaign that he thought there was room for faith in the town square (whatever that might mean). Obama today announced a number of changes to the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, including a new name, The Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership. Whatever. I don't care what you call it. In it's present form, it's wrong.

Obama did announce that the new leadership in the office will look into rules regarding hiring practices of religious groups. The new leader of the Office is Josh Dubois. I can't say that I was terribly familiar with Josh before today, but one thing that concerns me is that he was a pastor at an evangelical church, more specifically a United Pentecostal church in the Assemblies of God. This particular denomination doesn’t strike me as the most inclusive group. They, of course, believe that the Old and New Testaments are the “infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct,” that life begins at conception, and that marriage can only be between one man and one woman. They don’t say so on the website, but I’m quite sure that “practicing” homosexuals are not welcome as members of their church. Those that want to make a different “choice” are always welcome, I’m sure.

So forgive me if I think asking Josh to oversee reformation of this Office is asking the fox to guard the henhouse.

So here’s what I think it would take to bring this Office in line with the principles established in the constitution. If a religious organization accepts public funds to perform it’s charity work, these restrictions (some of which were shredded during the Bush era) should apply:

Full disclosure - Just like every other non-profit in this country, the church’s books should be open to scrutiny and auditing.
Firewall - There should be a clear, bright distinction between funds used for charity work and those used for prosthelytizing.
Nondiscrimination - the arm of the religious organization that receives the funds must follow the same non-discriminatory hiring practices that any other government funded agency must. That means no discrimination on the basis of sex, color, creed, or sexual orientation.

Simple and easy. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how Obama is going to handle this. But if he thinks that he can continue forward with no changes Bush’s policy in this area, he’ll find out in 4 years that the freethinkers in this country vote too.

Mr Obama. Rebuild that wall.

Be Well,

I <3 Amanda Peet

The very first blog post I wrote (on MySpace of all places) was inspired by Jenny McCarthy and her idiocy regarding vaccination. The driver, as I recall, was a story I read regarding the increased incidence of measles outbreaks. Now another public figure has stepped up to take the counterpoint. Amanda Peet has offered her visage to help educate the public on the importance of vaccination.



This may be old news for some, but I think it's important to keep it out there because Jenny McCarthy just keeps pumping out the stupidity. Also, NPR did a nice segment last week talking about this very subject. What I took away from the NPR story was this:

But Peet says parents shouldn't look to her as a scientific expert. She defers scientific questions to Offit, who directs the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital.

Wow. Deferring to experts on the subject. Maybe Jenny should take a few lessons.

Be well

S

I feel special today

It's been quite a week.  First, someone flagged my blog (I'm so proud).  And now, Ray Comfort deep-sixed one of my comments. 

This calls for a drink...

A sincere mea culpa

I think when you are wrong, the direct approach is the best.  So to that end, I want to apologize for my last post on the FFRF sign in the Washington State Capitol.  After reviewing that post, it clearly has a whiney, "look at how mean the christians are" tone.  When I wrote it, it seemed justifiable; but after reading Martin's post over at the Atheist Experience, I realize that it is FFRF's sign that is the issue.  It reads in part, "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."  Whatever my belief regarding the accuracy of that message, this the wrong venue and the wrong time to deliver it.  At a time when the prevailing opinion is that christmas is under attack, to put up a sign that aggressively denigrates the opposing position is counterproductive and mean spirited.

So I say to my christian friends, celebrate the birth of your saviour; and to everyone regardless of your faith, enjoy your families, be good to each other, practice charity and kindness, and have a very merry christmas.

Be Well,

S

FFRF Sign Stolen

FFRF seems to be getting a lot of push back lately.  First the billboard in Rancho Cucamonga, now it appears someone has taken issue with atheists having equal time in the Washington State Capitol.  The placard that was placed in the Capitol Building as equal representation to a nativity scene vanished, only to be turned in later to a local radio station.  Apparently, a passerby found the large, heavy placard laying in a ditch.  There is no clear explanation as to how someone could have spirited it out of the building unnoticed, but the police are said to be reviewing surveillance videos.

I'm not surprised.  There is a trend here.  

Christians, though, seem to be surprised when we point out that:

• People were celebrating the winter solstice as a natural holiday for millennia before christmas came along
  
• Jews, you know those "pre-christians," were celebrating Chanukah, the festival of lights too.
  
• There is no evidence to suggest that Jesus was born anywhere near the winter solstice. Celebrating his birthday at that time was a clever way to co-opt what was already a celebratory time for early pagans.
  
• Christmas is a relatively recent invention and the christmas tree was once a forbidden symbol by early christians due to its pagan roots.
  

So when we demand equal time, please don't tell us we're taking the christ out of christmas.  We're just reminding people that "the reason for the season" is a quirky combination of the earth's revolution on its axis, its elliptical orbit around the sun, and a slight tilt of the axis with respect to that orbit.  That's it.  

Be Well

S